{"id":280439,"date":"2026-05-22T05:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280439\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T05:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:00:09","slug":"new-florida-law-lets-manufactured-home-owners-tap-housing-funds-for-storm-repairs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280439\/","title":{"rendered":"New Florida law lets manufactured home owners tap housing funds for storm repairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twisted debris still hangs from trees in the Spanish Lakes Country Club community \u2014 nearly two years after an EF-3 tornado obliterated the Fort Pierce neighborhood, killing six people<\/a> and exposing a deadly vulnerability: thousands of homes not built to federal safety standards.<\/p>\n

For Paula Richards and Mike Powers, their manufactured home is now only a paradise seven months out of the year. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom June to the end of November, we live in fear,\u201d Paula said.<\/p>\n

The EF-3 tornado that touched down Oct. 9, 2024 was one of two that ripped through the Fort Pierce community hours ahead of Hurricane Milton. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost 138 homes, six of our friends were killed,\u201d resident Barry Lamb said.<\/p>\n

When the storm passed, the fear in Spanish Lakes didn\u2019t \u2014 because the tornado stirred up a chilling question: How safe are these homes, and could more people have survived?<\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to think about it,\u201d Richards said, holding back tears. \u201cBecause it scares me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Decades of safety standards \u2014 and hundreds of thousands of homes that predate them<\/p>\n

In WFLX\u2019s previous investigation, we found federal safety standards for manufactured homes were first established in 1976, with tougher rules following in 1994 and 1999. <\/p>\n

Damage reports we found showed those changes worked: newer homes held up better.<\/p>\n

But many of the homes destroyed in Spanish Lakes were built before those stronger rules. State records obtained through this investigation show nearly 700,000 of Florida\u2019s more than 1 million mobile and manufactured homes aren\u2019t built to withstand today\u2019s storms. <\/p>\n

Nearly a quarter million were built before the federal government regulated these homes at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no idea,\u201d Richards said. \u201cAnd a lot of people don\u2019t that are just recently new to mobile homes or manufactured homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the case for dozens of Spanish Lakes residents who spoke to WFLX and said they only learned their homes failed to meet today\u2019s safety standards after seeing this reporting.<\/p>\n

When asked how many of them \u2014 after buying their homes \u2014 realized they would have to make costly repairs to make them up to code, nearly every hand went up.<\/p>\n

Estimates residents shared put those emergency fixes at $10,000 to $15,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have that in my pocket anywhere,\u201d one resident said.<\/p>\n

When asked how many could afford a $10,000 to $15,000 out-of-pocket repair, no hands went up.<\/p>\n

None of them said they felt safe going into another hurricane season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nightmare,\u201d one resident said.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s Manufactured Housing Association agreed help was needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re looking at roughly half a million people that are over 70 years old living in mobile and manufactured homes that may be vulnerable,\u201d said Jim Ayotte, the former head of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association.<\/p>\n

A stalled state program \u2014 and a bill that almost died<\/p>\n

During our previous reporting<\/a>, we uncovered a state program called the Mobile Home Tie Down program. Run by Gulf Coast State College, it\u2019s designed to add critical storm-resilient tie downs to mobile and manufactured home parks across the state for free. <\/p>\n

However, when we reached out to the program, we were told 120 mobile home parks were still waiting to be serviced, creating a years-long wait amid limited funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there a way to move around some funding so we can expand the current $2.8 million budget for that program?\u201d Investigative Reporter Kate Hussey asked State Representative Toby Overdorf in February 2025. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to say yes,\u201d said Overdorf.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers later drafted House Bill 701, which would have allowed local governments to use existing housing funds for manufactured home repairs, retrofits, and rental assistance \u2014 without raising taxes. <\/p>\n

Before the bill, only apartment residents could access that help. Manufactured home owners couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy? Why is this group being discriminated against?\u201d Ayotte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still upsets me to talk about it and think about things, how people could have been saved, how if we would have only known about this,\u201d Richards said. \u201cLike everything else, mobile home lives matter too.\u201d<\/p>\n

HB 701 passed the Florida House unanimously \u2014 but died in its final Senate committee after Sen. Kathleen Passidomo refused to bring it to the floor. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rules Committee Chair said, \u2018I don\u2019t think I like this legislation. I\u2019m not going to hear it in my committee,\u2019\u201d Ayotte said.<\/p>\n

Hussey called, emailed, and drove to her Naples office twice asking for an interview. She never agreed to talk. <\/p>\n

But within a mile of her office, Hussey talked to dozens of homeowners in at least five manufactured home parks clearly in need of home hardening.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re supposed to be working for the people. That\u2019s hardly a representation of working for the people,\u201d said Holly Gnip, a Naples manufactured homeowner.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople with mobile home lives matter,\u201d Richards said.<\/p>\n

When asked whether Florida was acting with real urgency or waiting for the next disaster to force change, Florida Representative Paula Stark was direct.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s probably the case,\u201d Stark told us. <\/p>\n

Bill revived \u2014 and signed into law<\/p>\n

Lawmakers, after hearing those concerns, revived the bill<\/a> the following session.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the one thing I can tell you is the importance of home,\u201d said Rep. Kim Berfield during the House vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have overlooked a segment of our population who need our help,\u201d added Stark. \u201cMobile home residents.\u201d <\/p>\n

The bill passed both the House and the Senate in March 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation helps preserve and protect those types of affordable housing, so I am so pleased that residents that are in need will be able to tap into some resources that will help them,\u201d Ayotte told WFLX. <\/p>\n

For Paula and Mike Powers, the news brought relief \u2014 and emotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels fantastic,\u201d Paula said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwesome,\u201d Mike said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been help for apartments, there\u2019s been help for homes, but never for mobile homes. And now they passed it and it makes my heart happy to know that we now have help,\u201d Paula said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it passed. I\u2019m gonna cry and I don\u2019t cry,\u201d added Mike. <\/p>\n

What comes next<\/p>\n

Paula and others now want stronger disclosure laws so first-time manufactured home buyers know exactly what they\u2019re buying \u2014 and whether it meets federal safety standards \u2014 before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

The new law takes effect July 1, meaning funding for manufactured home owners will not be available until at least after that date.<\/p>\n

The assistance will be part of State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) funds that residents can apply for to get help. St Lucie County officials say they\u2019re still determining how that process will work. <\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twisted debris still hangs from trees in the Spanish Lakes Country Club community \u2014 nearly two years after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-280439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}