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Maine Public: Brunswick residents may be the first to use a new Maine law to purchase their mobile home park

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The windows of Janet Fournier’s single-wide mobile home in Brunswick are open on this warm summer day. Fournier and her neighbor Tom Benoit point to the wild blueberry fields that can be seen at the edge of Linnhaven Mobile Home Center.

"You can really see them well from — well, I'd say from my street — because it's completely open," Benoit said. "It's beautiful."

Like many of their neighbors, Fournier and Benoit moved to Linnhaven wanting something affordable and easy to maintain as they got older. When they learned that the park's long-time owner wanted to sell, they feared the worst.

Benoit said residents worried that a new owner would...

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Of course, it’s only logical that the residents are going to come up with $28 million to buy their park, right? Besides the basic issues of how they’re going to get a hand-out for an $8 million downpayment and a non-profit personal guarantee on the mortgage of around $20 million comes this very alarming statistic:

Maine has more than 700 manufactured and mobile home parks. Ten are resident-owned communities.

Are you serious? I hate to rain on the tenant-owned-community concept, but that’s a ridiculously small rate of success. Assuming that the resident-owned concept has been around since the 1980s (which it has) and there are only 10 tenant-owned parks in the state of Maine, that’s an average of less than one deal per half-decade. AND THAT WAS BACK WHEN PARKS WERE MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE.

These concepts simply don’t work – and everyone in the industry knows this. I wish the bureaucrats that pass these stupid laws would research the actual facts. It would blow their minds.

Charlottesville Tomorrow: Local groups are scrambling to find the money to buy Carlton Mobile Home Park before the owner sells it to an unnamed buyer

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After Charlottesville Tomorrow published a report in late June about the pending sale of Carlton Mobile Home Park, local groups and residents have mobilized to try to buy the park — and prevent its residents from possibly being displaced.

Last month, Carlton Mobile Home Park residents received a letter from the current owners saying that they’d received a $7 million offer on the park and were poised to accept it. And, as required by state law, the letter informed residents that they had 60 days to put in an offer of their own.

Charlottesville Tomorrow published a story about the potential sale, and how it could affect residents, on June...

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Now, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville is scrambling to put together an offer on the park on behalf of residents before that 60 days is up on August 6. “Nothing is certain at this point,” said Dan Rosensweig, Habitat Charlottesville’s president and CEO. “But we feel like we have a moral and ethical obligation, when people — especially vulnerable people — who are in harm’s way, to at least look at it.”

No, actually, something is very certain at this point: there’s no way on earth that the residents are going to come up with $7 million in three weeks. Or three months. Or three years. Or three decades. Or three centuries. That’s because these tenant right-of-first refusal concepts are in complete contradiction to the basics of common sense. Here’s the problem: the tenants personally have no money so they are reliant on a hand-out from a non-profit for the down-payment and a second non-profit to personally guarantee the mortgage. And when it comes time to pony up the cold, hard cash, even the most flippant do-gooders have seemingly forgotten their wallets like some dead-beat on a double date. It all reminds me of the time I got a call from a city councilman in Oklahoma City who wanted me not to evict some guy that had not paid his rent for a couple months and was heading to eviction trial (I’m assuming this tenant barged into his office, terrorized him, and he wanted to get him out of his office). So I told him “OK, no problem, you just pay the amount he owes currently and I’ll call the eviction off”. He responded “now wait a minute, I can’t afford to pay the rent” and I said “well, when you’re ready to pay it, just send in the money and we’ll call the eviction off.” Of course, I never heard from him again. All talk but no action when there was actual money involved.

When will bureaucrats figure out that they’ve all been conned into believing these tenant first-rights ever actually pan out? Because they don’t. Everyone in reality-land knows this and simply view the 60-day period as a complete and utter waste of time. Not because landlords are evil and don’t care about the tenants. Obviously, tenant money is as good as anybody else’s. But because these deals never, ever happen in real life. It’s just a statistical fact.

