Water Work and the Politics of Safe Drinking Water in Manufactured Home Communities

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7: City and Environment

Abstract

Manufactured home communities (MHCs) constitute one of the largest sources of unsubsidized affordable housing in the United States and a critical pathway to homeownership for low-income, Latinx, and older households. Yet many MHCs are characterized by aging infrastructure, divided land tenure, and uneven regulatory oversight. A growing body of state-level reports demonstrates MHCs—experience higher rates of water shutoffs and drinking water violations. This problem is yet to be unexamined in the scholarly literature.

This paper examines how residents in manufactured home communities experience poor water quality and reliability (WQ&R) and how MHC ownership structure shapes both material conditions and institutional trust. Drawing on an original survey of 150 MHC residents in Michigan and Colorado and 50 in-depth interviews, I analyze how community characteristics (size, location, incorporated/unincorporated status) and ownership structure (small owner, corporate, private equity, resident-owned) intersect with state policy contexts to shape everyday water insecurity.

Findings show that distrust in tap water often exceeds documented regulatory violations. Residents describe persistent concerns about taste, odor, discoloration, and intermittent shutoffs, necessitating significant labor to manage household water concerns. I conceptualize this labor as water work: the unpaid, frequently gendered labor required to secure safe and reliable water. Water work includes purchasing and transporting bottled water, installing filtration systems, rationing during outages, and documenting service interruptions. In contexts of divided property tenure—where residents own homes but rent land—fear of landlord retaliation shapes claim-making strategies, which holds lessons for other housing tenures, like traditional rental housing.

By centering MHC residents’ experiences, this paper demonstrates that water inequality in manufactured home communities is not solely a problem of aging pipes or regulatory noncompliance. It is a product of housing tenure arrangements; financialization and ownership consolidation; spatial marginalization; and uneven state intervention.

Author

• Esther Sullivan, University of Colorado Denver