In a the first of two press releases, CASA announced on Tuesday that it would be filing suit in what it called an “Explosive Lawsuit Protecting Tenant Rights in Montgomery County, Maryland.”
A series of tweets, see example below, and the second media release on 7.7.2021 stated the following, per CASA.
Support housing justice!
Show your support for @CASAforAll and the brave Middlebrook residents who are suing their landlord for abuses and threats 📢📢📢
New CASA Lawsuit: Maryland Landlord Illegally Overcharges Tenants for Water
Single Mom of Four Charged $800 for Water, More than Rent
ROCKVILLE, MD – CASA today filed a complaint in the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Maryland challenging the illegal fees and intimidation of 28 tenants at Middlebrook MHC, LLC. The full complaint against the mobile home park can be found on this page, below.
This case involves the pernicious act of the mobile home park charging vulnerable residents illegal fees for water. CASA finds that Middlebrook MHC, LLC fails to properly maintain water systems, fails to monitor and inspect the residents’ water usage to identify abnormalities in usage, and charges residents hundreds of dollars per month in water bills. Worse yet, the landlord threatened to evict residents for nonpayment of rent when the residents complained that Middlebrook Mobile Homes were not living up to their contractual, statutory, and common law obligations. Instead, they continue to ignore major structural utility systems and extortionate fee-collection practices, then pass the cost of their misdeeds on to the residents.
These changes took place in the summer of 2018, when management changed hands. They installed new water meters, and water bills immediately spiked. For some residents, the water bill was nearly a thousand dollars.
“CASA is suing today because, for over two years, the management at Middlebrook has not listened to our concerns,” details CASA staff attorney Jonathan Riedel. “The water bills are absurd. Middlebrook believes that a family of four can use three full swimming pools’ worth of water in a single month. In a mobile home, no less. This lawsuit is designed to tell the landlord that no, it is not the residents’ fault. These residents deserve a voice, and they deserve justice.”
The average family uses 55 gallons per person per day. Many Middlebrook Mobile Home residents buy their own drinking water, don’t have big lawns or swimming pools, and take extreme measures to conserve water. Where the water bills are normal, some tenants use just 35 or 40 gallons of water per person per day. One early water bill, which said that a family of four used 51,000 gallons of water in a single month. That’s approximately 400 gallons of water per person per day.
“For the last three years, the residents have been abandoned, discriminated against, and taken advantage of by loopholes within the housing system, all while paying the heavy price of high water costs and more. I speak out today on behalf of the 200+ homeowners to demand accountability and transparency. Our families cannot bear the burden anymore,” said Ana Laura Garcia, tenant’s association president of the Middlebrook Mobile Home community. “Unfortunately, the lack of accountability and transparency has led us to this lawsuit. While trying to find answers and help, we have found that neither the county nor the management office wants to take responsibility or accountability for what has happened at the Middlebrook Mobile Homes.”
Ana Laura’s family of three takes various water conservation measures, including buying bottled water for cooking and drinking and doing laundry offsite. Likewise, another mobile home resident Berta Bonilla has received bills with incorrect summations, incorrect rates, and incorrect amounts of water usage. Her family consumes as little water as possible and have still received a bill of nearly $800.
“The water bills would reach as high as $800 a month! As a house cleaner and single mother of four, these water bills have forced me to make tough financial decisions for my family, which have gotten worse during the pandemic,” said Berta Bonilla, Middlebrook Mobile Homes resident. “The possibility of being evicted from the home I’ve lived in for 15 years was frightening, for not paying my water bills on time was frightening. I am here today to demand accountability and answers. No one should ever have to pay such an outrageous amount for water bills.”
For the past three years, the tenant’s association of the Middlebrook Mobile Homes has organized and mobilized to address urgent matters that significantly affect over 200 families. Alex Vazquez, who has led organizing with CASA, said, “Unfortunately, after multiple attempts to work together with the management office and the county, the residents have exhausted all attempts to address these urgent concerns. These CASA Members have banded together to seek accountability, transparency, and responsibility from their landlord.”
“I salute the residents of the Middlebrook trailer park for fighting for their families and in that way fighting for our broader community,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “It is time for the owners of the property to meet residents and eliminate the outrageous charges that they confront.”
“I am proud to join CASA in filing today’s lawsuit to protect tenants against a predatory landlord taking advantage of hard-working residents,” Council President Tom Hucker said. “We should be doing everything in our power to protect our tenant community, who have been disproportionately affected by the public health and economic impacts of the pandemic. I’m grateful to continue to work collaboratively with CASA and other nonprofit partners to create a safe environment for all tenants in Montgomery County.”
