When Bernabela crossed into the United States from Chiapas, Mexico, with her young children about a decade ago, she did so in search of a better life. America, she was told, was filled with endless opportunities for those willing to work hard.
She saw pictures capturing the beauty of Florida and set out, arriving in Immokalee. She and her husband found work. But like others who came to Immokalee before them, they discovered there were few housing options aside from dilapidated trailers.
Years later in 2017, Hurricane Irma exposed many outsiders to the plight of people like Bernabela: the poor, mostly farm working families in rural Collier County.
Irma didn’t create the substandard living conditions. It’s been that way for decades.
Bernabela and her children agreed to take WGCU News on a private tour of a trailer she and her family once called home. We are not using her last name nor her children's’ last names due to their status as immigrants.
From a distance their rig looks cheery. It stands out among a number of others in the area with its royal blue and white paint thanks to Mennonite youths on a missionary retreat after Hurricane Irma.
A neighboring trailer is infested with mold. The exterior paint it is impossible to identify because it's awash in moldy black, gray and green hues. The rig’s underbelly is crumbling.
In Spanish, Bernabela explains that her trailer was exactly like the neighboring one before the Mennonites painted the trailers and fixed some, but not all of the problems.
“All the walls were drenched with mold and bacteria,” said Laura Safer Espinoza.
Immokalee family tells story of deplorable living conditions
Safer Espinoza is a retired New York state judge whose been advocating for the working poor in Immokalee for years. She said that after Hurricane Irma, Bernabela’s family was forced to move into a single room in the trailer so another family could move into a second bedroom. The third bedroom was rented to men.
“There were a lot of flies and a whole bunch of insects that got in at night,” said Bernabela’s 11-year-old daughter Ashley. “It wasn’t easy to sleep either, and we didn't have any privacy or anything.”
Ashley explained how there was a big hole in the bathroom floor that snakes and other critters would use to enter the trailer: “We were scared the animals would come up in it. It wasn't very nice.”
The years her family lived in the trailer, Bernabela’s youngest daughter Kimberly, who is now 8, experienced a series of health issues from the mold and bacteria. She had to use a nebulizer. Kimberly also suffered stomach problems for fear of using the bathroom.
“They had to have medical attention for that. You know, these are the things that are the unseen costs of this kind of living and what it does to people, what it does to families and what it does to children,” said Safer Espinoza. “These kids are good students, you know, they deserve a private, quiet, safe place to study and try to make a better future.”
Bernabela said she and her husband paid $1,000 a month for the family to live in one bedroom. The combined rent, including the other family and the room with the single men was over $2,000.
When Bernabela’s pastor saw her living conditions, he took her and the rest of the family into his home. It’s temporary.
Safer Espinoza said it took no time to fill the trailer with different tenants:
“Other people are living here now, I mean, the landlords don't sleep on this opportunity to make big bucks,” said Safer Espinoza.
Now the rig fetches far more money.
Each of the 10 men is required to pay $80 a week to live there.
This is what $3,200 gets: The wooden deck leading into the camper is not very sturdy. Some flooring feels soft as well.
There’s a dampness in the air in some areas and it’s stifling in other parts.
Tile floor in one bedroom is riddled with cracks.
A collage of blue painters tape is on the ceiling. The children say it’s to keep the bugs from dropping on them while they slept.
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Bernabela smiles as she talks about getting a chance to live in the new affordable housing being built in Immokalee. Her daughters, Ashley, 11, and Kimberly, 8, as well as their cousin, looks on. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Bernabella with her children, Eddie, 17, Ashley, 11, and Kimberly, 8, and her niece, stand near the spot of their new apartment. They will be one of the first families to move into the new housing being built. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Bernabella looks us on a tour of their former living situation. There are still holes in the kitchen cabinets. She would have to check for frogs that could come inside, every time she cooked. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Ashley, 11, gives a hug to Arol Huntsman, Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance, after she arrived to the location of their new home. Brother, Eddie, and her mom, Bernabella, look on. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Remanence of their life can still be found in the home. 12 people lived in a three bedroom trailer until the family could find better housing. They lived here for 6 years. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A cracked floor in one of the bedrooms. 10 men now live in the Trailer. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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One of the current renters of the home talks to Eddie (left) about things they have had to fix themselves since moving in. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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— WGCUImokaleeHousing03012023AM
Remanence of their life can still be found in the home. 12 people lived in a three bedroom trailer until the family could find better housing. They lived here for 6 years. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A cracked wall inside one of the bedrooms. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Eddie and his cousin hung stars on the ceiling. A few still remain. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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The trailer was pained over a few years back but the black mold has started to seep through the paint. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Bernabela talks about the condition of the bathroom. The Mold and the hole in the floor. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Ashley, 11, talks about getting to move into a new place. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Eddie, 11, talks about how excited he is to get a new place to live. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Bernabella with her children, Eddie, 17, Ashley, 11, and Kimberly, 8, and her niece, stand near the spot of their new apartment. They will be one of the first families to move into the new housing being built. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A new trailer was installed across the street. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A couple of farmworkers walk home. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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The trailer on the other side of the lot looks similar to how their trailer looked before it was painted. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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This is the trailer Bernabela lived in with her family. It has been painted, but living conditions haven’t gotten better. