Mobile Home Park News Briefing

A long-troubled mobile home park just up the hill from Soquel Village is facing an uncertain future after it was purchased out of bankruptcy earlier this year by a company with a history of hiking rents and attempting to close parks, raising concerns about a key piece of affordable housing in the community.

Stockton-based Harmony Communities owns or operates dozens of mobile home parks throughout the western United States, most of which are in California and Oregon. It purchased Soquel Gardens Mobile Home Park in February, following years of persistent issues with the park and its facilities, culminating in the state revoking its permit...

San Jose is updating language in its rent control policy due to mobile home park landlords illegally raising prices on tenants living in RVs.

The city’s decades-old mobile home rent policy states property owners cannot raise rents more than 7% without city approval — but Western Trailer Park disregarded it on the grounds that recreational vehicles are not mobile homes. Housing Director Erik Soliván updated the policy earlier this month to clarify RVs are considered mobile homes on mobile home lots. RV residents live in 15 of the 58 mobile home parks within San Jose.

Jeff Scott, spokesperson for the housing department, said the official...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - Find another solution to cool your home — that’s what the owners of trailers at Countryside Village in South Bend have been told since at least September of last year.

And come tomorrow (July 1), people living inside those trailers face a major deadline: get rid of their window A/C units, or face violations and be forced out of their homes.

Many people in the mobile home park own their trailers but pay a lot rent to YES Communities, which owns hundreds of parks across the nation. The company’s community guidelines that tenants are instructed to sign along with their lease states window A/C units are not...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Federal mortgage giants are helping corporate investors acquire mobile home communities across Florida, leading to dramatic lot rent increases, a News 6 investigation revealed.

Florida leads the nation with 235 private equity-owned mobile home parks containing nearly 56,000 lots, according to data from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit research organization.

News 6 has been investigating rising lot rents at mobile home parks across Florida. Residents tell us corporations are buying their communities then jacking up the lot rent. In a lot of these mobile home parks, residents own the home but lease...

Two forces will drive stock market returns over the next decade, and I’m purposely overweighting my investments in these categories.

The first catalyst is AI, which is disrupting many businesses and will generate substantial wealth for those who embrace technology. In a few days, I will be writing a detailed report on the best ways to invest in AI.

The second catalyst is the so-called silver tsunami, or aging population, that’s a huge demand tailwind which stands to benefit from demographics with Gen X (and soon elder millennials) aging into the cohort (ages 50-77), which is expected to gain 6.4 million people (+6% cumulatively) over the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - The Forest Park Mobile Home community in northeast Charlotte is at risk of being rezoned.

Developers are wanting to move in and make room for nearly 400 residential units, townhomes, and retail space. Which means each of the families that call Forest Park home, would have to leave.

When you enter the Forest Park neighborhood, you immediately get the allure. It’s quiet, plenty of shade from trees and enough space on each lot to really make it your own.

It sits on more than 19 acres and is less than 20 minutes from center city— that also makes it prime real estate to developers.

According to the people who live...

A proposed redevelopment of the Provo Towne Centre is sparking a myriad of questions and concerns among Provo residents, most specifically those who live within close proximity of the mall.

In May, the Daily Herald was the first to report that property owner Brixton Capitol submitted an entitlement application to the city that outlines plans to transform the indoor shopping mall into a mixed-use development that would include retail, dining, entertainment and housing.

The project is in partnership with Provo-based real estate development and investment firm PEG Cos.

The plan, which is still in the conceptual phase, was presented for the...

In the past several weeks, four local governments and two private businesses have given written commitments of at least $500,000 or more to two mobile home parks listed for sale in Basalt and Carbondale.

Aspen committed $3 million, as did Pitkin County. Meanwhile, Snowmass committed $1 million, Atlantic Aviation $1 million, Basalt $500,000, and SkiCo $500,000. Between just those five donations, there is $9 million on the table. More Roaring Fork Valley local governments are expected to consider committing money in the coming weeks. 

That substantial sum alone will not be enough to buy the mobile home parks, as the owners are asking for a...

SABATTUS (WGME) — Mobile homeowners at Begin Estates in Sabattus are scrambling to get help after receiving notice that the rent they pay for their lots will increase by $150 per month.

