Nowhere to go: Time running out for residents of one Tallahassee mobile home park

Outside and in the rain, on the grassy shoulder of Roberts Avenue as cars sped by, LeChaye Johnson broke down in tears.

She needs housing. She needs her twin 8-year-old sons, born prematurely, to stay at Sabal Palm Elementary School for wrap-around services. She needs help, but the management at Florida Sun Estates, the trailer park where she lives, won't respond.

"It's not just me. It's my mom, it's my sister, it's my brother. Just to see so many people have to move, and they don't have anywhere to go," she said, brushing tears and rain drops from her face with her jacket sleeve while her son, face burrowed in the hood of a puffy black rain jacket, hugged her side.

On Tuesday afternoon, Johnson and her family were joined at a press conference by community leaders who were advocating for residents struggling to meet the demands of their new landlord.

The press conference came after the Tallahassee Democrat first reported that residents of Florida Sun Estates, formerly known as The Meadows, were distraught over the park's new ownership doubling rents and refusing to renew leases. 

Back story:

• Sabal Palm community reels as new trailer park owner doubles rent, pushes residents to find new homes
• Community leaders vow to help Meadows trailer park residents lower lot fee, find new homes

Residents of Florida Sun Estates are not able to reach management to resolve their cases, said Tallahassee City Commissioner Jack Porter, making it hard for residents to move on. 

Some residents are on month-to-month lease agreements, and though they're still in their homes, they are afraid of a getting an eviction notice instead of a request for next month's rent.

Porter said she has reached out "countless times" to management.

Tuesday afternoon, Porter, fellow City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow and Leon County Schools board chair Darryl Jones spoke outside the trailer park and criticized management.

"We are asking Florida Sun Estates to show some human decency and respect," Matlow said.  The city manager's office was able to contact management, Matlow added, but the answers were unacceptable.

Sabal Palm principal Anicia Robinson used to personally walk children who lived in the trailer park back home from school through a side gate, but now that entrance is blocked off with a six-foot-tall piece of plywood that says "GATE CLOSED" in spray-painted black letters.

Robinson also was able to get in contact with management, but her pleas to reopen the side gate to the trailer park were denied, Jones said. 

"They have been unrepentant. Even with assurances that she would be responsible for opening and closing the gate, they would not concede."

Shortly after the press conference started, trailer park security pulled up to the grassy area next to the Florida Sun Estates sign and asked the media to back up to the sidewalk.

"They're our guests," one resident said. "It's a free country," another said.

In an aside conversation with Matlow, the security officer said the property management did not want news media on the property.

"They (the residents) are allowed to invite guests, but the media are not allowed because you guys are actually doing something that's against what ... property ownership wants," the security officer said.

According to records, Florida Sun Estates LLC bought the trailer park for $14 million on Aug. 31. The company, created by an Orlando insurance agent named Derek Vickers, has increased the lot fees, refused to renew leases and is requiring tenants to buy their mobile homes. Vickers has not responded to multiple calls from the Tallahassee Democrat.

And in December, Vickers bought another property in Tallahassee that houses over 30 mobile homes, according to the Leon County Property Appraiser’s website. 

Florida Sun Estates residents, many who relied on the trailer park as an affordable housing option in a city where demand outpaces supply, were unable to meet Vickers' demands and have left.

"If you drive through this community now, there's so many empty trailers, with teddy bears and bikes," said Johnson's sister, Chanice, while speaking at the protest. 

She, too, began to cry. 

"It's just not right," she said, as she handed the microphone to her mother.

Buying mobile home communities, evicting renters and raising lot prices has become a national trend. As private trailer park owners age and retire, the lots get bought by investors who are getting low-interest, government-backed loans.

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How to help:Community organizations, leaders offer resources to residents of Florida Sun Estates

LaChaye Johnson has spent nights lying awake, worrying about finding a new place to live. The only option she has right now is a trailer in Havana. That would mean either a 30-minute commute to Sabal Palm or uprooting her children from a school that they love.

The press conference was tiring for her. She felt gloomy, like the weather. 

"Even though we're reaching out, it's still at a standstill. We're talking to people, we're filling out applications, and everything takes time and we understand that, but who is going to step up?" she said.

"You don't know what tomorrow is going to bring because the only thing you can do is sit and wait."

How to help

• If community members want to help the tenants of Florida Sun Estates, Porter said she is starting a mutual aid fund for residents, and anyone who wants to donate can contact her office at 850-891-8191.
• Attorneys can also provide pro bono representation for residents, and landlords who have affordable housing available should also contact Porter's office, which is trying to rehouse families who can no longer stay in their trailer homes.

Contact Ana Goñi-Lessan at AGoniLessan@tallahassee.com and follow her on Twitter @goni_lessan. 

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