Char-Koosta News: Tester Introduces Bill to Support Affordable Housing Options in Montana

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Senator’s Manufactured Housing Community Sustainability Act addresses rising housing costs by bolstering manufactured housing

BIG SANDY — As part of his continued efforts to improve access to housing in Montana, U.S. Senator Jon Tester introduced the Manufactured Housing Community Sustainability Act, legislation to allow more Montanans to stay in their homes and protect them from excessive rent increases by incentivizing manufactured home park owners to sell land to residents rather than another landlord or developer.

“Montanans in every corner of our state have told me they are being impacted by rising housing costs and a shortage of...

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Tester’s Manufactured Housing Community Sustainability Act would create a 75% federal tax credit offsetting capital gains if the property is sold to a resident-owned cooperative or nonprofit. This economic incentive would help preserve more manufactured housing communities and keep more families in their homes, while protecting the long-term viability of this important piece the affordable housing market.

Well, this is sort of on the right track. The future success of keeping mobile home parks from being redeveloped could be achieved with aggressive tax abatement. I wrote an article years ago when a Congressman proposed that there be no capital gains tax charged when a mobile home park is sold without being redeveloped. Of course, that concept didn’t go anywhere. But tying that idea to selling to the residents is a death sentence for this vision to have any real impact, as the odds of the tenants successfully buying any park is about .00000000001%. If you remove that roadblock, you might really have something of value. Hopefully, Tester will soon realize this to be the case.

KLFY: New Iberia applying for grant to preserve and revitalize mobile homes

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NEW IBERIA, La. ()– New Iberia is in the process of submitting an application for a grant that could help make mobile homes more storm-and hurricane-resistant.

The city is applying for the Federal Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement Program, which provides $225 million nationwide to preserve and revitalize housing units, primarily for low- and moderate-income residents.

New Iberia would use the money to repair damaged, existing trailer and mobile homes, as well as fix roads and drainage issues.

New Iberia City Council Woman Deedy Johnson-Reid said the repairs are aimed at making mobile homes more durable...

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More common sense takes hold! This is the way to preserve affordable housing: by helping park owners and mobile home residents make upgrades to homes, particularly in areas with severe weather risk.

I wish more counties would take this approach with their infrastructure funds.

Clay Center City Council approves tax credits for floundering trailer park: Clay Center City Council approves tax credits for floundering trailer park

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Last week, the Clay Center City Council gave the nod for a developer trying to develop the Country Gardens Trailer Park to seek tax credits through the Kansas Housing Authority on the project.

When asked if her plan was to build more trailer houses, Penni Zelinkoff told the council that they would be “manufactured homes on concrete slabs” and would include a set of steps into one entrance and a ramp into the other to make them ADA accessible...

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Another positive article about a city government realizing the importance of preserving mobile home parks.

This can’t be happening! Where did all the wokesters go?

The Dispatch: Controversial rezoning of West Kelowna mobile home park back at council

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Four tenants remain at a West Kelowna mobile home park that is the centre of a controversial rezoning application.

A letter to city council from Kerr Properties states all tenants of Shady Acres Park (2355 Marshall Road) have now been relocated, housed and compensated per the Residential Tenancy Act and a relocation plan.

“Remaining are three owners who didn’t accept our offers to purchase their home and have elected to wait until the 12 Month Notice to End Tenancy for Conversion of a Manufactured Home Park is issued upon rezoning of the property,” the letter reads. 

There is one other owner, of an unpermitted structure, who has retained...

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Kerr Properties intends to rezone the site to industrial use.The letter points out that the company contacted 20 nonprofit agencies seeking assistance in the relocation and support tenants.“The response to our appeal for help from these agencies was extremely disappointing with only one group responding. Fortunately, PIERS stepped up and offered assistance to all those willing, and in coordination with our relocation coordinator successfully relocated all tenants.”

Another article about a mobile home park being torn down to build a more profitable industrial use. What’s interesting about this is that 19 out of 20 non-profits rebuffed any assistance to the residents in relocation efforts. This further supports my theory that most non-profits only interested in fundraising or publicity – not because they actually care about people in need.