The increase comes just as a new state law aimed at protecting residents from extreme rent hikes is set to take effect.

“They don’t care. They don’t care about the residents,” Suzanne Armstrong, who has lived at Begin Estates in Sabattus for 22 years, said.

Armstrong and her neighbors received a letter last week informing them that lot rent, which covers the land beneath their homes plus water and sewer costs, will increase to $580 per month starting Oct....

Dawn Beailieu has called Friendly Village, a mobile home park in Gorham, ME, her home for nearly 30 years. It’s quiet, affordable, and a safe place for seniors like her to age in place.

But a letter she received this spring threatened to upend that stability overnight. It revealed that an out-of-state developer wants to buy Friendly Village—along with seven other mobile home parks spread across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York—for a combined $87.5 million. Friendly Village’s slice of that deal alone is valued at $22 million, and under Maine law, residents have just 60 days to organize and make a counteroffer if they hope to keep...

Real estate investors are increasingly gravitating toward niche asset classes that offer opportunities for outsize value creation, and manufactured housing communities are a prime example. As the largest source of nonsubsidized affordable housing in the country, MHCs play a vital role in the lives of tens of millions of Americans, yet they remain largely misunderstood and underappreciated.

According to the National Association of Home Builders’ recent report, 76.4 million households, or 57 percent of all U.S. households, are unable to afford a $300,000 home. This reflects a deepening affordability crisis, and one that continues to make it...

CHARLOTTE, N.C – Residents of Forest Park Mobile Homes are organizing against a development that would displace the entire Northeast Charlotte neighborhood of at least 60 families.

Leonel Chavez has lived in the community for decades. He says most residents own their mobile homes and invest tens of thousands of dollars into them while paying $500 a month to rent the land.

They feel anger, they feel saddened, they feel like they’re not being heard, they feel like they’re forgotten about,” Chavez said. “It’s my childhood home. It’s a lot of people’s childhood not only that, these are families that work hard to provide for their families and...

CHAMBERSBURG — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill this week that would regulate fees at mobile home parks in the state. 

Many residents have been seeing surprising increases in rent and other fees in the recent months, seemingly out of nowhere. 

A lot of the owners of the parks are out of state and incredibly difficult to contact.

The bill passed the House 144 to 59 yesterday.

Attorney Clint Barkdoll said, “We were getting calls and emails from all over the country, people that were picking up on that story. The House has now implemented it. It goes to the Senate. This was a pretty wide margin that it passed by...

The owner of the Forest Park Mobile Homes has decided to sell the property where 60 trailer homes are located. Developers who submitted the rezoning request hope to build roughly 400 apartments and add 25,000 square feet of commercial space.

It’s not rocket science that 400 apartment units is a higher use of land than 60 mobile home spaces. That’s always been the limitation to the mobile home industry – you can’t stack them.

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Residents of the Kristana Mobile Home Park in Dewitt Township held a news conference earlier today, speaking out against what they are calling an “illegal eviction.”

Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center says that residents gathered to publicly oppose the eviction that has left them without running water and at risk of homelessness.

“All of us own our homes. We’ve poured our savings, time, and lives into them. What they’re doing to us is not wrong, it’s illegal,” said Kristana resident Jason Eldridge in a news release sent to 6 News.

“Families are facing an illegal eviction, carried out not through court, not...

Friendly Village mobile home park in Gorham in April. Residents are attempting to buy the park but face competition from an out-of-state investment firm. Lawmakers sent a bill to the governor’s desk that would make it easier for more communities to purchase their parks. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)
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Lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill to give mobile home residents the “right of first refusal” when their parks go up for sale, but it won’t go into effect quickly enough to benefit Friendly Village, a large park in Gorham awaiting a decision on its multi-million dollar offer.

The bill, LD 1145, was enacted in both the state...

Mobile home residents in Stanton won’t see any form of rent control anytime soon, as residents raise concerns over price hikes.   

Instead, Stanton City Council members say they’ll consider other support options.

Last week, council members voted 3-2 against holding a town hall to discuss rent control policies with residents from mobile home parks, with Councilman Donald Torres and Councilman Gary Taylor voting in favor of a town hall. Mayor David Shawver, who opposed the town hall, said it would give residents false hope.

