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.