The News-Herald: Madison Township trustees turn down rezoning request for expansion of manufactured-home park

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Madison Township trustees have denied a rezoning request that would have allowed for the expansion of a manufactured-home park in the community.

Trustees, during a recent meeting, voted unanimously to reject a zoning-amendment application submitted by James Place Properties Inc.

The company wanted to rezone two parcels that border its James Place manufactured home park at 6381 North Ridge Road.

North Ridge Road also is known as Route 20.

James Place had requested that the zoning classification of these parcels be changed from B-2 Regional Business District to MH Manufactured Home Park District. The company sought to rezone those...

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Madison Township trustees have denied a rezoning request that would have allowed for the expansion of a manufactured-home park in the community. Trustees, during a recent meeting, voted unanimously to reject a zoning-amendment application submitted by James Place Properties Inc.

I find it endlessly amusing that people inside our industry (and on Biden’s soon-to-be-unemployed advisory team) claim that there’s a new era of mobile home park construction right around the corner when the truth is that absolutely no city or town in the U.S. is ever going to allow new park construction under local zoning laws.

I will note that another week has passed without a single person responding to my simple challenge to send me the information on any new parks that have been actually built and opened in the U.S. (not just talked about, applied for, or investor funds raised). The “new park narrative” is blatantly false and anyone who has ever actually applied for a permit to build a new mobile home park already knows that.

Yahoo! Finance: I Retired in a Mobile Home: Why It’s the Best Real Estate Decision I Ever Made

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When you think about retirement living, what comes to mind? Downsizing to a smaller house? Moving into one of those fancy senior living places? Well, not for Lisa Jackson. The retired engineer had a different idea. She decided to pursue her lifelong dream of traveling the United States on wheels — selling her house and buying a mobile home. At first, she was apprehensive about such a big purchase as a single woman in her late 60s, but then she thought: “This is my dream, and I better go for it.”

Not What You’d Expect

“When I first told my kids I was going to retire in a mobile home, they thought I’d lost it,” Lisa said. “They were like,...

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Finally, a fair and balanced article about the mobile home park industry! It talks about the stigma against “trailer parks” and then goes over the benefits with profound accuracy. It notes that the buying decision was not made because mobile homes are “mobile” (which is why this person also bought an RV for travel) but because they are cheap and offer more financial freedom. She also likes the “support network” which her neighbors provide (and which Time magazine raved about a few years ago).

It appears there are still real journalists out there!

The Shoestring: Orange Mobile Home Park Tenants Face Steep Rent Hikes

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This article originally appeared in the June 27 edition of the Montague Reporter.

The owners of Leisure Woods Estates are petitioning the town for permission to significantly increase their monthly lot fees for the second year in a row, while many residents of the mobile home park worry that they could be priced out of the community. 

On June 11 the Orange Mobile Home Park Rent Control Board held a public hearing to listen to the owners’ justifications for a proposed 43% rent hike, and to hear residents’ perspectives. About 50 people attended the hearing in the Orange town hall auditorium, with many sharing concerns about the park’s...

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When Sylvester moved to the park, the rent for each lot was $359 per month, which she said was affordable as someone living with a disability and working at Stop & Shop part-time. Months later, the rent control board approved an increase to $410, and Leisure Woods management is now seeking to raise it to $588. “I haven’t even lived there two years, and if you take $588 out of my income that leaves me with nothing to survive on,” Sylvester said. “I would be forced to sell.”

Back to the old worn-out woke narrative that a mobile home park lot rent of $588 is too high in a market in which the single-family home is $265,000 and an apartment is $1,420 per month. Only a total fool would believe that narrative. But what’s more troubling is the writer’s contention that it is somehow the park owner’s responsibility to provide housing to people who claim to only make $600 per month. The writer forgets that it’s the government’s responsibility to house people who can’t survive in the real world under the Section 8 program (which has about a 5-year waiting list), not the park owner. In looking at the profit-and-loss numbers provided to the rent control board, I have no idea why this owner has not demolished this park already and redeveloped it into a more profitable use. They better not push the owner into that position – it’s a miracle that he’s willing to even accept $588 per month to begin with.

