Inside the Tallahassee mobile home park that was without water for days

‘It was terrible. It was horrible,’ one local resident said.

• Residents of a Leon County mobile home community went without running water for a week.
• Many residents incurred extra expenses for laundry, bottled water, and fast food.
• After a county commissioner’s involvement, water service was restored.

Dogs barked as Leon County Commission Chair Christian Caban walked through the Florida Sun Estates 2 neighborhood.

He made his way door to door in the south side community on Aenon Church Trail, knocking and hoping to speak with residents about their plumbing. The residents of more than 40 trailer homes had gone a week without running water.

He got what he came for: Many residents voiced concerns about unsanitary living conditions. Others mentioned the added expenses incurred while trying to make do with what they had.

And after a very long week, water was restored.

Charles Murray, who owns his trailer home but pays rent for the land it’s on, has lived there for nearly 15 years. He complained that he spent $25 to wash his clothes at the laundromat down the street just to be able to have clean clothes until the water was restored.

“I have a washer and dryer sitting inside the house,” Murray said, shaking his head. “I’m stuck in a place I don’t want to be.”

On Feb. 4, Caban and his team made sure portable sanitary stations — including bathrooms and showers, some of which were wheelchair accessible — were on site for residents.

County staff ensured everything operated smoothly and told the commissioner they had seen several residents using them first thing the next morning.

Janya Samuel, 21, her mother Charity Brown, and her grandmother, who is disabled, live just across the street from Murray. The three generations have lived there over two decades.

Brown said how difficult it was to constantly be buying bottled water just so they could flush the toilet or wash dishes: “It’s not like we could just go out to the hose and fill them back up.”

The family spent an estimated $150 that week, buying bottled water and trying to find cheap fast food to prevent dishes from piling up in the sink. “Coming out of pocket and it’s, it’s been a mess,” she said. “It was terrible. It was horrible.”

Brown’s property isn’t part of Florida Sun Estates 2, but they share the same water line as the rest of the residents. Since the property has come under new ownership, many have noted how hard it is to get a response from management and to have a conversation in person or on the phone.

“No one is ever in the office. You try to reach out to the two numbers that they give, and all you can do is text them, and they don’t respond,” Brown stated. “We have to have water.”

The day Caban got involved, residents regained hope. Plumbers were finally seen, and by the end of Feb. 5, the newfound luxury of running water was back.

Caban held a brief press conference in front of the portable sanitation stations to share his next steps.

“Our office intends to bring this up at the County Commission meeting because I have big issues with the management and the living conditions of some of these units out here,” said Caban. The residents “have said the water goes out frequently, that this is the longest time this has happened, (and) this is a repetitive issue.”

Caban also intends to follow up with a letter to the property owner and management.

A recent history of Florida Sun Estates 2

The small trailer park in west Tallahassee on Aenon Church Road off Tennessee Street in the 32304 ZIP code, dubbed the poorest ZIP code in the state, first entered the headlines in 2022, when it was named the Seminole.

After the park’s purchase by Sun Estates in late 2021, residents of both the Seminole and another trailer park, The Meadows, received a notice of non-renewal of leases. Legal aid groups and elected leaders rallied around the renters as they faced eviction, skyrocketing rents and non-responsive management.

The move came as investors buying up mobile homes, evicting renters and raising lot prices became a national trend.

In October of last year, a fatal shooting happened outside a home in the vicinity. Deputies responded to the scene after reports of gunshots at the Sun Estates and found a deceased man inside a vehicle, who was reportedly shot in the head.

The Leon County Sheriff’s Office later arrested Trevon Cloud, 33, who is currently being held in the Leon County Detention facility on second-degree murder charges.

Alicia Devine is the Tallahassee Democrat’s photojournalist & visual storyteller. Local government watchdog reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.