Letter: Mobile home owners should have same protection

Posted

The residents of mobile homes in the City of Sumter, South Carolina, are at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) infection due to the substandard conditions that a significant percentage of these homes are currently in. Therefore, the residents of these homes suffer substantial burdens of high morbidity and mortality from this highly contagious and deadly disease.

Families who live in mobile homes are in the majority of cases indigent and live at or below the poverty level.

Many mobile homes in Sumter are not in a safe condition due to the presence of rotting ceilings, floors, roofs, walls and windows. Some of the ceilings and floors collapse, causing significant danger and loss of life to anyone inside our homes.

The plumbing in a significant number of mobile homes in the City of Sumter does not function properly oftentimes, causing families who live in these homes not to be able to use the bathroom facilities.

The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants all Americans "equal protection under the law."

It is our belief that mobile homeowners deserve to be granted the same protection, equal to that rendered to any other home owners of the City of Sumter.

BRENDA C. WILLIAMS, M.D.

Sumter