Arizona attorney general Kris Mayes is hearing from residents at mobile home parks, including Desert Haven Mobile Home Park in Tucson, who are frustrated over rising rents and unexplained utility bills.
Mayes came to Tucson on Thursday August 28 after her office issued a consumer advisory about utility submetering, a practice where landlords pass on water, gas, or electricity costs to tenants, often with hidden fees.
Just weeks ago, Mayes sent a cease-and-desist letter to Redwood Mobile Park on Tucson’s south side regarding ongoing water and electricity outages.
This most recent advisory and visit to Desert Haven was spurred by a wave of complaints from mobile home communities across the region.
“We started digging into some complaints from that mobile home park that led to them agreeing to pay back hundreds of dollars per person that they had been overcharging the renters for more than 7 years," said Kris Mayes.
At a round table later that morning, other residents filled a meeting room at a local YMCA to share their stories.
Raye Winch, who is part of an organization called Poder Casas Móviles and has been a lifeline for many Spanish-speaking mobile home residents, spoke about the emotional toll of living under constant financial pressure.
Winch has said that while a large percentage of mobile home residents are Spanish speakers, they are often taken advantage of because of their inability to translate the legal process, and are not likely to file complaints when mistreated.
For longtime resident Kimberly Lucas who is a resident of Friendly Village Estates, the attorney general’s visit felt like validation.
After years of helping her neighbors fight back against what she called “landlord intimidation tactics,” Lucas said she has spent countless hours helping residents navigate the tricky legal system that landlords use to evict tenants.
“They wait until they’re about 8 to 10 months away from paying off their home, then they throw the eviction at them," Lucas told Mayes and others in the meeting room.
Many residents expressed gratitude for the attorney general's visit and using her office to try to help them.
"This is only the beginning of our efforts to bring accountability," Mayes said.
