Tenants evicted from mobile homes in disrepair

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Just three steps into Olga Cintron's mobile home, the first thing a visitor will see is the low-hanging ceiling, wooden wall panels barely hanging on, and an air conditioning unit duct taped onto the kitchen window.

Olga said she's dealt with many issues since moving into her rental home in the Lazy Breeze Mobile Home and RV Park on Willingham Drive in Dade City.

"The tub seems like it's going to sink in, right to the floor. At the entrance, the floor is going like [a wave]. You feel like you're walking dizzy or something," explained Cintron.

Despite the problems, she and her family are upset about having to vacate the home. She said they were one of 10 families handed eviction notices last week. The notice advised each family that they must move out in two weeks, by 8 a.m. July 1.

The property owner, Rob Work was ordered by a Pasco County judge last December to repair all of the mobile homes with code violations or remove them from the property, according to court documents. Work never obtained the permits to fix the problems. Tenants being forced out said they were advised, since their homes were in the worst shape, Work plans to remove their mobile homes from the property altogether.

Those residents are now concerned about having to move with no money to pay for a deposit or first and last months rent at a new place.

"It's physically impossible for an individual, especially individuals living in a trailer park, to come up with such funds and still feed their families at the same time. We're in low-income housing because we have low income. That's the purpose for it," said John Baez.

Baez said Lazy Breeze was the only place he could find in Dade City willing to rent to people with prior evictions in their rental history.

He is worried about uprooting his children in the unexpected move.

Baez said, "My kids go to school. I've got three kids, 10, 7, 6, they all go to school. Where am I going to send them to school from, a tent?"

Work was able to legally issue the two-week eviction notice because the tenants are paying on a month-to-month basis.

Attempts to reach him via a phone number linked to Lazy Breeze were unsuccessful. The number was disconnected.

According to Pasco County's spokesperson, Doug Tobin, a Contempt of Court order was issued to Work and agreed upon by both him and the judge, when he failed to make the necessary repairs. Work is expected to be sentenced on July 7.

It's unclear if other units on the property that also have not met housing standards in the past could be cleared out in the near future as well.