Charlottesville: One of the two mobile home parks in Charlottesville is about to be sold

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More than 60 families living in Charlottesville’s Carlton Mobile Home Park are playing a gut wrenching game of wait and see this summer.

The park’s owners are selling. The buyer is yet unknown, so it’s unclear what their intentions for the park will be. But sales like this frequently spell the end of mobile home parks — one way or another. That means park residents face the real possibility of losing their homes in a community where finding an equally affordable replacement is all but impossible.

Our neighborhoods reporter, Erin O’Hare, spoke with park residents and attorneys familiar with Virginia’s Mobile Home Lot Rental Act to get a...

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This sale is happening during a time when mobile home parks are rapidly disappearing all over the country. Statistics about this are surprisingly difficult to find, but the Associated Press reported on the trend last year, as did Forbes and Time. This is important because mobile and manufactured homes are the single largest source of non-subsidized, affordable housing in the United States, according to the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development. And once they’re gone, the parks are not being replaced. That is certainly the case in the Charlottesville area. Carlton Mobile Home Park is one of just two remaining parks in the city, and one of six if you include parks in Albemarle County. In the last 15 years or so, the  area lost at least four parks.

We’re on a roll this week. Another fair and balanced article. Looks like journalists are starting to realize that the big stories to cover are parks being torn down because rents can’t support keeping them as mobile home properties, not “evil landlords who raise rents”. Maybe media groups are finally taking back the reins from young, woke writers after the terrible Biden debate performance and the inevitable end to the age of stupidity.

Green Valley News: Developer pauses new community, still eyes Sahuarita in future

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A proposed community on Sahuarita's west side is on hold but the developer says the project isn't off the table as they look for an investment partner to get back on track.

American Resort Communities announced plans for about 390 manufactured homes on a 58-acre parcel on La Cañada Drive south of Sahuarita Road in 2022. The parcel is zoned for manufactured and mobile homes. At the time, developer Mullin360 told the Green Valley News it hoped to have the first set of TerraViva at Rancho Sahuarita homes ready by spring 2023.

Arizona-based Champion Homes, Clayton Homes and Cavco Homes would construct standard units in their factories...

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Mullin said Sharpe could sell the property and the development would have to move to another location since it's no longer in escrow, but he would like to see the development move forward in the same location. Sharpe didn't respond to a request for comment.

Gee, what a shocker – another new mobile home park development that never got off the launch pad. When will people learn that this stuff is just never going to happen? To build a new park you have to go so far out in the middle of nowhere to get the permit that no bank will finance the deal, and there’s nobody who wants to live there even if you built it.

The Johnston Country Report: Zoning Request Leads To Heated Debate

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HARNETT COUNTY – Harnett County commissioners denied a rezoning request from a couple who said they wanted to bring affordable housing to seniors in the Chalybeate Springs area at its meeting June 17. The final decision came at the end of a heated, gavel-banging debate. 

Dr. Claudia and George Elliott said they saw the need for affordable housing in the county and planned to put 10 manufactured homes with permanent foundations on the 10.5 acres they purchased last year. But most of the property sat on wetlands in a 100-year flood plain with a zoning tag that wouldn’t allow a manufactured home park. 

The couple requested a change to a...

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HARNETT COUNTY – Harnett County commissioners denied a rezoning request from a couple who said they wanted to bring affordable housing to seniors in the Chalybeate Springs area at its meeting June 17. The final decision came at the end of a heated, gavel-banging debate. 

Yet another example that there is absolutely no chance on earth that there will be any meaningful new construction of mobile home parks in the U.S. in the years ahead. I will note that not one person responded to my offer last week to educate me on all these supposed new mobile home parks that have somehow been built nationwide but that I’ve never actually seen any evidence of. If you do ever come upon one of these Big Foot sightings please send the new park’s name and address to me. I’ll keep everyone posted on the results.

