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The Tompkins County Legislature’s manufactured housing working group is working to address issues surrounding manufactured housing in the county, focusing on the need to improve energy efficiency, affordability, and community ownership.
Working group member Danielle Eiseman told the Ithaca Times, "The working group was created after the legislature brought up concerns about the energy costs and needs of constituents living in manufactured homes [and] we've been exploring these issues more deeply ever since." She added, “Since October 2022, our small informal group has been exploring a lot of the problems surrounding residents living in...
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According to Brown, “What it really came down to, for me, was that this is truly affordable housing that you can own…[and] when investors buy these parks, they raise the rents and don't improve the infrastructure [and] it leads to ongoing issues for the residents.”
I have some basic factual problems with this often repeated, but factually incorrect, statement that include:
- When a park sells – whether to an investor or a non-profit – a giant mortgage is placed upon it. This requires a huge increase in rent to pay it off. Mom and pop could charge a tiny rent because they owned the park free and clear. So the only way that you can stop rents from going up, in the event of a park sale, would be for mom and pop to give the park away for free. Unlikely to happen.
- An investor and non-profit both have to pay the exact same water rate, sewer rate, electric rate, trash fee, property tax, insurance premium, repair bills – every single line item on the P&L. As a result, they both have to charge the same rent to cover those costs.
- If you read these articles every week, you will note that just last week the non-profit admitted that the tenants will be paying the same – or more – rent by buying the park themselves.
- Investors are much better managers and stewards of a property than the residents are. The residents lack the discipline to file evictions, make tough choices on rent levels, and enforce the rules.
- Professional investors, in fact, are the ONLY ones out there fixing aging park infrastructure and taking these old properties to the next level.
- I am yet to see a single park in the United States, purchased by a professional investor, that is not far nicer now than when they bought it.
Would a “working group” accept these factual statements? Never. Common sense is left at the door when these types of committees get together. But the facts are still the facts and even if just one person reads this and understands the truth now, then it was worthwhile writing this. We can’t allow these lies to continue.