Hermantown trailer park owner begins to close in lieu of fixing life-threatening problems

Hermantown, Minn., city officials have barred nearly half of the 50-plus trailers in a neglected mobile home park from occupancy because of their threat to human life, as the owner pays residents to move out so he can close the park.

After he pleaded guilty to several misdemeanor violations in early December, he was ordered to immediately make repairs to trailers without water and other essential services and fix all other code violations. St. Louis County Judge Shawn Pearson also ordered him to pay for alternate housing for a handful of residents living in the worst conditions in Maple Fields mobile home park, just outside of Duluth.

But the number of households in uninhabitable trailers has grown, and Elevated Management LLC, has done little to fix anything, city officials say, prompting it and some residents to ask the court to hold the owner in contempt.

The closure and lease termination notices given to residents violate court orders and appear retaliatory, said Peter LaCourse, an attorney for the nonprofit Justice North who is representing some of the residents.

And court records show about 20 households have already moved out because of the notices, he said.

“They can’t just get rid of these people without any sort of compensation or anything to help them,” he said.

Owner Steven Schneeberger said last week he’s generally offered people security deposits, equivalent to a month’s rent, to move.

“And I just give them the full security deposit, versus kind of dinging them for repairs and things,” he said, also noting he’s paid thousands per week for hotel rooms with kitchens since January for residents he was ordered to accommodate, and given out referrals and lists of housing options.

“I am not an ultrawealthy business guy,” he said. “I am doing the best that I can for the residents, given what I have to work with.”

Schneeberger, based in the Twin Cities, has missed several court-ordered deadlines to make improvements, said Hermantown Building Official Brandon Holmes. Early this year, Schneeberger began giving closure notices to both renters and trailer owners. The park is unusual in that most residents are renters.

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office told him in a letter filed in court that he was violating state law by not giving enough notice, along with failing to meet several other state requirements involved in closing a mobile home park; violations that could lead to $25,000 in fines for each, Assistant Attorney General Katherine Kelly wrote.

Schneeberger, who has owned the park since 2021, denied that he didn’t follow state law in giving notice to renters and trailer owners. He began warning people he might close the park a few months ago, but it wasn’t decided until February, he said.

He bought a park with problems decades in the making, and little was brought forward until Holmes began inspecting it last winter, he said. When he was confronted with multiple code violations, he decided to sell. A prospective buyer fell through in the fall, and recently, contractors have told him most units aren’t worth saving.

During the time he’s owned the park, he rarely had to advertise vacancies, he said, relying heavily on referrals from current residents.

“And I think that speaks to the fact that, you know, it’s not pretty housing, but it’s affordable, and there’s always a demand for it, and there are always people waiting to get in, and we did our best to keep it up,” he said.

His attorney Alethea Huyser, wrote in court filings two weeks ago that Schneeberger can’t afford to pay for repairs or operate the park with its high number of vacancies.

She said that Elevated Management is “not on a repair path, the park is closing, full stop.”

Hermantown City Attorney Gunnar Johnson wrote in court filings that it appears the company is attempting to evict residents by “making staying so miserable that the tenant just leaves,” called constructive eviction. It puts the city in a tough position, he said, because it has to enforce building codes, but that means evicting residents through “no fault of their own.”

Holmes said not all of the residents know their rights, so some think they have to accept a buyout or get nothing.

“We have seen just a doubling and tripling down on a refusal to comply with court orders or city orders,” he said, and only a few relocated to hotel rooms that Schneeberger is paying for. “And at this point, I have 23 units tagged for no occupancy.”

Rhiannon Buckwalter ended up at Maple Fields a few years ago when she needed a residence in the region quickly because of a family illness. In late January, she was offered $1,100 to move out by March 1, a sum equivalent to the monthly rent she and her husband paid for a trailer where they raised an infant and teen, where mice, “squishy” floors and leaky windows were among its problems.

She bartered with Schneeberger, she said, and they arrived at $3,600 to secure an apartment on short notice.

After Buckwalter made a comment on social media about how he’ll pay residents to leave but won’t spend money on repairs, she said, he emailed her saying she received more money than anyone else and called her an expletive, an email she provided shows.

A hearing where Schneeberger must prove his moves haven’t been retaliatory is scheduled for early April.

The Minnesota Department of Health has two pending enforcement cases against Elevated Management, for the park’s noncompliant sewage system and a daisy-chained water line.

Some families lived without water during the region’s coldest days this winter, amid spilling sewage from burst pipes.

Residents, some who were homeless before they moved there, say they made repeated requests for improvements, particularly for problems that pose threats to public health and safety, such as mold, fire hazards and severe water damage.

Schneeberger said fewer than 10 trailers remain occupied.