Mobile Home Park News Briefing

When Liza Fleming-Ives helped the first group of Maine residents buy their own mobile home park in 2009, there was little interest from out-of-state corporate investors in outbidding them.

That’s not true today. More than a fifth of Maine’s mobile home parks traditionally operated by local “mom-and-pop” types are now owned by these investors, according to a Bangor Daily News analysis of state data published last year.

Of Maine’s 32 largest parks, which have more than a third of the state’s mobile homes, 20 are now owned by corporate investors including Sun Communities, Phillips International and Boa Vida, according to a report released by...

SCHOFIELD, Wis. (WSAW)— More than three years after residents vacated their trailers at Northern Mobile Home Park on Grand Avenue in Schofield, crews are working to finalize clearing the property.

Crews made significant headway the last week March, demolishing the trailers at 281 Grand Avenue. As of April 3, all the mobile homes have been demolished and removed from the area.

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 remaining residents were evicted. Since that time, the property has become an eyesore in...

When John Geary learned that Fox Run Mobile Home Park in Lewiston was for sale, he feared an out-of-state investor would swoop in, raise the lot rents and leave the primarily senior residents of the small community “high and dry.”

Geary, 78, a retired lawyer, has lived in the park for seven years, and last fall helped mobilize his fellow residents to form the Fox Run Community Cooperative in an attempt to buy the park.

The group offered $2.64 million, but after a competitive counteroffer with difficult terms for the co-op to meet under a tight deadline, the sellers ultimately accepted the lower offer of $2.6 million from BoaVida, a...

MITCHELL — The city of Mitchell is considering purchasing a series of city blocks north of Hitchcock Park that is home to a mobile home estate.

This comes as part of a Mitchell City Council decision to set aside $1 million toward purchasing land for economic development, made at the March 17 regular council meeting. The council will consider ratifying the purchase agreement at the April 7 city council meeting for the properties, which have a total assessed value of $885,726.

All mobile homes will be removed and replaced with a mix of parking, housing and apartments, according to Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson.

Those who rent on a...

From a clam factory to a manufactured home community, less than two acres of prime waterfront in Marco Island is proposed for development into a small resort and marina.

Global Investment Properties LLC and Unionville Sportsman Club Inc. and Kyle Smith are listed as the buyers in Collier County property records. The entities purchased Marco Island Trailer Park and its docks, also known as the Doxsee properties, for $16 million and a contiguous property for $2 million in April 2023. That same year, Global Investment Properties bought a house on Sun Drop Court for $1.6 million.

Smith is a founder and principal at Tailwind Group, based in...

BANGOR, Maine — Residents of Cedar Falls Mobile Home Park in Bangor Monday celebrated successfully buying the land their homes sit on and revealed plans to develop more housing at the park.

The Cedar Falls Resident Cooperative bought the park for $8 million to prevent a corporate sale that could have led to steep rent increases.

They were able to buy the property with grants and loans from the state, the City of Bangor, and local lenders and help from the Cooperative Development Institute.

Ronnie Pinkham, president of the Cedar Falls Resident Cooperative, said the process brought residents closer together.

"We did it, and today...

The Marshall County Commission listened to Mike Carnes; a citizen concerned over the possibility of a mobile home park on Needmore Road.

“I’m here to speak in opposition to this mobile home development we’ve got going on Needmore Road but I’m not here alone. I’m here with a group from my community, I’m here with some 400 names on a petition. These people are made up from anything from elderly people, young families with small children that lives in our area, who are all very concerned about our community. Your taxpayers and your voters are here to voice our concerns on this matter,” Carnes said to the commission.

“It is our understanding...

The entire population of a Petaluma mobile home park received eviction notices Monday from the park’s owners.

Residents of 71 homes at Little Woods Mobile Villa received notices Monday from Harmony Communities, a Stockton-based company managing the park, stating that “Little Woods Mobile Villa ... is exercising its right to terminate your tenancy for the purpose of permanently closing the park.”