MortgagePoint: New Presidential Initiative Aims To Boost Housing Supply

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman have announced that the Biden Administration is awarding $85 million in grant funding for the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program, which aims to identify and remove barriers to affordable housing production and preservation, and lower housing costs.

PRO Housing provides grant funding to communities actively taking steps and demonstrating progress in addressing needless local housing barriers to housing production. Winners of the PRO Housing competition will update state and local housing...

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“President Biden and I believe that every American deserves affordable housing, so they have a roof over their head and a place to call home,” said Vice President Harris. “That is why we have a plan to build millions of new units of affordable housing in communities all across our nation, which will bring down the cost of housing for renters and help more Americans buy a home. Today, I am proud to announce that we are taking a critical step forward by investing $85 million to help more than 20 communities throughout our country remove barriers to building more affordable housing.”

That sounds like a speech Huey Long would make in the 1930s to energize poor, stupid voters by claiming he would “put a chicken in every pot”. After last week’s debate and Supreme Court ruling, we all know that absolutely nothing will come of this and it’s just an attempt to appear relevant and distract voters from bigger issues like Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

As for this one particular program, the total value of all U.S. single-family homes is around $35 trillion. So exactly what will be accomplished with $85 million? Nothing more than a few non-profits engaging in meaningless studies. This is as stupid as me giving a televised speech in which I proudly announce that I will be investing $5 in space colonization, to move the needle on building a vast colony in the sky. But at least I won’t require a teleprompter.

Delaware Business Now: House passes manufactured home legislation

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The Delaware House passed legislation aimed at manufactured home communities and criticisms about soaring rents and maintenance problems.

Senate Bill 247 would protect manufactured housing residents from landlords who seek to impose rent increases even while refusing to address outstanding health and safety violations.

House Bill 372 would define the responsibilities of the landowner and homeowner in manufactured home communities in Delaware, clarifying that the landowner is responsible for maintaining and repairing all water, electrical, plumbing, gas, sewer, septic, and other utilities up to the connection to the home. HB 372...

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Have you ever been to Delaware? Nobody wants to live there, nobody wants to visit there, and nobody wants to invest there. Crazy new laws such as these only further make the state dead in the water as far as any revitalization efforts are concerned.

Charlottesville Tomorrow: Carlton Mobile Home Park residents fear losing their homes as news arrives that the park will be sold

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Joel Carraseo spent many years turning his family’s trailer into a home.

He built solid stairs up to the front door, laid a stone patio,  built an awning to cover it, and then added a little picket fence to make sure the family dog, Max, doesn’t run into the street. 

“I tried to make it feel like home,” the construction worker said, smiling at the pink rosebush he planted in front of the fence. 

Now, he’s not sure what will happen to any of it. 

Earlier this month, Carraseo and his neighbors at Carlton Mobile Home Park received potentially devastating news: the park is being sold.

“Everybody got surprised by it,” Carraseo told...

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Clearly, this park is going to be torn down, as the purchase price of $7 million equates to over $100,000 per lot for this dilapidated property. And the writer is correct that mobile home parks are being redeveloped at the fastest pace in American history:

Its sale is part of a national trend: Mobile home parks are disappearing across the country — fast. Statistics on this are difficult to find, but there are reports around the country of parks being sold, demolished and redeveloped. The Associated Press reported on the trend last year, as did Forbes Magazine and Time Magazine. As housing prices and land values rise dramatically, developers are buying up the parks, forcing residents out, tearing down the trailers, and building more traditional housing in their place.

But what I find offensive about this writer’s spin on the story is this quote:

When a mobile home park is sold, residents are usually displaced one way or another, say attorneys familiar with Virginia’s Mobile Home Lot Rental Act who spoke with Charlottesville Tomorrow. Either the new owner raises the lot rent beyond what the current resident can afford, or decides to use the land for something else.

