Skip to main content

Mobile Home Park News Briefing

The Sentinel: Manufactured homeowners, property owners in limbo as legislation stalls

Preview:

(The Center Square) – Legislation designed to protect residents in Pennsylvania’s manufactured home communities has been stalled in committee for a year, leaving homeowners, residents, and the industry itself in limbo.

 

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

Nobody is in “limbo” who has a brain and uses it. Everyone already knows that Pennsylvania has a Republican Senate that will never approve any woke landlord regulations.

Duluth Monitor: Remaining two residents ordered to leave beleaguered Hermantown trailer park

Preview:

In December of 2024, due to ongoing building code violations at Hermantown’s Maple Field Trailer Par...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

Aspen Public Radio: Community effort to help residents buy Cavern Springs Mobile Home Park could inform regional strategy, but challenges remain

Preview:

Local residents, nonprofits, governments and private donors are once again rallying together to help a for-sale mobile home park become a resident-owned community. If the purchase is successful, Cavern Springs Mobile Home Park — located in unincorporated Garfield County along Highway 82 between Carbondale and Glenwood Springs — would be the fourth park in the Roaring Fork Valley over the past year to transition to resident ownership.

Residents of mobile home parks often own their homes but rent the land underneath from a private landlord, leaving them vulnerable to displacement if owners redevelop or raise...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

To meet the full sale price and fund potential infrastructure updates, residents and their nonprofit partners need loan financing from several lenders, including the Impact Development Fund — a regional Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides flexible loans for affordable housing — and Boulder-based nonprofit Thistle Community Housing.

When you buy a mobile home park, most lending falls into a 10-year note which needs to be renewed at least two more times to full maturity. Look at the complexity of the above loan construction and tell me how that’s going to work 5 or 10 years from now. No way that loan’s going to be renewed. Then the park goes back on the market. Pretty stupid, right?

But even dumber is the concept that 98 households can buy a park for $23 million – that’s right, over $200,000 per space – and not have the rents go up exponentially to service that loan. These folks are going to have the same lot rent hikes whether they buy the park or a real company does.

WLRN: Little Havana trailer park residents want more time, more money before being forced to move

Preview:

The soon-to-be-removed residents of the Silver Court Trailer Park know they can't stay — they're just asking for more time to pack up and leave the homes they've owned for decades.

This past March, mobile home owners at the park in Little Havana were notified by the park owner, Zan Marquis, of California-based Marquis Property Company, that the land would be redeveloped and the residents had six months to vacate the premises. The owner has not said what the park will be redeveloped into, nor has the property been rezoned for a new use as yet.

"I've lived in Silver Court for 25 years," 68-year-old park resident Victoria Diaz told WLRN in...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

News4: South Reno mobile home park closure deadline passes, some low-income residents remain

Preview:

RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — The deadline has passed for residents to leave Evergreen Trailer Park in south Reno, but not everyone has been able to find a new place to live.

At the end of April, residents were told they had 30 days to move out. The deadline for everyone to leave was Sunday, and as of Monday morning, there were still a few people who had not left.

Glory, a resident, said the park has been an affordable place to live during a difficult time. She has not found a new place to live.

“The rent is affordable. After I went through my divorce, I couldn't afford much and starting over is hard. This has been home and everybody...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

wunc news: Cary's affordable housing options shrink as mobile home park sale uproots 140 households

Preview:

For decades, the mobile home park known as Chatham Estates was an oasis of affordability off of East Chatham Street, one that allowed working-class families to live and work in the heart of Cary.

Today, it's a patchwork of empty lots, leftover debris, and homes torn from the ground. Residents have until June 30 to move out to make room for a housing development slated for the 27-acre lot.

Mexican immigrant Angelina Zúñiga will leave the community after 30 years of living in the trailas, as the mobile homes are referred to informally in Spanish.

"I've had a whole life here," said Zuniga, 62, in Spanish. "Three years ago they told us that...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

LancasterOnline: Benefit concert set Sunday for residents of closing Warwick Twp. mobile home park

Preview:

Residents of Plateau Village mobile home park, which is set to close at the end of the year, are pulling together for a benefit concert this weekend.

