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KTVQ: Legislators propose bills to help Billings mobile home residents

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Residents at the Meadowlark mobile home park in Billings continue to have dirty water, a boil order is in effect, they've had frozen and broken pipes, and the water has been shut down.

And now in the Montana Legislature, lawmakers have proposed bills they hope could help in the long run.

Last month's historic cold snap in Montana brought more problems to this Billings mobile home park.

About 20 pipes broke at the end of the year.

"Biggest thing is just the water shut offs, and, you know, not having water and it being turned off all night. Has caused a lot of stress out here for a lot of people," said Gary Deveraux, a Meadowlark resident.

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Our thoughts on this story:

Only a state bureaucrat would think that they are helping mobile home park residents by making a new law that stops park owners from “requiring a tenant to make unnecessary upgrades” to their homes. Essentially they’re dooming the 98% of park residents who take care of their property so that the 2% with five non-running cars piled in the yard, their home painted three colors and aluminum foil for curtains won’t have to bother cleaning up their act. Then you add on the new law that requires tenants to have first option to buy the park – something that they virtually never exercise and that slows down the sales process by months – and you have the kind of genius thinking that has made America the mess that it has become. Let me make it more clear for these legislators of Montana. If you pass these two bills you are going to simply have park owners tear more parks down and put in things that have less ridiculous restrictions – and nobody would blame them.

Salem News: Mobile home owners struggle to find insurance in 'dysfunctional' market

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ORMOND BEACH, Florida — The problems at Peggy Childress’ mobile home started in May when a tree from the vacant lot next door crashed through their carport, the first damage she or her husband, Mike, could recall in 15 years of living there.

Having the tree removed cost $600, all the money they had in savings. “It wiped us out,” said Childress, 61.

Then Hurricane Ian tore off their roof.

“It was like it was raining inside,” Childress said. Rooms filled with water, then mold.

Childress said she’s gotten estimates of more than $22,000 for repairs, “more than this place is worth.”

As is the case with many owners of manufactured and mobile...

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Our thoughts on this story:

A mobile home park resident has $22,600 in damage from two back-to-back storms and can’t figure out why nobody will give her another insurance policy. It’s called economics – not that complicated.

The Daily Star: Mobile home requests on rise in Hammond

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Conditional variance requests to place mobile homes in areas where zoning does not permit are creating a juggling act for Hammond leaders as they try to accommodate land owners and adhere to zoning regulations.

Two more requests for mobile homes to be placed in non-compliant areas were presented this past Tuesday night during a council meeting and were met with mixed results. One was granted, the other denied.

Typically, the council has been favorable to granting the majority of such petitions.

The requests were only the latest that continue to pop up on council and Planning and Zoning agendas, a fact not lost on city council...

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Our thoughts on this story:

What single-family home owner would not object to a mobile home going on a lot next to their neighborhood? It’s a simple scientific fact that single-family homes next to mobile homes show a sharp decline in value. You can’t argue it – simply look on Zillow. Don’t make the case that these people are wrong for trying to preserve their home values.

YES! Magazine: How Mobile Home Communities Are Adapting for Climate Change

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Charlotte Bishop was standing at her kitchen window in January 2019 when she saw water streaming into her yard. A block of ice had clogged the brook that snakes around the mobile home park where she and her husband Rollin live in Brattleboro, Vermont. Ice jams are not uncommon in Vermont, but the heavier rains and earlier winter thaws—both related to climate change—will likely cause more flooding in communities near rivers and streams. Bishop grabbed her keys and rushed outside to move their cars to higher ground. Within minutes, she was wading through knee-high water. 

Bishop lives in Tri-Park Cooperative, Vermont’s largest and...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This article is so boring that I was about to fall asleep and then I suddenly saw that the town was going to spend $7.9 million to relocate 26 mobile homes out of the floodplain. I hope that’s a typo from the magazine, because that works out to $303,000 per home. Here’s a better idea. Buy each of those mobile home park residents a custom home on the golf course, give it to them debt-free, and demolish those $20,000 mobile homes they were living in. It’s a win/win for the earth and at least does not insult the intelligence of anyone reading this article who had basic algebra.

Fox 5 Atlanta: How manufactured housing can save America

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You finally graduated from college at 28, moved out of your parent's basement at 30, married your best friend at 32, and now she is pregnant. You’re 33, and now you want to buy a house and quit paying rent. But you’re squeezed between sky-high housing costs and rising interest rates.

Millennial couples are the largest single block of prospective homebuyers.  But during the pandemic, home prices in Georgia skyrocketed, and in 2022 borrowing costs more than doubled.

FOX 5 real estate expert John Adams says today’s millennial home buyers can get out of paying rent every month by buying a "manufactured house" from one of several manufacturers...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Some good stats and information in this article, but nobody is going to believe the statement the statement that “in 2022 the average single-wide in Georgia is $82,000 and the average double-wide is $158,700”. The reporter needed to do some more research on mobile home prices and should have included the used home prices which are around $15,000 and $40,000 respectively.

ABC 10: Stockton mobile home without power since Saturday night

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The members of the 55 and older community said they can't use water, flush toilets or turn on lights because everything is powered by electricity.

STOCKTON, Calif. — One Stockton community is still struggling with power outages into Monday evening.

The Tehama Mobile Home Village Park a 55 and older community off Highway 99 and East Eight Mile Road. Residents say they have had no power since 10 p.m. Saturday night.

Overnight heavy winds toppled trees and knocked out power to some in the area. The extreme weather conditions even caused students with the Stockton Unified School District to miss two days of school.