Clearly, the only way that a park like this would NOT be torn down is for the lot rent to go up to a level that the park is actually worth over $100,000 per space based on the true operating net income. If residents don’t want to pay market levels then, yes, the park gets demolished. It’s not rocket science. So maybe the solution is for lot rents to go up to levels high enough to make sense for some mobile home parks to stay in that line of business. It’s a total lie to claim that park buyers lose all of their tenants (more like between zero and 1%) when rents go up, and equally false to imply that the owner actually intends to displace them in the first place. But, yes, there are marginal tenants in every property in America that may not be equipped to handle modern housing costs (and not just in mobile home parks) and they need to swiftly be placed into Section 8. To claim that higher rents are inherently bad is just plain stupid, as that lame theory serves as the trigger for redevelopment and displacement of all of the residents as opposed to just a few, if any.

Petaluma Argus Courier: Residents of Petaluma mobile home park win fight over rent hikes, but park owners strike back

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What started as a win for residents of Little Woods Mobile Villa last week – as an arbitrator struck down a massive rent increase put forth by the park owners – quickly soured when those same park owners issued yet another proposed rent increase and formally notified the city of their intention to permanently close the park.

“We will continue to arbitrate annually until we are either able to achieve long-term viability or are forced to cease operations,” said Nick Ubaldi, whose family owns the park and who oversees its day-to-day management, in an email to reporters.

Last Wednesday, following a five-day hearing in late April, arbitrator...

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What started as a win for residents of Little Woods Mobile Villa last week – as an arbitrator struck down a massive rent increase put forth by the park owners – quickly soured when those same park owners issued yet another proposed rent increase and formally notified the city of their intention to permanently close the park. “We will continue to arbitrate annually until we are either able to achieve long-term viability or are forced to cease operations,” said Nick Ubaldi, whose family owns the park and who oversees its day-to-day management, in an email to reporters.

For how many years have I been explaining LOW RENTS = REDEVELOPMENT. It’s called common sense. The tenants may have won the battle but they lost the war. Instead, their focus should have been to ask “we know you need to make a good return on your investment or you’ll redevelop this place, so how much does our rent need to be?” and then happily paid it on the first of each month. That would have saved the day.

What’s equally sad in these articles is that the residents are often mislead into these losing positions by non-profits suggesting that the tenants have legal rights which they simply don’t. They effectively empower these people to become homeless, then move on to lunch at the country club.

WGLT: Lawsuit alleges mobile home park owner violated Bloomington tenants' rights

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Two Bloomington mobile home residents are alleging the Texas-based company that bought the mobile home park they rent land from last year is violating their rights, according to legal documents filed in McLean County.

Oak Wood Properties — which lists itself as the owner of five mobile home parks in Bloomington-Normal — issued new lease agreements and rent increases mid-lease term at Hilltop Mobile Home Park where Stephen Evans lives with his partner Rose McWhorter.

Attorney Erin Duncan with Prairie State Legal Services [PSLS] filed the lawsuit June 13 on Evans and McWhorter’s behalf.

“The crux of our complaint is that this out-of-state...

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I know nothing about this case and the details involved, but the legal issues listed can easily be resolved in court and will probably do nothing more than delay the rent increase for a few months.

But what I take offense to is this quote:

“The crux of our complaint is that this out-of-state company has come into our community and bought up a number of mobile home parks in the area …”

Week after week we get these woke journalists trying to brainwash America that somehow out-of-state landlords are inherently evil as opposed to in-state owners which are better. Why? Of course, the answer it they’re not any different, but it’s all part of some stupid wokester narrative that big private equity groups are going to rule and destroy the earth and, since they are all located in New York, any park that’s not in the “Big Apple” can be slapped with this type of label to somehow hurt private equity group morale and make them cry. It’s about as convincing an effort as those who are now trying to brainwash America that Joe Biden did fine in last week’s debate. It’s just not going to work. 

FOX13: Displaced trailer park residents find housing with help from Moab community

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MOAB, Utah — In her 24 years living in Moab, Sara Melnicoff has fought to keep the city livable for everyone.

“It's very sad, because I think we're all woven together in humanity,” she said. “People deserve to have a safe, clean, healthy place to live.”