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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The trailer on the other side of the lot looks similar to how their trailer looked before it was painted. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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The land where the new housing units will be built. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Bernabela talks about what life was like inside the trailer where she lived with her family, 12 people total. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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The land where the new housing units will be built. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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The land where the new housing units will be built. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Bernabela talks about the condition of the bathroom. The Mold and the hole in the floor. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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The hole in the floor has been covered but the mold in the ceiling is still there. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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A hole to the outside can be seen between the cabinets in the kitchen. All kind of bugs and animals would find their way into the home. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Kimberly, 8, gives a hug to Arol Huntsman, Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance, after she arrived to the location of their new home. Brother, Eddie, and her mom, Bernabella, look on. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Eddie talked about how he and his cousin would glue together puzzles and hang them on the walls to help cover up hole. One of the puzzles is still on the wall in one of the bedrooms. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
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Bernabela talks about the new apartment that is being built with a smile on her face. The housing situation for the farmworkers and full time residents in Immokalee, FL, has gone from bad to worse since Hurricane Irma put a beating on the small town. There is not a single vacancy at this time anywhere. Laura Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman, they along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance. They are now working on the festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing. To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 per building. Among the first 16 families that will live in this new community is Bernabela’s. She and her children Eddie is 17, Ashley 11, and Kimberly, 8, lived at one time in one of the bedrooms, of a 3 bedroom trailer, with 8 people.
Andrea Melendez / WGCU
Eddie, who is 17, explained it like this: “When it gets cold there's like these bugs that go to the light and they have like wings. And then the wings fall off and they become kind of like ants. …. They land on our bodies sometimes when we used to go to sleep.”
His old bedroom was about 9-feet-by-9-feet. There’s a bunk bed and a single bed. Eight people were living in there at one point, he said.
There’s still a few of Eddie’s glow-in-the-dark stars left on the ceiling. “Yeah, it was, well, you know, you always need a little bit of joy or something.”
In a bathroom, he points where a hole in the floor has been repaired. Another bathroom had a bathtub that needed to be hoisted up to keep it from falling onto the ground. Same for the toilet.
Bernabela said aside from the Mennonites, the tenants did most of the repairs over the years.
Andrea Melendez
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WGCU
“Nobody does any repairs. The people who live here, we take it out of our own pockets. And we repair because we don't want our children to live like that,” Bernabela said through an interpreter.
Still, a bathroom window is stuck open, giving access to animals and vermin. There are also holes in walls inside the kitchen cabinets, an easy passage for frogs.
“Whenever we wanted to go cook and we look in the pan and there were frogs,” Ashley said. “…It was very gross too.”
The family’s tour is a snapshot of substandard housing for roughly 1,000 or so of the 6,000 families that call Immokalee home.
Habitat for Humanity has built over 1,000 homes here in the last 45 years. But about 43 percent of those who apply don’t qualify for the homes because they don’t make enough money.
Enter Safer Espinoza and her husband Arol Buntzman. They along with a dozen or so people are the backbone of the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance.
The group formed after Hurricane Irma when independent charitable organizations rushed to Immokalee to assist victims with food, water, diapers and medicine.
Workforce housing to be built in Imokalee
The more Safer Espinoza and Buntzman thought about the situation, the more they realized their efforts were just BandAids on a festering problem: The lack of safe, affordable housing.
Many advocates though believed Safer Expinoza and Buntzman’s dream would never happen.
“[They said] You can't get the land, it's too expensive. You have to have it rezoned because there's no big piece of land that (is) zoned for multifamily. And politically, it'll never happen,” Buntzman said.
But it is happening by individual donations from $5 to $1 million. Zero federal and state dollars will be used because of government policies on funding for undocumented people.
To date, the Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance has raised about $5 million enough for initial costs, infrastructure and the completion the first building. The group is $1 million shy of being able to build the second building. It cost about $2.8 million per building.
“There’s been a shortage of affordable housing Immokalee for decades, but it was made worse by Irma and the recent hurricane,” Buntzman said. “ … Affordable housing is the missing link to escape poverty and exploitation.”
Buntzman recently gathered with some 80 people to celebrate a wall raising for the first apartment building. In all, his group plans to build at least eight, two story buildings that will have 16 units in each. Rent will be based on a family’s income and may not exceed 30 percent of that.
“But it's more than just dignity,” Buntzman said. “It'll change the people who get to move in. It will change everything. The kids won't get as sick as often so they won't miss school. The parents will not miss work as often. They won't have to spend 70% of their income for rent. And when you do that, there's not enough money left over for decent amounts of good food, for medicine, for clothing. But when your rent drops to 30% of household income, which is what it's supposed to be for everybody in the country, then there's is money left over for decent quality of life. And that's what we're bringing about.”
Andrea Melendez
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WGCU
Among the first 16 families that will move into the new building will be Bernabela’s.
Through an interpreter she says she’s very happy, she is content and filled with emotions. She says she is especially happy for the children who will have a decent place.
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