The event will take place 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Barn at Stoner Commons, 605 Granite Run Drive in Manheim Township. All proceeds will go to residents of the manufactured home community for adults age 55 and over.

Four local bands are donating their services to the benefit: Winged Victory, Keri Edwards Band, Band of Llamas and Nicks In Time, a Stevie Nicks tribute band. The event will also feature Plateau Village residents telling their personal stories.

Nicks In Time lead vocalist...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

Pennsylvania DCED: Governor Shapiro Calls for Reform to Protect Pennsylvanians Living in Manufactured Home Communities from Greedy Out-of-State Management Companies During Visit to Berks County Neighborhood

Preview:

Douglassville, PA – Today, Governor Josh Shapiro visited a manufactured housing community in Berks County to call for reform to protect Pennsylvanians living in manufactured home communities from predatory practices often used by out-of-state property management companies. In his 2026 Budget Address, Governor Shapiro called on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass legislation limiting annual lot rent increases for manufactured housing communities. This legislation, coupled with reforms included in the Governor’s 2026-27 proposed budget and Housing Action Plan, would protect manufactured homeowners and help make housing more affordable...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

It’s interesting to note that Shapiro has removed “rent control” from these new bills he wants to pass. That’s simply because the Pennsylvania Senate is staunchly Republican and his initial “rent control” bill died a year ago. Rent control is a dead issue in Pennsylvania and everyone with any intelligence already knows that.

As for the “greedy out-of-state” nonsense, it’s important to point out that Shapiro is from Kansas City and, therefore, is an “out-of-state” Governor, if you want to get technical about it. He’s out stumping to bring more industry to Pennsylvania at the same time he’s criticizing “out-of-state” ownership. Pretty hypocritical, huh? Modern politicians will say anything – even what they don’t believe in – for votes.

Prism: Mobile home closures grow in Miami as residents face displacement

Preview:

For nearly a decade, Teresa Lezama built a life at Silver Court Trailer Park in Miami.

She paid roughly $55,000 for her trailer home on park property, where she raised her family. The park where she rents land for her trailer was quiet, affordable, and stable, one of the few places left in Miami where working-class residents could realistically afford to live.

As of March 11, she said, all of that is slipping away.

“They left a notice on the door saying we had to move out,” Lezama told Prism, referencing a letter from The Urban Group, a real estate consulting firm acting on behalf of park owner 1989 Sunny Court LLC. “It affected me a lot....

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust. And another. And another. And another.

ClickOnDetroit: Redford Township mobile home residents given 30-45 days to leave amid safety concerns

Preview:

REDFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Residents of Long’s Mobile Home Court on Plymouth Road are facing a tight deadline to find new housing after Redford Township — now owner of the property — says infrastructure failures and unsafe living conditions have made the site uninhabitable.

Township officials say residents have 30 to 45 days to leave following recent court action and eviction notices served to the park. For many residents who have called Long’s home for years, the news has been devastating.

“Half of us haven’t even been sleeping. We don’t know what to do anymore,” said Lori Gauthier, a resident of the park. “You know I just started to get...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

Live 5 News: Ferndale mobile home residents get more time, $70K relocation help after deal with new owner

Preview:

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — After weeks of organizing, residents at Ferndale Mobile Home Park in North Charleston have reached an agreement with the property’s new owner, New Tide LLC, that provides more time and added relocation support as families prepare to leave the community.

Residents were initially told they had to vacate the park by May 31 after the land was sold to New Tide LLC, a deadline that many said was impossible to meet given the high cost and logistics of moving a mobile home. Families say they were offered incentives such as $1,000 for those who relocated by the deadline, but said that amount fell far short of what...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

DCED: Governor Shapiro Calls for Reform to Protect Pennsylvanians Living in Manufactured Home Communities from Greedy Out-of-State Management Companies During Visit to Berks County Neighborhood

Preview:

There are 56,000 Pennsylvania households in manufactured homes and thousands have been subjected to significant increases to their monthly lot rent in recent years.

In his budget address last month, Governor Shapiro called on the legislature to pass legislation limiting lot rent increases for manufactured homeowners.