While many were devastated for the Walnut Lane Mobile Home Park residents , the Executive Director of Moab Solutions tries to see it as a good thing.

“I was happy, because people are living in situations that no human should live in,” said Melnicoff. “These places should have been condemned decades ago, but nobody wanted to do...

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The City of Moab bought the mobile home park in 2018, with the intent of turning it into an affordable housing development. Six years later, there’s no development and no plan in sight.

You have to love the hypocrisy of the media, which has no problem when a city shuts a park down but, when a private sector landlord does the same thing, they demand capital punishment.

WGBH: Residents say owner of Auburn mobile home parks has made life a 'living nightmare'

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More than 100 residents at two mobile home parks in Auburn have filed a class action lawsuit against the parks’ owner, alleging it’s exploiting them and violating their state protections.

Lawyers representing the tenants — who are seniors or on fixed incomes due to disabilities — argue that Massachusetts has a strict law to shield mobile home residents from rents that exceed fair market prices. The regulations also mandate that park owners offer tenants five-year leases and disclose all other fees and rules governing their communities.

But in their filing in Worcester Superior Court Tuesday, the residents at American Mobile Home Park and...

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I don’t know any of the facts in this case, but this appears to be simply one side of the story. The facts of this narrative have nothing to do with the fairy tale of the “big, evil landlord” but simply revolve around the lease term and quasi-rent control rules of Massachusetts. Those black-and-white items can be resolved in court. But clearly this article is written by a writer with “landlord derangement syndrome” and there is much included that not only has no bearing on the story but is clearly just an attempt to manipulate the reader, like swinging a gold pocket watch in a 1940s hypnotism movie.

The Jolt News: Resident-owned manufactured home community would replace The Jungle

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Olympia announced plans to apply for a $40.9 million federal grant to help create a new affordable housing community in the area commonly called “The Jungle.” On Tuesday, June 18, Anastasia Everett, Olympia's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program manager, presented the proposal to the city council.

If awarded, the Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) grant would fund a new resident-owned manufactured home community (MHC), which is tentatively named the Woodard Creek Manufactured Home Community. The city has partnered with the Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC) for the project,...

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Only in Olympia, Washington could you find people who think that $40 million is a fair price to build 50 tiny homes – that’s nearly a million dollars per home! I’m not even sure if we should tell the non-profit the sad truth that they can bop on over to the local Clayton dealer and buy the same thing for $50,000 each – they would probably take offense at that being pointed out. What a bunch of monumental idiots.

Fredericksburg Free Press: ‘A crushing feeling’: Bowling Green mobile home park residents met with more issues in Port Royal

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Rodney Washington had an immediate plan in April, after Caroline County General District Court Judge Robert Reibach ordered the remaining occupants of the Hill Mobile Home Park in Bowling Green to vacate the property within 10 days.

Washington had the resources to relocate his trailer to the Rappahannock Mobile Home Park, located 11 miles up U.S. Route 301 in Port Royal. He paid $6,500 to move the trailer and to obtain a building permit, which was issued May 10 by the Caroline Planning Department. 

But while Washington’s trailer sits on Victory Lane at its new location, he is unable to occupy it. 

Instead, he finds himself embroiled in a...

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“In King George, the zoning for mobile home parks is A-3 and there is very little A-3 property in King George,” Palivoda said. “You’re not going to see any more trailer parks with the current zoning. It would be more honest for them to say, ‘Trailer parks aren’t allowed.’” 

This is not really a story about a city that is blocking the use of the existing mobile home park lots – because the owner fortunately is near full occupancy – but is more a story about the simple fact that cities and counties nationwide are never going to allow any new parks to be built. But, of course, they won’t say that to your face, instead adopting the politically correct stance of “we love affordable housing and would love to give you a permit if you can only meet these one-thousand impossible conditions”.

My Northwest: Delayed construction leaves Puyallup mobile home park site vacant

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Apartments slated to replace the Meridian Mobile Estates mobile home park in Puyallup have encountered delays, leaving some former residents frustrated.

