She moved in to take care of her dying father. She stayed because it became her home. Now, Bethany Michel says, the community she has lived in for years wants her gone — and it wants her neighbors to foot the bill for kicking her out.
Michel, 28, a Florida influencer, podcast host, and restaurant reviewer, has lived at Freedom at Arbor Mill, a 55-plus community in Jacksonville, since 2020. She moved there during the COVID-19 pandemic to care for her terminally ill father, a disabled veteran. When he died in October 2023, she inherited the house — and, she says, the fight of her life.
Less than three months after her father’s death, Michel received a notice from the Arbor Mill Homeowners Association: she did not meet the community’s age requirements. Under the HOA’s rules, at least one occupant in every home must be 55 or older. Michel was 25 at the time…