LAS VEGAS (KSNV & MyNews3) — A major mobile home company that rents the spaces many seniors call home is under fire tonight. The tenants say their rent is consistently going up.
News 3’s Sandra Gonzalez file a report from outside the Bonanza Village Mobile Home Park.
Advocates for affordable senior housing were in Las Vegas Wednesday. They are critical of a major mobile home company that has communities here in the Las Vegas Valley. Equity Lifestyles oversees the Bonanza Village where many seniors call home.
They say as rent for the land that mobile homes are on, keep rising. But the incomes for seniors are usually fixed.
“I have no income, so basically I only earn $1,200 a month and that’s not enough,” said Janet Nelson, a resident of Cabana Manufactured Home Community, and Equity Lifestyles property.
She says recently some of here services were increased by $8, and while that may seem like lunch money to some, it really cuts into her limited pot of money. She’s waiting to see if Equity Lifestyles will raise the rent on the land her mobile home sits on.
Critics say it’s happening at other Equity properties.
Nelson says seniors don’t have much to pay any more.
“They don’t have enough food money, they don’t have enough to pay the bills, as far as phones, families are paying for cell phones,” Nelson said.
Advocates from across the country were in Las Vegas trying to bring attention to the economics of lots of senior citizens, and what they say they’re facing in many Equity properties nationwide.
This rise in rent comes as seniors are dealing with federal benefits being trimmed to the rising cost of living.
While Janet Nelson hasn’t seen her rent rise yet, Pam Bournvial of the National Manufactured Homeowners Association says it probably will.
“When it comes times to renew there will be a big bump. So it might seem like things are going smoothly for a while but expect the big bump all over the country,” Bournival said.
News 3 has attempted to reach Equity Lifestyles. We’re still waiting to hear from them.