Hermantown, Minn., cracks down on trailer park owner over 'deplorable' conditions

HERMANTOWN, MINN. – In a mobile home park in an affluent suburb of Duluth, an 11-year-old girl sleeps next to a wall where water leaks into an electrical outlet.

In another rented home, floors cave under carpeting and ceilings sag throughout, the odor of mold masked by scented candles. Sewage spills from one unit to the ground outside and several residents in the Maple Field park of more than 50 homes are without water, as temperatures dip into single digits.

Residents say they've made repeated requests for improvements, especially when it comes to problems that pose threats to public health and safety, like mold, severe water damage, fire hazards and broken locks and windows. But little is done, they say, and the region's acute affordable housing shortage has them hamstrung.

"If we aren't able to live here, where are we going to go?" resident Amy O'Donnell asked, as her husband revealed a toilet shattered by a heaving bathroom floor.

The city of Hermantown alleges several misdemeanor crimes in a complaint filed against the Twin Cities-based owner of the park, where every single one of the homes has at least one code violation, and a handful have been condemned.

Calls made to park owner Steven Schneeberger, of Richfield's Elevated Management, and his attorney weren't returned. The park, owned by Schneeberger since 2021, is currently for sale.

Hermantown building official Brandon Holmes began receiving anonymous complaints as soon he was hired early this year: unpermitted work, lack of water during freezing temperatures, broken appliances, exposed water pipes daisy-chained from one home to the next and electrical supplies draped across roofs and zip-tied to walls. Residents detailed buying supplies and making their own repairs when complaints went unanswered.

Holmes started knocking on doors, but most were afraid to speak to him.

He eventually found that about a dozen homes are in severe disrepair. But the worst of it, Holmes said, was one that had been without water for months after a line failed and flooded. A caving roof was held up by a two-by-four. Human waste was stored indoors. A porch had collapsed. The resident's complaints to the owner and a maintenance worker had gone ignored, yet rent, which ranges from $800 to about $1,100, was still collected.

While Holmes worked with St. Louis County to find alternate housing for the resident, a disabled veteran, the man took his own life. Shortly before that, he had filed a lawsuit against the park owner. A 60-year-old who had served in the U.S. Army, he had been the first resident to allow Holmes in.

Hermantown's complaint alleges several misdemeanor crimes, including failure to provide safe living structures and potable water and sewer connections to all units.

Corrective actions have been ordered by the city and the state, but the little work that has been done continues to be unpermitted and substandard, Holmes said, calling living conditions "deplorable" and the situation a "park-wide failure."

Maintenance of manufactured homes can be difficult, he said, but he's never seen anything so dire in his career.

"The last thing we want is to see people hurt or displaced, and we're starting to run out of time," Holmes said. "A lot of this is related to being provided with drinking water and bathing water, which they'll lose most likely in these freezing conditions."

'Not your friend'

An email provided to the Minnesota Star Tribune shows that Schneeberger told residents they shouldn't allow Holmes entry, noting those who owed rent faced eviction by a potential new owner.

"[Holmes] is your adversary, not your friend. He knows the new owner will fix the homes and yet he feels compelled to troll around, put notices on doors and spread rumors and fear," the email reads.

On Wednesday, another disabled veteran, Ed Belliveau, had been without water for three days. He started calling for help immediately and was repeatedly told a plumber would come. On Thursday, the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans began working with him after learning of his plight. Members of the Red Cross delivered water this week as 10-degree weather set in and fierce winds whipped through the area. County and state officials also began working with those with frozen pipes. For now, only one resident has been displaced, but without improvements, more are likely.

The Minnesota Department of Health confirmed it was working with Hermantown on the situation, but declined to comment further. The department inspects mobile home parks annually but declined to provide Maple Field's records, citing an open enforcement matter.

The state Department of Labor and Industry, which has authority related to plumbing in manufactured homes, has been advising the city, a spokesman said. The city has also solicited help from the state Attorney General's Office and has referred tenants to a free legal aid service, Justice North.

The mobile home park's apparent condition is atypical for the state, where about 1,000 such communities exist, said Mark Brunner, president of the Manufactured and Modular Home Association of Minnesota.

The majority of manufactured homes in parks are owner-occupied, he said, and some that aren't are in cities where inspections are required by city ordinance. Hermantown, a city of 10,200 where more than 75% of residents own their homes, doesn't have a rental ordinance that dictates inspections. The majority of units in Maple Field are rentals.

The park is nestled against a forest and has little traffic with lots of families with kids. The setting is ideal for raising a family, said resident Frank O'Donnell. The tow truck driver has tried to find something with fewer problems that doesn't cost more than the nearly $1,000 he pays per month now, but he continues to strike out.

He asked the owner to move them to another unit, but "he wanted to raise my rent to move me away from the problems he won't fix," O'Donnell said.

Kelsey Miller was without a working stove for two months and is forced to block off holes in her floors so her kids and cats don't fall through. She just wants improvements made so her family can live the life they hoped for when they moved here two years ago, she said. They were homeless before moving to the park.

"We thought it was going to be a decent place to live," she said. "It was our chance to start over."