Originally scheduled to begin construction in 2023 and complete by 2025, the project has yet to break ground. Mobile home residents were told to be gone by February 2023.

The former mobile home park, located at 202 27th Avenue Southeast, is now an empty lot surrounded by overgrown grass and a chain-link fence. The developers have not responded to inquiries regarding why the project has been delayed.

Excavators have already removed traces of the mobile home park, leaving a flat expanse...

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Apartments slated to replace the Meridian Mobile Estates mobile home park in Puyallup have encountered delays, leaving some former residents frustrated.

Here’s another park being torn down to build apartments. Gee, I wonder if there are many parks being torn down right now? Umm …yeah, I guess so.

The Baynet: Lord Calvert Mobile Home Park To Remain Open

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LEXINGTON PARK, Md. – After months of confusion and distress, residents of the Lord Calvert Mobile Home Park have finally received some good news regarding the future of the trailer park. During the June 11, 2024, Board of County Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Mike Hewitt (R) announced the trailer park will remain open.

“Currently, it is not economically feasible to move forward with the multi-family residential project which has been planned for this property for more than 10 years. We have made a business decision to continue with the ownership and operation of Lord Calvert at this time,” Cherry Cove Group told The BayNet. “We will...

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“Currently, it is not economically feasible to move forward with the multi-family residential project which has been planned for this property for more than 10 years. We have made a business decision to continue with the ownership and operation of Lord Calvert at this time,” Cherry Cove Group told The BayNet. Several meetings to discuss future plans for the park are being scheduled. Cherry Cove stated the park residents will receive appropriate advance notice, to ensure maximum attendance.

And here we have another story about a mobile home park that is being torn down to build apartments, but construction is being delayed for a while due to high interest rates on the interim loan.

WATE: Time running out for Maryville mobile home park residents given notice to vacat

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MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Time is running out for some people in Maryville to either move or sell their mobile homes. WATE’s Don Dare returned to the park where residents were given a 90-day notice on March 30.

Teenager Ashley Leon and her mother, Laida, are cleaning up what’s left of their homesite after paying to have their trailer moved from the Thornhill Mobile Home Park a few days ago. Some residents in the Maryville community have already pulled their trailers out. People who own their homes received an Expiration of Lease and Notice to Vacate in late March. The park owner demands in the letter that residents either lease their...

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Another story about a mobile home park being torn down and redeveloped into a different use – this time as single-family home lots. Spotting a trend here?

The Foxboro Reporter: Tenants of Foxboro mobile home park that's up for sale consider purchase of site

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A local mobile home park is for sale, and tenants are worried about the future of their homes.

Norfolk Park at 131 Washington St. (Route 1) across from the State Police barracks has about 70 mobile homes and 12 sites for recreational vehicles.

The park is a 55-and-older community, and many of the tenants are senior citizens and worry about potential rent hikes and fear they may eventually have to move.

They are also worried about redevelopment, pointing out the park is located on prime real estate about a mile from Patriot Place and Gillette Stadium and near highway access.

The Cormier family that has owned the park for years has a...

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They are also worried about redevelopment, pointing out the park is located on prime real estate about a mile from Patriot Place and Gillette Stadium and near highway access. The Cormier family that has owned the park for years has a June 6 sales agreement for $6 million with a Mark Blanchette, according to a letter dated June 12 from the owners to the tenants. Under a fairly new state law, tenants have first rights to buy a mobile home park put up for sale, and the owners provided a copy of the state law with their notification letter to the tenants as required. “The tenants have right of first refusal. They can purchase it before anyone,” owner Janet Cormier told The Foxboro Reporter. Tenants met Saturday morning to learn more about such a move. A total of 31 tenants turned out to the meeting held in the park.

Clearly this park is going to be torn down and redeveloped. The price appears to be more than $100,000 per space and the tenants clearly can’t possibly make the numbers work for the park to remain in operation. But despite the fact that there is absolutely no chance of success, the seller must waste a few months giving the tenants a shot at doing the impossible. The residents would have better odds pooling their money and buying a winning Powerball ticket to pay for the purchase.