Residents now have one year to find another home and move out, the company confirmed.

“When I opened it and saw the 12-month notice, part of me said, ‘Yeah, that’s just like them to do this,” said park resident Chris Brown about Harmony...

Private equity firms are buying up land in mobile home parks across the nation, and some New Jersey lawmakers have a plan to stop residents from experiencing double-digit rent hikes.

A bill, S2953, working its way through the New Jersey Legislature would put a 3% cap on rent increases in the state’s “manufactured home” or mobile home communities.

Any annual rent hikes higher than 3% would have to receive approval from the state’s Department of Community Affairs, under the plan. Landlords requesting approval for the rent increase would have to show that current rents aren’t enough to cover the cost of maintenance and tax increases.

The...

Former mobile home park getting new life

Residents of the Little Woods mobile home villa in Petaluma are searching for a way forward after receiving eviction notices en masse recently.

It's the latest move in a protracted fight between dozens of residents hoping to keep an affordable roof overhead; city leaders trying to balance complicated rules and tenant rights; and mobile home park owners who say their right to a fair profit is being violated.

KRCB's Noah Abrams caught up with Jennifer Sawhney of the Petaluma Argus-Courier about the situation.

Noah Abrams: "Jennifer Sawhney, welcome to KRCB. So, can you tell me a little bit just to start about Little Woods?"

"Where is it? How...

Marge Wisniewski moved into Northville Crossing, a large manufactured housing park outside Detroit, a little over a decade ago. A former health-care administrator, now retired, Wisniewski says she was tired of renting and wanted to try something new. She loved the home, a double-wide mobile trailer, and the community, which has a big swimming pool, a gym and a banquet room for residents. And it was affordable: She could build equity in the trailer, and the lot rent was just $425 a month.

A few years after she bought her trailer, Wisniewski says, the park’s corporate owners started steadily increasing the rent even as conditions and...

DEWITT TWP, Mich. (WILX) - People who live at Kristana Mobile Home Park in Dewitt Township are in shock after a notice showed up on their front doors saying they have until April first to move out.

The notice appeared on Friday but was dated Monday, March 24.

“We’re completely blindsided by this,” said Jason Eldridge, a resident.

The mobile home park said it’s closing due to declining occupancy rates and its inability to maintain community infrastructure.

“Since they haven’t been able to drive everybody out of here by not doing anything now they’re just trying to throw us out,” said resident Steven Snider.

The notice posted on...

BRUNSWICK, Maine — When Celeste Yakawonis was younger, she thought she would spend the rest of her life in her riverfront home on six acres of land in Turner.

But that was before Yakawonis’s husband died, leaving her to live in the large farmhouse alone. 

“Can you see how big that was, for me, one person rattling around?” she said, pointing to a framed photo of the home powdered with snow. “I just couldn’t take care of it.”

Without her husband, Yakawonis said she felt overwhelmed and isolated. But she was advised not to make big decisions too soon after the loss. She kept the home for a year before deciding to sell it. When she...

The property with hundreds of home lots and amenities in the northern metro area last sold 14 years ago for less than a third as much money.

Arcata’s program to help mobile home owners repair their houses has begun. 

The Manufactured Housing Opportunity & Revitalization Program (MORE) pays for mobile home repairs, if the homes are in a mobile home park and owned by someone making less than 80% of Humboldt’s median income. Contractors hired by the city do the work. 

The program focuses on repairing violations of health and safety codes, as well as improving ADA accessibility. 

Arcata announced the program last year after being given a $3 million grant to fund the project by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. 

Arcata’s Director of Community...

Some residents of the Hidden Village Mobile Home Park in Orofino, Idaho are worried they are being priced out of their homes. The new park owners are raising rents and said they have made improvements to the community, but people fear they won’t be able to pay.

Floyd Eyneart’s manufactured home has a big white porch. Inside, the walls are covered with art and photographs. 

