ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — Pinellas County declared a majority of a mobile home community significantly damaged and informed residents that they need to raise them or tear them down.
This vulnerable community is in fear of losing their homes.
The Gateway Mobile Home Park is off Gandy Boulevard and 4th Street North, in St. Petersburg.
It’s a 55-and-up community. Many live on a fixed income and the stress is affecting their health. Now, Pinellas County said its focus is on compliance.
After a 40-year career at Cornell University, Bonnie Sisco has been living out the retirement she had dreamed of at the Gateway for the past 15 years.
“I thought I would live out my life here,” Sisco said. “I love it here. I got this porch.”
Sisco was spared by two inches from Helene’s floodwaters last year. Then Milton brought a microburst, which flattened two nearby mobile homes.
“It just took the outside wall, took it off on the roof, bounced off the carport and onto the ground,” said Sisco.
Sisco made repairs to her dented roof, had some electrical work done and installed a screened in porch and a new carport. She said then Pinellas County sent inspectors out.
“Now why they say I have water damage,” she said. “I’m red. I don’t know why.”
Five months after the storms and completed repairs, Pinellas County deemed 235 homes at the Gateway substantially damaged, including Sisco’s.
The county said Sisco’s home was over the 49% mark.
The County gave Sisco four options to become compliant:
- Elevate and repair her home
- Replace her home with an elevated one
- Move her home to a location outside of the flood hazard area
- Move to a new home and remove her damaged home from the property
“The county went back and performed additional inspections and analysis based on whether the unit had any water,” said Kevin McAndrew, Pinellas county Building & Development Review Services director. “We were able to protectively reverse the initial 235 by almost 100 that then were made not substantial.”
McAndrew said their intention is to not have the homeowner make a huge investment then be subject to future devastation.
“We think Pinellas is just trying to get this property,” Sisco said.
So, 8 On Your Side asked McAndrew the county’s intention.
“Mobile homes are an important housing option in Pinellas County, in many cases they’re the most affordable option that residents have, so the county has no desire to try to vacate all of our mobile home communities,” McAndrew said.
Sisco still feels like she’s being forced out with nowhere else to go.
“They’re going to have homeless senior citizens,” Sisco said. “I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Sisco got a final determination from the County, so she has since appealed to a special magistrate and is awaiting a hearing.
Pinellas County said these homeowners have an extended deadline of June 1, 2026 to comply.
The county said received $813 million in community development grants, which they said will help mobile homeowners who were deemed substantially damaged for those at the gateway, like Sisco.
It could mean help elevating, getting a new unit or relocating, but the funds are available just yet. There is an application process.
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