Governor Shapiro’s visit to Douglass Village highlighted his budget proposal and his Housing Action Plan to meet Pennsylvania’s housing needs and make housing more affordable.

Douglassville, PA – Today, Governor Josh Shapiro visited a manufactured housing community in Berks County to call for reform to protect Pennsylvanians...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

Does anyone remember when Shapiro gave these same speeches about two years ago, which then resulted in the Pennsylvania House passing rent control only to have the Senate reject it? Well, he’s hoping you don’t remember that because THERE IS ZERO CHANCE THAT A REPUBLICAN PENNSYLVANIA SENATE IS GOING TO PASS RENT CONTROL. What’s happening is that Shapiro’s approval rating has plummeted because the woke voters are fed up with his inability to get them a bunch of socialist free stuff and he’s in panic mode and going back to playing his greatest hits collection. But it’s a TOTAL waste of time.

ABC News 4: Ferndale mobile home community left with little options after being forced to relocate

Preview:

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Residents of a North Charleston mobile home park say they are being forced out after the property was sold, leaving many scrambling to relocate with little time or financial support.

Tenants at the Ferndale mobile home community said they received notices in March informing them they must vacate the property by May 31. Several residents said the sudden timeline caught them off guard.

“They could have told us, ‘Hey, this is coming.’ We didn’t get that,” said resident Bruce Ford. “If they had contacted us early and offered more money, offered more time, everything would have worked out smoothly. Most of the...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

Ilhan Omar: U.S. Representatives Ilhan Omar, Chris Pappas, Senator Shaheen Introduce Bill to Tackle Manufactured Housing Evictions

Preview:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) reintroduced the Frank Adelmann Manufactured Housing Community Sustainability Act, which would incentivize manufactured home park owners to sell the park to community residents or nonprofits, rather than another developer or landlord. Rep. Omar is joined by Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH) in co-leading this legislation. Companion legislation is being introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

“Manufactured homeowners deserve the same stability, dignity, and protection as any other homeowner,” said Congresswoman Omar. “Too many families who own their homes are still...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

I guess these folks have been reading this weekly news offering as I’ve been proposing giving tax incentives to not redevelop mobile home parks for years. But they screwed this up. By only giving a tax incentive on selling to the tenants, you are basically wasting everyone’s energy as the residents only are able to put together those deals maybe .000001% of the time (just look at the stats). Park owners have no issues with selling to the tenants, but the tenants have big issues with raising the down payment and obtaining financing, and their failure rate is worse than Kamala’s sobriety testing.

Concord Monitor: 'Fighting for the park': Hopkinton housing park residents turn to Attorney General after new owner increases rent

Preview:

Lori Fournier calls her three-bedroom home at Meadows of Hopkinton her utopia.

In the six years since she moved in, she has remodeled the manufactured home to be everything she ever wanted, even installing an ADA-compliant walk-in shower to accommodate her disability.

But after Sado Parks, a Michigan-based investment firm, purchased the housing park in December, Fournier, 57, finds herself in a position she never anticipated — planning to sell.

“I love living here, I’d live here until I die,” she said, as her voice cracked under the emotion of it all. “But I think it’s going to be a contentious relationship with this owner, and that’s my...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

Manufactured housing has long been viewed as … a good way for seniors to keep costs down in their later years. But high lot rents, especially in investor-owned communities, are making that promise riskier.

Mobile home parks are not non-profits and their mission is not to suppress rents to keep seniors happy but to maximize the value of their investment. Why in the world are mobile home parks always singled out as the ONLY thing in life that you shouldn’t raise prices at? Filling up my gas tank has doubled since the Iran war, yet I don’t see any articles saying that gas companies need to suppress their market pricing – nor food, utilities, insurance or taxes. Why the double-standard?

Post and Courier: A North Charleston mobile home park was sold to a developer. Residents ‘scramble’ to relocate.

Preview:

NORTH CHARLESTON — Over the last year, Bruce Ford has spent thousands of dollars on improvements to his mobile home where he has lived for 15 years and planned to stay for the long run.

He used his inheritance from his parents to invest $20,000 into the mobile home he owns, including a new roof and flooring, and a $3,000 porch so he can sit outside and enjoy the weather on nice days. Living at the Ferndale Mobile Home Park, he is only two miles away from North Charleston Elementary School where he works as a custodian.

