Another local senior community upended by rent rate hike: ‘We are stuck here’

CARNEGIE, Pa. — We recently told you about a Cloverleaf community in Delmont speaking out after what they call an unfair land rent hike. Since our story aired, another Cloverleaf community in Carnegie has joined the fight.

“They are having problems with inflation,” said Mark Bradway, who has lived in Cloverleaf West for eight years. “They are overcharging, and they are taking it out on senior citizens.”

“We just have nowhere else to go, and we need to get the word out,” said Susan Vitch, who organized the protest outside of the community.

Neighbors from Cloverleaf West, a 55-and-over community, stood with homemade signs as they heard dozens of car horns in support of their fight.

“I started at $515 a month. I’m at $800. That’s a 56% increase in 8 years,” said Bradway. “The economy has gone up with inflation 32.4%. We get it. The economy with inflation has gone up, but they are charging me 25% more.”

Bradway said the land rent isn’t the only way Cloverleaf is overcharging its residents.

“The water bill is estimated,” Bradway continued. “So they are saying in 90 days I used 700 gallons of water. That’s 82 gallons a day. That’s impossible.”

“We are hoping that our senators who are stalling the bill in the PA Senate realize that we are in a Catch-22 here,” Vitch said. “We have nowhere to go. We are stuck here.”

Channel 11 reached out to Rep. Liz Hanbidge, the primary sponsor of House Bill 1250, which would protect seniors in cloverleaf communities from drastic yearly increases.

She says, in part, “House Bill 1250 passed the House 144-59 with overwhelming bipartisan support, and support has only grown as manufactured-home residents across Pennsylvania have demanded these protections. If Senate Republicans would simply allow a vote, it would pass, and the governor would sign it.”

Now neighbors like Vitch are working to bring the comunity together.

“I just want to tell our sister communities out there, Cloverleaf East, Plum, Murrysville, Delmont, ‘We hear you,’” Vitch said. “We want you to join us in this and come together as one so we can get our voices heard.”

We reached out to the Sampson Morris Group, who own Cloverleaf, but did not hear back. Neighbors say they will continue to place signs and protest daily in front of their community, but their next step is to join together and go to the owners’ headquarters.

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