Mobile Home Park News Briefing

Diving into the world of real estate can be daunting, but investing in manufactured home communities offers a unique and rewarding opportunity. These often-overlooked gems have proven to be particularly resilient, thriving in a landscape where housing affordability is a pressing issue. The demand for these communities remains steady, as moving a manufactured home is no easy feat.

Leading the charge in this niche market are Sun Communities and Equity LifeStyle Properties—two real estate investment trusts (REITs) excelling in offering attractive dividends. Sun Communities operates 288 manufactured housing sites and boasts a staggering 660...

This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.

Inside a cavernous factory at the end of a road in East Montpelier, houses get built piece by piece on an assembly line.

Each of the homes starts off in one corner of the 100,000-square-foot shop as a series of humble “Lego blocks,” as Huntington Homes co-owner Jason Webster put it on a recent tour of the company’s humming factory floor. At the first stops on the production line, the blocks get floors, walls, and ceilings; then they get wired, insulated, taped, and painted.

Your typical home builder would...

MARSHALL, MINN. – The roads at Broadmoor Valley, the largest mobile home park in Lyon County, were pocked with suspension-jarring potholes, some a few yards wide and filled with January’s snowmelt.

Just hours before and a few miles away, Bennett Hartz, assistant attorney general for Minnesota, made an impassioned speech on the conditions at the park during his closing arguments against the owners of Broadmoor Valley.

A civil lawsuit, launched with great fanfare in 2021 by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, accused controversial Colorado businessman Paul Schierholz and his company Schierholz and Associates of neglecting...

A valuable source of affordable housing in the United States is also one of the most vulnerable housing types to climate hazards. Over 5 million manufactured housing units are located in areas exposed to climate hazards, and are often in communities with limited resources for recovery.

According to a report from the Urban Institute, “By prioritizing climate safety, policymakers can improve housing security for the 18 million Americans living in manufactured housing today and unlock changes that will improve the resilience of future manufactured homes.”

The report highlights key policy changes that the federal government could make to...

SALEM, Ore. (KATU) — House Bill 3054 would reduce maximum rent increases for renters in manufactured living communities. The bill would require the rent increases to align with the Consumer Price Index.

Manufactured homes are individually owned homes that sit in rented living spaces. Those who live in these spaces are often seniors living on a fixed income. Many tenants are growing frustrated with year-over-year hikes, with some facing eviction.

"What is truly not workable is seniors on a fixed income getting slammed with rent increases that are sometimes triple the amount of their cost of living adjustment from Social Security," said...

Maine legislators have submitted a score of bills aimed at alleviating the state’s acute housing shortage.

Many of those bills correspond to recommendations issued by a new state report that came out last week and outlined some of the barriers to Maine doubling its housing production and meeting lofty state goals.

Here are four of those big ideas you can expect to see debated in Augusta this session.

Mountain View’s mobile home park tenants scored a big win Tuesday evening, following a yearslong effort to get the city to offer more rent control protections and cap annual rent increases below the rate of inflation.

In a split 4-3 vote, the City Council approved limiting rent increases to 60% of the Consumer Price Index, with a 0% floor and 3% ceiling, at their meeting on Jan. 28.

Mayor Ellen Kamei and Council members John McAlister and Chris Clark voted against the motion, instead expressing a preference for the staff recommendation, which was to limit rent increases to 75% CPI with a 1% floor and 5% ceiling.

The current ordinance,...

American Horror Story" star Sarah Paulson has quietly removed the listing for her ultrapricey Malibu mobile home just weeks after the local area was decimated by the deadly California wildfires.

Paulson, 50, initially listed the property for $2 million back in May 2024, three years after she purchased it for less than half of that price.

In August of that same year, she offered up a discount to potential buyers, reducing her ask to $1.79 million—but even that steep drop appears to have failed to secure any interested parties.

Now, in the wake of the devastating Palisades Fire, which began tearing through Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7—before...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Edison Mobile Home Park is under new management after residents were left in the dark for nearly two months due to a fire left two women dead. Flames destroyed two trailers and knocked out power to the park.