“ I’ve lived here for 27 years and I’m a veteran, my wife passed away four and a half years ago, and I can’t afford to live here if they keep jacking the rent up,” he said. 

Most residents of mobile home parks own their homes, but not the land beneath them. About two...

Housing has been front and center during the 2025 Legislative session, no more so than in the ongoing battle over a so-called rent stabilization bill that would cap annual increases at 7%. Less noticed is a bill sponsored by Rep. April Connors, R-Tri-Cities, that would treat manufactured homes like real property instead of vehicles. The change could dramatically lower the cost of ownership.

The impact would be limited to start. Connors’ bill would apply to manufactured homes in parks where residents own the land, called “cooperatively owned” parks. There are 30 - going on 31 - such parks in the state, with about 1,700 homes.

That number...

LANSING, Mich.(WLNS)—Residents of a mobile home park say they’ve been given just a few days’ notice that they need to move. 

Residents at Kristana Mobile Home Park in DeWitt Township told 6 News they were given a notice Friday stating the park would be closing on April 1, this coming Tuesday. 

In the letter, management says the park will be closing due to “declining occupancy rates” and the inability to maintain the community’s infrastructure. 

Management did say they would provide temporary housing for 30 days. 

Neighbors say this notice was dated for the 24th but wasn’t put on their doors until Friday. 

Jason Eldridge, a resident at...

CBS News Miami's Ivan Taylor reports that residents claim the owner of the land did not get the proper permits and their health is at risk, despite the owner saying everything is up to code.

Hermantown, Minn., city officials have barred nearly half of the 50-plus trailers in a neglected mobile home park from occupancy because of their threat to human life, as the owner pays residents to move out so he can close the park.

After he pleaded guilty to several misdemeanor violations in early December, he was ordered to immediately make repairs to trailers without water and other essential services and fix all other code violations. St. Louis County Judge Shawn Pearson also ordered him to pay for alternate housing for a handful of residents living in the worst conditions in Maple Fields mobile home park, just outside of...

A year ago, the Littleton, Colorado mobile home park faced a potential sale when a Utah-based company offered $18 million to buy the property.

Fearing rent hikes from new owners, the park’s board rallied support from nearly all its residents to put together a purchase offer.

Sandy Cook, President of the Meadowood Village Cooperative told CBS Colorado, “The uncertainty of not being able to know where you're going to live within 12 months is so scary for people.”

So how did they swing it? Colorado law allows residents to put together an offer to match a buyout. If they can match a buyout offer, they can...

Residents of a Helena mobile home park face rent and utility fee increases after the park was sold to an out-of-state property management company, according to park residents.

Last October, the owners of the McHugh Mobile Home Park informed residents that they sold the property to Collective Parks Property Management LLC, a Washington State-based management company. 

During the ownership transition, residents received letters from the new management team stating that they shouldn’t expect changes.

“For the foreseeable future, we do not anticipate any significant...

The floors are caving in. The roofs are leaking. The walls that lack insulation invite mold. For residents of Rudd’s Mobile Home Park in Richmond’s Southside, these aren’t just minor inconveniences — they’re daily battles in a place they call home.

Unlike traditional renters, most mobile home residents own their homes. (What they rent is the land or lot under where they live.) That means when things start falling apart, the responsibility to fix them falls on their shoulders. But many say they are barely making ends meet, making expensive repairs out of reach.

Josefina is an older single woman who works only a couple days a week. For her,...

The Warren Planning Board approved the development of a controversial mobile home park at its Thursday meeting, according to the Midcoast Villager.

As the housing crisis continues in Maine and hits some regions such as the midcoast especially hard, communities have taken broader steps to address a critical housing shortage that has made living unaffordable for many residents. Advocates say mobile homes can help alleviate the housing crisis while providing better living standards and cheaper rates than similar stick-built developments. Modular homes can cost 20 percent less than a similar stick-built house.

The park in Warren will be off...