Mobile Home Park News Briefing

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...

SCHOFIELD, Wis. (WSAW)— More than three years after residents vacated their trailers at Northern Mobile Home Park in Schofield the owner has failed to pay property taxes, allowing the county to take ownership of the land.

The owner owed more than $145,000 in back taxes and needed to pay at least $98,000 to retain ownership. The property is just more than 7 acres.

In March, the county began the process of clearing the remaining mobile homes at 281 Grand Avenue.

At its peak occupancy, about 60 trailers were on the property. In 2020, concerns about the property and the condition of the structures led to legal action. In November 2021, the...

Building off of a law passed last year, the Maine Legislature has advanced a number of bills that aim to support mobile home park residents in purchasing their parks.

The Senate voted in favor of two of these bills on Thursday. Others have already passed both chambers but still need to be funded.  

“As legislators, we consistently hear that one of the top issues on the minds of Maine people is access to safe, affordable housing,” Sen. Chip Curry (D-Belfast), co-chair of the Housing and Economic Development Committee, said during a press conference following Thursday’s votes. “That’s why our committee has been focused on two deeply...

More than 200 families at the Li'l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater are now facing eviction, despite months of legal disputes and a mounting pushback from residents who say they won’t back down.

The owner of the property has officially filed eviction notices against 218 households that refused to leave by a previously set deadline of May 19. That date marked roughly seven months since residents were first told they would need to vacate the land so it could be redeveloped into affordable housing.

“We knew that this moment was happening,” said Enrique Zelaya, one of the remaining residents still fighting to stay.

Zelaya, who says he...

The Connecticut House of Representatives on Wednesday spent hours debating a bill that would strengthen protections for mobile and manufactured home owners, many of whom are seniors, but decided to stop the discussion in the face of Republican opposition.

The sticking point — even in a limited capacity — was a proposal to create a rent cap.

Mobile home owners typically own their homes, but not the land they sit on. Residents pay rent to the park owner on the land. House Bill 5428 would limit annual rent increases to 2% of rent plus any increases in the annual consumer price index and provide a process for park owners to appeal that limit...

Taking up residence in a mobile home park can be an economical means of putting a roof over one's head.

But more than 50 families at County Road Mobile Home Park in Houston, Texas, were displaced after the land they were living on was sold, according to KHOU 11 News. Residents had until April 8 to move out, and some were forced to spend thousands of dollars to relocate.

Marta De La Garza, who lived in the park with her family for five years, says she had to shell out $9,000 — $3,000 for transportation and $6,000 to set up utilities — to move to a new location.

"We had to pay for the people who moved the mobile home. We had to pay a...

Dawn Beaulieu lives in a double wide on a corner lot in Friendly Village Mobile Home Park in Gorham.

It's the perfect size for her and terrier mix, Bella.

She has lived in this home for more than two decades and in Friendly Village for close to 30 years. The mortgage, on top of the monthly lot rent of just more than $600, is a lot with her single income, but she makes it work.

"I've paid 22.5 years of a 25-year mortgage. I have two and a half years left," Beaulieu said. "And then I own my home. I am scared to lose it before I get to that point."

She also worries about many of her neighbors in this community of 302 lots, with 263 occupied...

MITCHELL – Good intentions have to be backed up with good actions. At least, that's how some tenants at a local trailer park feel about a plan that removes their homes to make way for a city-led housing development.

In early April, the city announced the intent to purchase the 35-unit mobile home park near Hitchcock Park, with the goal of developing the lots for housing and to remove the eyesore along East First Avenue. This meant existing renters would have to relocate and Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson made statements about not making tenants move out too quickly. Plans have also been finalized to donate two lots to Habitat for...

Brenda Valdez feels like she can finally exhale.

The mother of two and mobile home owner from Elma in Grays Harbor County said she no longer has to hold her breath waiting for the next lot rent hike to come knocking at her door after Washington state adopted an unprecedented 5% annual limit on rent increases for manufactured home owners last month. 

Valdez said her lot rent — what she pays for the ground under her mobile home — had nearly doubled in the past decade, and she expected to face another $100-a-month increase in July.

“$100 – it’s like worth a week of groceries for my kids, it’s half of my energy bill, it’s a pair...

Mobile homes are the new starter homes. Between sky-high interest rates, high home prices, and limited availability of real estate overall, becoming a homeowner is something many Americans feel they can't afford.

While renting is a good option for some, others are finding creative ways to live in their desired locations, despite the prohibitive price tag - like mobile homes.

Mobile homes are no longer just the go-to preference of thrifty retirees. Many people from across the age and life-experience spectrum are looking to manufactured homes and accessory dwelling units (ADU) as a new mode of affordable homeownership.

But if you’ve been...