Dear neighbors,

My name is Joshua, I am 37 years old, and I've lived here in Lower Providence, Montgomery County, PA for 15 years in a mobile home that I own. I rent the lot space, which requires me to pay monthly rent. When I moved in here many years ago, my rent was only $525 a month and it's now almost $900. The new owners have increased the rent by about $200 in the last two years. The previous owners were much more kind and would make it a point not to take advantage of people financially. Some of my neighbors that are 50, 60, 70 years old, lived here their entire life and would have hardships over the years. The old owners would work with tenants, sometimes having not paid for 6 months, a year even. They would allow partial payments, payment plans, community work in exchange for credit, and so on. Some of those "Grandfathered Residents" have since left because of new management - whether it be from eviction or not being able to afford such increases - and have since moved in with family. A few years ago, the land was sold to new owners, which have increased the rent every year, and not just a little bit. They have also made several new service fees and increased the existing ones. They have repeatedly tried to evict tenants that lived here for a very long time so they can rent to fresh tenants at higher prices. They've evicted people for collecting rent from family members and accusing them of subletting. They've refused to fix electrical and plumbing issues, causing residents to have constant sewage backing up; then, they force tenants to call plumbers themselves without being reimbursed. God bless the original owners and management team. They were angels compared to our new owners. Our new owners already owned dozens of other large mobile home parks and rental communities in our tri-state area prior to purchasing this one. To them, it seems as if it's just another investment for their pockets, not giving a hoot about others.

Back to myself, I've suffered from depression and anxiety my entire life and always had trouble keeping a job for more than 9 months to a year and a half. I went through a divorce last year and my depression has been worse than ever and severely debilitating. I lost my last job in October and managed to pay rent until November.

Now here is the kicker about my situation. It was only 10 days after the first of the month that the landlord filed for eviction in court for non-payment. I didn't receive a letter on my door, a warning, an email, a phone call, a knock at the door, and I'm having a hard time accessing my mail because the lock on the box is jammed. I had some trouble a year ago and they said nothing when I was back paying every other month, paying two months at a time. When I refer to "she," it's because I'm speaking about the property manager, the one who has started many problems with long-time renters here. Now I can see that she's trying to do to me what she has done to lots of others. I have a corner property and she wants it. She knows my financial situation and instead of helping or offering options, she made the decision to take advantage of me. If I can't get a handle on this situation, she could get away with owning my home for herself to sell and overcharge illegals. There have been many illegal immigrants replacing old tenants here. 1. It's the holidays and you would think people would have a heart of some sort and would at least communicate instead of going behind someone's back to further their misery. I'm alone with no friends or family to fall back on so I don't celebrate holidays much anymore because of that. 2. It's winter time!!! Why would you want to put someone outside in the cold? Also, I emailed and said I would pay as soon as I can at the beginning of the month before I even got this notice posted on my door from a Sheriff. Life is terrible right now and getting worse by the minute. Stress + Depression x Anxiety = is going to be the death of me. It's difficult to even go to an appointment or go out because I feel like I've failed and there isn't any hope anyway.

The only support I have in my life is my precious dog. I love my dog so much and she's my only friend anymore. Living alone without humans and without dogs sounds terrible, it makes me sick to my stomach. I already had my step daughter ripped from my life after my divorce and that's eaten me alive over the last year. So I don't know what to do anymore, I feel sick, lethargic, my head is spinning, and feel like I'm going to have a heart attack or a stroke at any minute. I have really bad hypertension and my blood pressure has been thru the roof to the point of migraines with ringing ears. I've weened myself off of my medication since I lost my insurance I had through work. If I never went back to work in January 2024 I would still have State Assistance Insurance and Food Stamps. I was diagnosed as ADD at age 6 and put on Ritalin. I've dealt with that my entire life as well. I completely believe I have a learning disability but in grade school and with psychiatrists my entire life I've always passed the basic functioning Aptitude test or whatever it is. Do ya think maybe in a quiet room all by myself it would be a lot easier to complete a task vs a classroom full of 25 kids or a noisy warehouse? Guess they don't consider things like that. I get distracted by the wind. I've been depressed and medicated for it since I was about 25 or so.

Early life, I remained in foster care from age 7 to age 18, and that's not a typo. Like I said before no family, for the most part. My mom always managed to get herself into relationships with abusive men that would beat her and I up so I was taken by CYS and put into the system. My real father severely abused me when I was a young child and wasn't allowed contact until age 18. My mom lives in subsidized housing in Reading, Pa. about an hour away from me and lives SSI check to SSI check. My dad actually lives down the street from me but he also is running out of money and he likes to play mental games and get into your head, he's not a person that you would want to get into your head. He's toxic. I could go on and on and probably write a heck of an autobiography but I will end this here for now. I'm open to answering question for people interested in helping me. The bottom line is that I'm completely broke and cannot make the payment, which they will only accept in full, no partial payment's allowed (another rule they came up with to help them clear out tenants). They will accept over-payment but not under-payment, go figure. The rent must be paid through an internet terminal as well, they won't accept checks or cash (another thing that really hurt people, only convenient for themselves). I read there's a “Pay to Stay” law in PA for tenants facing eviction, you have to pay what's owed plus court fees. As of January 1st, 2024, I would need to pay approximately $1,900 - $2,000 or so. Of course the more credit, the more time I have to get everything straitened out. Thank you.

Sincerely, Josh.