Senior citizens and others with low incomes have bought deeply discounted mobile homes on Madison's North Side, then found that they can't afford the extensive repairs needed to provide themselves with heat, water and electricity, city officials say.

A manager at Oak Park Terrace mobile home park told officials last week that it would discontinue the types of deals that are leaving buyers without utilities, but the city is continuing to investigate, said Jennifer Zilavy, an assistant city attorney.

On Tuesday a large sign advertising discounted pre-owned homes still stood near a park entrance on Packers Avenue, along with smaller "Open House" placards in English and Spanish.

Zilavy on Tuesday visited four vacant mobile homes that had been marked for sale for $1. She described them as "filthy and awful," with water damage and other serious problems.

"I don't know how anyone in good conscience could sell them to someone as a place to live," she said. "What really annoys me about this place is that they are, in my opinion, victimizing people."

A person who answered the phone at Lakeshore Management of Skokie, Ill., which owns Oak Park, declined to comment Tuesday and a phone message left later wasn't returned. A phone message left at the Madison management office of the park was not returned.

The 64-acre park is licensed for more than 175 permanent living units and up to 25 campers, according to city records.

At least eight people bought "handyman specials" for prices as low as $1 and paid up to $500 a month rent for the land under them, city officials and others said. Oak Park Terrace gave buyers home improvement store coupons for up to $3,000.

But in several cases the coupons fell far short of covering the cost of buying and installing furnaces, plumbing and wiring, Zilavy said.

She said she planned to speak with the Illinois owners Wednesday and continue to look for a legal remedy for the residents.

Officials have issued building code violations to the park for problems like improperly covered electrical service, and plan to issue no-occupancy orders on several vacant units that had been for sale for $1. One citation was issued last week to one of the $1 trailer owners.

The citations are designed to force repairs, in most cases costly ones, and the trailer owners don't have money, said George Hank, director of city building inspections.

Bob Ales, a city building inspector, last week determined one of the discount homes was uninhabitable because it had no gas, electricity or heat, Ales said. The interior water pipes are also broken, he said.

The owner, who is in his 60s, had been walking to a friend's house, or to a gas station, to use the bathroom, Ales said.

"Somebody's got to help these people," said Patricia Dayton, president of the Oak Park residents association. She said many residents qualify for food stamps and live in the park because they can't afford apartments.

The park has been selling $1 trailers for two years, she said.

"It's like they decided instead of tearing them down, they decided to pawn them off on other people," Dayton said.

The cost of demolishing or moving a home runs in the thousands of dollars, she said.

Mary Givens said she paid $200 for her mobile home several weeks ago. She was given a gift certificate for a water heater, but the furnace didn't work. After the park managers arranged for a used furnace to be installed, a utility company employee connected the gas and turned it on, only to see flames coming out from under the unit. Givens said.

The Madison Gas and Electric employee locked off the gas supply and marked the furnace as dangerous on Oct. 19, confirmed company spokesman Steve Krause.

"And they said she (Givens) knew what she was buying, but on another level she didn't know," Zilavy said. "Did she know what it would take to make it safe to live?"

Patrick DePula said last month he started hearing from buyers of the mobile homes in his job as an intake worker at Energy Services, a private nonprofit that provides financial assistance to people who can't afford to heat their homes.

He said he suspects there are more who haven't come forward.

DePula said that, based on what he heard from owners and the terms of the sales, the homes were in such bad condition that the owners wouldn't be eligible for a replacement furnace from the agency.

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