“I truly believed this would be my home forever,” he said.

On March 25, Ford, along with residents living in the nearly...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

Maine Beacon: Sanford moves to protect mobile home residents from predatory rent hikes. Will other Maine cities follow?

Preview:

Sanford City Council voted Tuesday to cap rent increases at manufactured housing parks after months of organizing by mobile home residents.

The ordinance passed 6-1 and limits rent increases to once per year. It also caps rent hikes at either 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

The next paragraph begins by explaining what the measure will do, but the indexed copy cuts off there.

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

Raising rents in-line with inflation and market forces now means “predatory rent hikes” in Maine. Even if you’re half of apartment rents. And a tenth of single-family homes. You see, Maine can’t decide if it’s part of Cuba or not – they are geography challenged. Just look at the lunatic they have running for U.S. Senate and you have to wonder if the lobster is tainted.

Crested Butte News: Town shouldn’t speed up gentrifying the commercial zone and trailer park

Preview:

It feels sometimes like we are living in plan-a-paloozaville. As tidal waves of change descend on the North Valley, it is certainly better to be prepared than not, but the number of words coming out of CB planning documents that started with Crested Butte’s Community Compass a couple years ago is setting tsunami records.
The Crested Butte town council packets put together for their meetings held every two weeks are not light and airy reading. Jam-packed with words, graphics and information, I am not sure anyone (okay, besides the mayor) can read and absorb every piece of info in those packets. I used to, but it’s getting harder and...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

Why not? Gentrification is a byproduct of progress in property values, which creates more tax base and a higher quality of life. What a stupid article. 

Missoulian: Katoonah Lodges: Tenants of another Missoula mobile home park unionize after rent hikes

Preview:

The residents of yet another mobile home park near Missoula have formed a tenants union after their landlord, an out-of-state private equity firm, raised rents twice in the last year and a half.

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

I know the concept of unionizing the whole world is exciting to woke morons, but there’s absolutely nothing in Montana law that recognizes the concept of a “tenant union”. If you don’t pay your rent, you get evicted. It’s a red state. Please take this woke nonsense back to the blue states where it belongs.

Bozeman Vintage: 'Act of good faith': Tenants union calls off rent strike, eyes better future with new mobile home parks owners

Preview:

Three weeks after authorizing a historic rent strike, the residents of King Arthur Park and Mountain Meadows Estate voted to call it off in hopes of building a better rapport with the mobile home parks’ new owners.

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

Come on, they gave up because they were being evicted, not because they suddenly saw an apparition of a dove landing on their polycart – what a bunch of crap. As I said from the beginning on this story, Montana recognizes no such thing as a “tenant union” and all that was going to happen was that they were all going to be evicted as a group. Then reality set in, they saw that single-family homes in Bozeman are around $600,000, and the socialist party was over.

Bangor Daily News: Hancock mobile home park residents are fighting rent hikes from multinational owner

Preview:

Residents of a Hancock mobile home park say their property’s out-of-state, multinational corporate owners are steadily pricing them out of a once-affordable community.

The publicly traded corporation Sun Communities, which markets itself as one of the world’s largest real estate investment trusts, acquired Hancock Heights Mobile Home Park — a 113-site property about 10 minutes east of Ellsworth on Route 1 — about five years ago.

Since then, residents say the corporation has raised rents excessively and neglected the park’s maintenance, creating water and sewage problems that compound the financial strain on residents,...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

Apparently, the new thing – even more “evil” than private equity groups – are “multinational” owners. Never mind the fact that Walmart, Amazon and Apple are all “multinational”. To Maine residents, anyone with more revenue than a lemonade stand is “evil” by definition. Considering their disastrously weak economy, is this perhaps just a case of sour grapes?

WCSC: North Charleston mobile home residents face deadline after property sale

Preview:

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Residents at the Ferndale Mobile Home Park in North Charleston say they are scrambling to figure out their next steps after receiving notice they must vacate the property by May 31—just 12 days away.

Families say the notice came after the land was sold to a new owner, identified by residents as New Tides LLC. Many say they own their mobile homes but rent the land underneath them, making relocation both complicated and costly.