The new owner fixed sewer lines, hauled out old trailers and more.

“He told us that he’s gonna get power restored and get us rental agreements and all that. So that’s an upside … a little more hope to the dark situation we’re in,” said Shawn Highfill, a resident.

The new owner also replaced sewer lines and hauled out unfixable trailers. Highfill lives with his mother at the park. They share a studio...

Eagle Rock -- A half-block south of busy Colorado Boulevard is an anomaly: easy to overlook, the Eagle Rock Springs Mobile Home Community is an acre of truly affordable housing in an increasingly expensive area.

“We joke it’s like the Hotel California here,” says resident Brandie Posey, reflecting how owners love and hold onto their mobile homes until death or a necessary relocation.

A podcaster and comedian, Posey occupies a spacious 950-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath mobile home. The ceiling shows a bright blue sky and white cloud scene (left by the previous owner) and there are funky wooden features. She bought it in 2014 for...

Friday is the deadline for people at a Sweetwater mobile home park to move out of their homes and receive the highest possible financial incentive package.

Tenants of the Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park were told in November they had to move out by May. On Thursday, several moving trucks were seen throughout the neighborhood.

Rocio Loaisiga has lived with her mom at Li’l Abner for about 10 years. They spent Thursday moving out the last of their things. On Friday, they'll leave and they won't look back.

“It's been a hard process,” Loaisiga said. “It was very hard for us to move out.”

SARATOGA — Despite pleas and shouting from an audience of nearly two dozen people, the town’s Planning Board on Wednesday approved a negative state environmental assessment for a boat and RV storage facility — one that would replace a mobile home park.

Before approving the review for the Boat N RV Condos, the chair of the Planning Board Walt Borisenok said the concerns of the audience — mainly concerning a contractual agreement to not change the use of the property until 2026 — are not in his purview and therefore the plan to approve a Saratoga Lake project will move forward.

Hundreds of apartments and townhomes could replace one of Cary’s two mobile home parks, preliminary plans shared with the town show.

Two pre-application meetings were held last fall among the town, the owner of Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park and WithersRavenel, a Raleigh-based engineering firm.

A concept plan by WithersRavenel dated Oct. 2 showed 90 townhomes and 328 multi-family units on 27 acres at 607 Cedar St., which is the mobile home park’s address.

On Dogwood Street, the opposite side of the park, the plan shows a three-story building with 26 apartments on each floor with a pool and gathering space.

The preliminary plans come...

After almost a year of paperwork, grant applications and meetings, the residents of a mobile home park in Littleton are now the proud owners of the land beneath their homes.

In purchasing the park, the residents of Meadowood Village have gained control of the property and have locked in affordable housing for at least 30 years, based on the terms of their loan agreements.

Last spring, the residents received notice of a corporation’s intent to buy the park, which is located on the west side of Santa Fe Drive, just north of Breckenridge Brewery. Since then, the residents, who are mostly over the age of 55, have worked together to achieve...

A lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute against the City of Sedona, its mayor and city manager for refusing to give a short-term rental permit to the owner of a mobile home park was dismissed.

At the center of the dispute was a 2016 law that barred cities and municipalities from banning short-term rentals. Groups like Airbnb and Vrbo have taken heat from locals and lawmakers since the 2016 law’s passage as the state’s affordable housing stockpile has rapidly decreased. 

Sedona has seen major impacts from the short-term rental industry, with effects felt sharply by the service industry workers employed by the hospitality industry that...

The fuschia hibiscus bush encircling Sergio Zamora’s home in Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park was planted over 30 years ago. Zamora’s in-laws planted the bush as a young seedling, knowing that over time, it would act as a natural fence for the property in Florida. Behind the verdant veneer, a screened porch houses a collection of orchids, tended to with care by Zamora’s family over three decades. But soon, the orchids will need to find new homes, and the hibiscus bush will become dust as tenants in the enclave are threatened with a potential eviction.

Residents were ordered to leave the mobile home park in Sweetwater, Florida, when its...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For residents in Albuquerque Meadows the fight for protection started ever since an out-of-state company bought the land their community sits on.

