GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Residents of mobile home communities across the Charlotte area are protesting for better living conditions.
A rally at a northeast Charlotte mobile home park on Thursday comes after WCNC Charlotte reporter Julia Kauffman was tipped off to predatory towing practices in a Gastonia mobile home park.
People from Gaston and Mecklenburg counties banned together at the Charlotte Hills Mobile Park in hopes of getting the attention of property management companies on a wide range of issues.
Many of the residents, who don’t speak English, said they feel like they’re being taken advantage of.
For example, families in the Archdale mobile home park in Bessemer City said they were facing predatory towing, dirty water, and unjust fines.
Carmen Funez has lived in her trailer for four years. She said she bought the unit and rents the lot from Affordable Housing Affiliates.
"They don't allow us to live right or in peace," Funez said with the help of a translator. Funez said she was fined $50 for having a chair on her front porch.
Neighbors in the Gastonia AHA community are also out thousands of dollars after cars were towed.
"I felt cheated, it sucked. I told [the tow man] I felt like I got played," resident Raquel Vargas told WCNC Charlotte on Wednesday.
AHA fired the tow company, Affliction Towing, on Wednesday during WCNC Charlotte's investigation into the complaints. The Gastonia Police Department is now investigating the tow company.
However, Bessemer City mobile home owner Jessica Torres said other issues at AHA communities still need to be fixed.
"The water is basically brown, orange," Torres shared. She said the water has been that way on and off for years.
Funez added that she cannot wash her clothes at home because the water stains them.
A spokesperson for Affordable Housing Affiliates said the company is now paying to upgrade the water pump and tank in Bessemer City. They expect the work to be finished next week.
While most of the residents bought their trailers from AHA and have purchase agreements, they shared with WCNC Charlotte that they do not have their titles.
"That’s something we’re fighting also," Torres said.
When WCNC Charlotte's Julia Kauffman asked the property manager why residents have not yet gotten their titles, a spokesperson emailed the following statement:
"Titles come from the State- we don’t hold them and we have no incentive on our part to hold the Title. The faster it is confirmed in the owner's name, the better it is for us. We are assisting the homeowners to get their title from the State, but the State needs to review the property history and confirm proper ownership. It’s a slow, fractured, and complicated process which we have no control over. We remain hopeful the State will complete the process and send it to the owner soon."
Torres said neighbors will continue to band together to fight for more changes. "We’re not done, we’re not giving up," she added.
ActionNC is helping many of the mobile home park residents fight for change. If other tenants are looking for help with tenant rights, the group said to email rentersrising@actionnc.org.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.