Battered by Milton, Hillsborough migrant workers fear spike in rent

RUSKIN — The first thing Marcela Vázquez did Friday morning was frantically search social media for a mobile home rental for herself and her four children.

Hurricane Milton had ripped away her mobile home’s roof and flooded the entrance, swamping the kitchen and causing a leak in one of her children’s rooms. This came just two weeks after water from Hurricane Helene ruined her only car, a 2018 Malibu, which she’s been unable to repair because of the cost.

Within an hour, she saw three offers on WhatsApp, rents spiking so high that they were well above the $1,100 she usually pays each month at her Ruskin park.

“They’re asking for more than $1,500 like it’s nothing,” said Vázquez, 37. “I think it’s time to put your hand on your heart and not take advantage of the situation.”

Massive hurricanes move markets. Gas runs out. Plywood and water bottles vanish from store shelves. Homes are removed from inventory. All the while, in the frenzied runup and messy aftermath, prices adjust.

For the most vulnerable, market shifts can be life changing. After Hurricane Milton left thousands of Tampa Bay homes flooded and damaged, rental prices seemed to have jumped, according to interviews with more than a dozen low-income residents in Wimauma, Gibsonton, and Ruskin.

Ana Lamb, a Hispanic community activist in Tampa Bay who has been helping low-income families before and after Milton, said it is sad to see large families with young children struggle when their homes have been damaged or destroyed.

Several families whose homes suffered severe damage from the rain and winds reached out to Lamb via WhatsApp Wednesday and Thursday.

“Unfortunately, we can’t do much right now,” Lamb said. “But one thing is true: we’re not asking for anything for free, but it would help if someone tried to understand the situation these families are in.”

Vázquez, a single mother who works up to 10 hours a day to support her family as a construction worker, said she wasn’t entirely surprised. She recalled how in 2017, when she still lived in a Texas suburb, a Category 4 hurricane named Harvey destroyed her first mobile home. She said rental prices also spiked suddenly in the days following the emergency when many families began searching for places to live outside the affected areas.

Milagros Matías, a 63-year-old Puerto Rican who has lived in a trailer park in Gibsonton since 2015, watched as the floods rose so high Thursday that many residents chose not to drive their cars through the standing water.

Matías returned to her mobile home to assess the damage after spending Hurricane Milton at a relative’s house. Milton’s winds had damaged her carport and flooded the entrance to her trailer. She wondered what to do if, in the coming days, she and her husband had to find a place to live with prices exceeding their monthly budget of $1,200.

“Where could I go if they ask for $400 more than what we already pay with so much effort?” Matías asked. “It’s something that doesn’t have an answer. At least not for now.”

Dulce Martínez, a 47-year-old Mexican immigrant, spent much of Friday morning searching for rental options on Facebook and WhatsApp while trying to clear floodwater and fallen tree branches that had damaged the roof of her rental home in Wimauma.

Martínez lives in a housing complex where most residents are families and immigrants from Mexico and Central America. She said with Hurricane Helene, the water entered from underneath her home, and now with Milton, the roof took the worst hit.

Martínez and her three children spent the night in a shelter, and when they returned home Thursday, they couldn’t believe what they saw.

“It was like a war zone,” she said.

She would like to move due to the persistent humidity, mold and a hole in the roof caused by the hurricane but the rental prices make it nearly impossible.

“We are all affected,” she said. “But I think not even prayers are enough.”

Editors note: Anyone who suspects price gouging can report it to the Florida Attorney General’s Office by calling 866-9-NO-SCAM. During a storm-related state of emergency, state law prohibits excessive increases in the price of essential commodities, such as equipment, food, gasoline, dwellings and water, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

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