“The letter told us that we have until the 31st of this month to move our mobile home,” resident Bruce Ford said.

Residents say they were initially told there would be meetings and...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

And another park bites the dust.

KGNU: Meet the Boulder residents organizing to buy the mobile home park they live in

Preview:

This week, KGNU’s Rossana Longo Better and Juliana Krigsman spoke with residents at San Lazaro Mobile Home Park in Boulder Colorado, as they raised their concerns about the sale of the park.

Residents are facing uncertainty as their park switches landlords. They have the option to purchase the park themselves, for $40 million. If they are not able to purchase it themselves, residents worry that their lot prices will drastically increase, and potentially leave people displaced.

38-year resident Julie Heins told Krigsman that her biggest concerns are displacement, cost, and families with children having to leave the school...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

Residents are facing uncertainty as their park switches landlords. They have the option to purchase the park themselves, for $40 million. If they are not able to purchase it themselves, residents worry that their lot prices will drastically increase, and potentially leave people displaced.
So here’s how this works in the real world. If you pay $40 million for that park, you are effectively putting a mortgage payment of around $2.4 million per year on it. That’s going to require a massive increase in lot rent to support it, whether the buyer is a non-profit or a private equity group. The only way the rent does not skyrocket is if you can convince the current mom-and-pop owners to sell their park for $4 million as opposed to $40 million – which is about as likely as Biden winning the Boston Marathon.
But the big moral is that all these articles claiming that non-profits buying parks keeps the lot rents lower are completely lying to you. The rent goes up just as much, regardless of the buyer. Period.

Click On Detroit: Warren manufactured housing community forms rare resident union to address quality of life concerns

Preview:

WARREN, Mich. – Manufactured housing residents at a Southeast Michigan community are taking the rare move and creating a resident-union. It comes after Local 4 reported on a series of stories about issues plaguing communities across the region.

“Join the resident-union. We will be there for you,” Mike Whitty, the director of the resident-union and Mr. Mike’s Neighborhood, said when reading a sign displayed in his front yard.

When you pull up to Whitty’s home at Lafayette Place in Warren, you’ll hear some old tunes and get that familiar wave.

His mission is simple.

“The service standpoint. Creating programs to be able to bring neighbors...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

They believe it’s the first union of its kind. Residents can register online or with Mike for $40 per family every year.

Hmmm, “Mike” charges $40 per year to join his “union”. Sounds like this is more of money-maker for “Mike” than anything else. Here’s the problem: there’s no such thing as a “resident union” in Michigan. Here’s what AI says on this matter: There is no standalone, automatic “official” legal recognition or universal statutory rights for a housing resident/tenant union under current Michigan state law”. Ouch. The only winner on this deal looks to be “Mike”.

Denver7: Boulder Co. mobile home neighbors push to buy $42.5M park before new owner prices them out

Preview:

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Julie Heins only planned to live in San Lazaro mobile home park for a short time. Nearly 40 years later, it is still the place she calls home.

More than 800 people live in the Boulder County mobile home park, and many of them share that same deep connection to the community.

"I've lived here for about eight years," resident Wendy Kinal said. "There's just a really good neighborhood and family feel and I feel safe here."

Denver7's Claire Lavezzorio spoke to residents about their concerns in the video player below:

 

Fellow resident Susana Rodriguez echoed that sentiment.

"I'm very proud to live here," Rodriguez...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Frank Rolfe

… push to buy $42.5M park before new owner prices them out

Yes, it’s the same topic as the other article on this park, but I wanted to include it because it is built on the same fallacy. ANYBODY who buys this park is going to have to increase rents substantially BY VIRTUE OF ADDING THE PAYMENTS ON A $42.5 MILLION MORTGAGE! Whether the park is bought by Apollo (the private equity group), Apollo (the moon mission team from NASA), Apollo (the Greek god) or Apollo the non-profit (I’m sure there’s a non-profit somewhere by that name), they will all have the same mortgage to pay every month and will have to raise the lot rent equally high to support that reality. It’s simply called math – you know, that thing the schools no longer teach (and journalists flunked).