Council members then voted unanimously to explore what other types of support and resources they can give...

Momentum is building for community contributions to residents of two Roaring Fork Valley mobile home parks to purchase the land on which their neighborhoods sit. 

Pitkin County, city of Aspen and town of Basalt elected officials all committed funds for the Aspen-Basalt and Mountain Valley mobile home parks at their respective meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

The county and the city both approved $3 million in commitments and Basalt decided to double its commitment from $250,000 to $500,000. Residents attended each meeting, expressing gratitude for the support. 

With a $1 million pledge from Atlantic Aviation announced last week, the...

BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. — Mobile home park closures aren’t just displacing people — they’re erasing entire communities.

According to The Eviction Lab, each park’s closure further decreases the already scarce supply of affordable housing. Now, 83 families at Pines Trailer Park are experiencing that reality. Still reeling from the aftermath of back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton, they’re now battling a new storm — a legal one — as eviction notices appear on their doors.

The park’s owner is proceeding with plans to close the park for good, forcing many tenants, including Jason Woodall, to find new accommodations. Woodall, who just moved...

A bill to further limit annual rent increases in many manufactured home parks and for floating homes in marinas has passed in both chambers and now heads to Gov. Tina Kotek.

House Bill 3054 passed Thursday out of the Senate 17-10 on largely party lines, with three excused votes.

If signed, the bill would restrict yearly rent increases in parks and marinas with more than 30 spaces to 6%. Smaller parks and marinas would still be subject to Oregon’s existing rent control law, which limits yearly increases to 7% plus inflation or 10%, whichever is less.

Manufactured home park residents typically own their homes but rent the land on which it...

Off Prosperity Church Road nestled near newly built townhomes, apartments and shopping centers sits a community fighting for its existence amid the weight of development pressures.

Last May, Leonel Chavez and many of his neighbors living in the Forest Park Mobile Home Park in northeast Charlotte were shocked when they received a letter from the property owner, Nesbit Oil Company, notifying them of their decision to sell after nearly 60 years.

The crisis impacting housing affordability stands among the most pervasive and complicated challenges facing the nation. In virtually every part of the country, housing costs have outstripped incomes. That’s left huge swaths of the population either rent burdened or entirely removed from homeownership. The crisis is most acute in the nation’s largest cities, but smaller cities, towns and rural areas are not immune.

“This isn’t just a question of economics,” says Jonathan Curtis, founder and CEO of Southern California-based real estate development firm Cedar Street Partners. “When people can’t afford stable housing, everything else becomes...

What does affordable housing realistically look like in Summit County?

It’s a big question plaguing officials from Park City to Henefer to the County Courthouse. It pops up in almost every municipal city council meeting, county council meeting and issue of The Park Record. Is it possible to cater to tourists who desire second homes and a plethora of short-term rentals while still allowing locals to live and work in the area without bending over backward for a multi-million dollar home?

Officials and organizations across the county are still working on finding an answer, but two members of this year’s Community Planning Lab cohort have...

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Mobile home residents across Central Florida tell News 6 they are being priced out of their communities as corporate buyers acquire parks and dramatically increase lot rental fees, forcing many to choose between basic necessities and keeping their homes.

“It’s out of hand and there’s nobody to control it,” said Mark Hose, who recently left his home of 10 years at Tradewinds Mobile Home Park in Cocoa. Hose told News 6 his lot rent nearly tripled from $245 to $725 monthly.

At The Colony mobile home park in Merritt Island, resident Heather Powers has seen her lot rent increase three times in less than a year, reaching...

tlantic Aviation is committing $1 million toward the fundraising effort for residents of two mobile home parks in the Roaring Fork Valley, a move it hopes will spark more private-sector participation. 

Residents of the Aspen-Basalt Mobile Home Park in the Basalt area and Mountain Valley Mobile Home Park near Carbondale are raising funds to purchase their parks from the owner, Park City, Utah-based Investment Property Group. Wednesday’s announcement marks the first private-sector contribution to the fundraising campaign. 

Atlantic Aviation operates a large network of fixed-base operators across North America, including both the...