That was in 2021, and since then residents said their rent has gone up significantly while necessary fixes and upkeep have diminished.

But now, they have hope.

“I remember at least three times coming to you talking about this, and so it’s great because we’re finally actually doing something about it,” said Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller.

And with that signature, the latest ordinance in Albuquerque is officially in place, providing more protections for manufactured homes.

Often...

BRADENTON BEACH – In a Jan. 27 letter to the Pines Trailer Park Homeowners Association (HOA), Pines Park Investors LLC offered to sell the mobile home park to the residents for $75 million.

At that price, each of the 86 mobile homeowners would be responsible for $872,093.02.

“This has got to be a joke,” said one Pines resident, who asked not to be named.

On Aug. 5, 2023, Pines Park Investors, LLC purchased the 2.78-acre waterfront mobile home property from The Jackson Partnership LLLP for $16.25 million. The manager of Pines Park Investors LLC is Shawn Kaleta.

The park sustained damage from both Hurricanes Helene and Milton but many...

DELAWARE - A new bill introduced in Delaware’s Senate could bring stronger protections for people living in manufactured home communities. Senate Bill 40, introduced on Jan. 10, aims to address landlord violations and improve living conditions for tenants.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Walsh and co-sponsored by several other lawmakers, makes repeated violations of rental agreements or state housing laws by landlords a violation of the state’s Consumer Fraud Act. 

Additionally, the introduced bill empowers the Attorney General to petition Justice of the Peace Courts to establish receiverships for manufactured home communities under specified...

Residents of Campus Vista and University Mobile Home Park are facing a 22% rent hike, in addition to new utilities fees and a $50 monthly fee for extra parking.

Larry McGee, a former WSU custodian and current resident, said the rent hike will cripple the community.

“The lot rent increase, as it stands now, is putting [people] in a real bind and some of them might end up homeless,” McGee said. “This is the way homelessness starts.”

Former WSU student and current University of Idaho law student and park resident Denver Mickali said many residents are elderly, disabled or both. The extra rent burden is not an option.

“They’re in their late...

Hundreds of apartments and townhomes could replace one of Cary’s two mobile home parks, preliminary plans shared with the town show.

Two pre-application meetings were held last fall among the town, the owner of Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park and WithersRavenel, a Raleigh-based engineering firm.

A concept plan by WithersRavenel dated Oct. 2 showed 90 townhomes and 328 multi-family units on 27 acres at 607 Cedar St., which is the mobile home park’s address.

On Dogwood Street, the opposite side of the park, the plan shows a three-story building with 26 apartments on each floor with a pool and gathering space.

The preliminary plans come...

As the cost of homeownership in Routt County spirals beyond reach for many, manufactured homes have emerged as one of the last affordable options for local families. Yet these vital sources of naturally occurring affordable housing are under threat.

Consider this: between 2010 and 2019, the number of manufactured homes in Routt County plummeted from roughly 1,300 units to just 788. By 2024, that number dropped further to 770, with only 407 located in Steamboat Springs. One recent bulwark against this decline is Colorado’s Mobile Home Park Act, which gives residents the right of first refusal if the owner intends to list it for sale,...

Once again, an out-of-state investor is pouring millions into acquiring a mobile home park in a eastern North Carolina.

GMF Group has raked in roughly $250 million from the closing of its latest funding round and plans to keep up nationwide investments in housing communities.

Since launching GMF Group Fund II, the real estate firm has acquired 43 manufactured housing communities (MHCs) in both North Carolina and Florida. Plus, the company said it is under contract to buy five MHCs in undisclosed cities in the Midwest and Southeast regions, accounting for about 400 lots.

In addition to acquiring assets, Group Fund II is making renovations to properties, which includes improving infrastructure, bolstering amenities and common areas, paving and...

Residents of a famous mobile home park in the Pacific Palisades not only have to deal with losses but also figure out if they need to pay rent. CBS News Texas reporter Trevor Sochocki talks to one couple who wants to rebuild.