“Unfortunately, the people who are the most vulnerable are the most exploited,” said Lesley Lopez, Maryland State Delegate, District 39. “How possibly could a family in a mobile home use up three swimming pools worth of water?”
###
Another example of the series of tweets from CASA is shown below.
“Today, I demand that @MontgomeryCoMD officials do their part to assist an immigrant community that they have failed on multiple occasions.
Per the CASA website, “With over 115,000 members across the states of Maryland, Virginia, and South Central Pennsylvania, CASA is the largest member-based Latino and immigrant organization in the mid-Atlantic region.”
According to Influence Watch, Casa’s financial support includes dollars that flow from the Tides Foundation.
Buffett is well known for being anti-Trump. So perhaps it is no surprise that Casa of Maryland, per Influence Watch: “CASA de Maryland (also called CASA) is a left-of-center 501(c)(3) immigration advocacy organization that helps immigrants, most often of Central American extraction, find employment, regardless of their legal status in the United States. CASA’s executive director has told workers he will never turn their names over to federal immigration officials.[1]
CASA leads its membership in political and policy advocacy that has included public demonstrations against the Trump administration’s restrictionist immigration policies,[2] promoting a path to citizenship for immigrants living illegally in the United States,[3] promoting legislation allowing undocumented aliens to pay in-state tuition at Maryland state colleges,[4] and campaigns to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.[5]”
The Tides are in turn is funded in part by the NoVo Foundation, which is primarily funded by Warren Buffett. MHAction is another Tides funded operation. Buffett’s NoVo Foundation has been the largest donor to the Tides for several years.
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There is evidence that suggests that a variety of pressures are being placed on manufactured housing, most notably, independents. While there are doubtlessly valid concerns raised in various often troubling reports, there is also reason to believe that these are framing an impression among the general public that is harmful to so-called “white hats,” not just black hat operations.
Next up is our business daily recap of yesterday evening’s market report and related left-right headlines.
The Business Daily Manufactured Home Industry Connected Stock Market Updates. Plus, Market Moving Left (CNN) – Right (Newsmax) Headlines Snapshot. While the layout of this business daily report has recently been modified, several elements of the basic concepts used previously are still the same. The headlines that follow below can be reviewed at a glance to save time while providing insights across the left-right media divide. Additionally, those headlines often provide clues as to possible ‘market moving’ items.
Several of the illustrations shown in this report can be opened in many browsers to reveal a larger size. To open this picture, click the image once. When the window opens, click it again to reveal the larger size photo. Use your browsers back key to return to the article. Weeks before others in the mainstream media began to flash their ‘inflation warnings,’ MHProNews added first the top, then later the second notice above. When someone has even a basic understanding of the principles of economics, ‘inflation’ was predictable. The question is, will hyper-inflation follow? There are voices on both sides of that debate.
Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business = evening of 7.7.2021
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Manufactured Housing Industry Investments Connected Equities Closing Tickers
Some of these firms invest in manufactured housing, or are otherwise connected, but may do other forms of investing or business activities too.
NOTE: The chart below includes the Canadian stock, ECN, which purchased Triad Financial Services, a manufactured home industry lender
NOTE: Drew changed its name and trading symbol at the end of 2016 to Lippert (LCII).
NOTE: Deer Valley was largely taken private, say company insiders in a message to MHProNews on 12.15.2020, but there are still some outstanding shares of the stock from the days when it was a publicly traded firm. Thus, there is still periodic activity on DVLY.
Berkshire Hathaway is the parent company to Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage and other factory built housing industry suppliers. · LCI Industries, Patrick, UFPI, and LP each are suppliers to the manufactured housing industry, among others. · AMG, CG, and TAVFX have investments in manufactured housing related businesses. For insights from third-parties and clients about our publisher, click here. Enjoy these ‘blast from the past’ comments.
MHProNews. MHProNews – previously a.k.a. MHMSM.com – has celebrated our 11th year of publishing, and is starting our 12the year of serving the industry as the runaway most-read trade media.
Sample Kudos over the years…
It is now 11+ years and counting…
Learn more about our evolutionary journey as the industry’s leading trade media, at the report linked below.
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All on Capitol Hill were welcoming and interested. But Congressman Al Green’s office was tremendous in their hospitality. Our son’s hand is on a package that included the Constitution of the United States and other goodies. Tamas has grown considerably since this photo was taken.
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews. Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