The members of the 55...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Only in California would you see this quote “the members of the 55 and older community said they can’t use water, flush toilets or turn on lights because everything is powered by electricity”. I know that California is all about a green agenda, but since when can you not turn on a faucet or flush a toilet without power? I’m lost.

PA Homepage: Montour County mobile home park water woes

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COOPER TOWNSHIP MONTOUR COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Residents of a Montour County mobile home park say they have had it with the ongoing water problems and reached out to the I-Team for help after they claim their concerns were not being addressed by property management.

Eyewitness News spoke with residents who are frustrated, disgusted, and some are downright angry. They say they just want to have clear, clean water once and for all.

“It’s been a frustrating mess and it always goes on. We’re at our wit’s end,” said Robert Hayden, a Pepper Hills Mobile Home Park resident.

Robert Hayden lives at the Pepper Hills Mobile Home Park near Danville. He...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Sounds like the park owner needs to replace the water lines. Needs to give the residents and the city and state the plan and timing, go to the lender and find a hardscrabble way to get it started. In the interim the tenants and authorities need to back off and give them time to get it done. Hiding from all of this doesn’t sound like it’s helping. But, to be honest, the reporter is so anti-business that you don’t really know if any of these assertions by the tenants are even true.

North Platte Bulletin: Council tables small RV park over concerns about stringent requirements

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The North Platte city council wrangled for about an hour Tuesday about a zoning permit for a proposed small RV park on South Willow.

Merlin and Kelle Dikeman would like to create eight camping spots at 3501 S. Willow and erect a 40’ x 80’ building that contains a night watchman living quarters. The site is a couple blocks south of Goforth Trailer and Trucking at the corner of Walker and Willow.

The Dikemans said in their application that the building could be used to renovate and store old vehicles. Four of the campers in the outside stalls would be privately owned. The other four spaces would be available to lease.

The Dikemans said the...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The Dikemans just want to build a nice little RV park. They trusted the city bureaucrats and it blew up in their faces. This is a testament to not only the dangers of greenfield development, but also the need for tighter due diligence and not letting people tell you things as opposed to getting them in writing.

WFXR TV: 13 Massie’s Mobile Home Park tenants head to Montgomery Co. court; Suing owners for water cut-off

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CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (WFXR) — More than a dozen tenants at Massie’s Mobile Home Park and Christiansburg-based Southwest Virginia Legal are headed to Montgomery County General District Court on Friday, Jan. 6, for a scheduled hearing against their trailer park’s current owners.

“I’m looking for respect, and for people to be treated like human beings,” said Jacqueline Snyder, a tenant in the lawsuit.

Southwest Virginia legal aid attorney Kristi Murray says this is all happening after filing 13 unlawful exclusion suits. They say their water was cut off back in November after park owners didn’t pay the bill.

“First not being able to take your...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This article is beyond stupid. Massey’s mobile home park sold because the long-standing mom and pop couldn’t manage the property any longer. The new owner paid a fortune for it and now requires people to pay their rent on time and keep up their property. And those 2% of the residents who take offense to living in civilized society don’t like it one bit. How is this news and why does anyone waste time on these type of stories?

Weather Underground: Deaths In The South Amplify Extreme Danger Of Manufactured Homes During Severe Weather

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This week’s storms in the South that killed at least three people and injured nearly 25 more highlight the dangers of being inside a mobile home or manufactured home during severe weather. Most of the homes destroyed in the storm were manufactured. And at least one of the deaths occurred in a manufactured home.

In fact, of the 104 tornado fatalities in 2021, 23 were in manufactured homes, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center. In 2020, 39 of the 76 tornado deaths that year were in manufactured homes. Through Nov. 30 of this year, more than half of tornado deaths — 13 out of 22 — happened in manufactured homes. That's a lot,...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Apparently you have a 15% better chance of being killed in a mobile home than a stick-built home if a tornado hits. You also have a 15% higher chance of dying from boredom if you read this article.

The Facts: Residents express concerns regarding manufactured home community

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ANGLETON — A new manufactured home community will be developed in the city adjacent to the intersection of East Phillips Road and Gifford Road.

All of the homes in Angleton Park Place will require a concrete foundation.

“They’re going to have axles taken out from underneath them and they’re all going to have concrete slabs poured underneath the modular homes,” owner and developer Mike Morgan said.

Concerned citizens attended the Dec. 21 Board of Adjustment meeting to express their perspectives on the development.

The meeting was actually being held to discuss a possible variance for the drainage and utilities of Angleton Park...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Angleton, Texas has a median home price of nearly $200,000. The developer is going to be sticking mobile homes that value at around $70,000 each on to those new lots. Can you possibly understand why the city residents are up in arms about this zoning catastrophe? I imagine the litigation will be flying soon, as every home owner near this planned development is about to see a 50% decrease in their home value. Again, bureaucrats at work who would never allow this to happen in their neighborhood but could care less as long as it’s not next to their property.

WBUR: A tale of two mobile home parks

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Large investors have been buying up mobile home communities at a rapid pace over the past few years, including here in Massachusetts. WBUR reporter Simon Rios dives into his reporting on two local mobile home communities that were faced with corporate buyouts, and the two very different outcomes they saw.

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Our thoughts on this story:

The same boring story of how great the resident-owned community concept is without including the fact that the park in which the residents bought the park they paid $80,000 per space and are putting no capital back into it vs. the park where the corporate owner paid about $80,000 per space (after the residents refused to buy it) and then poured a ton of money back into the property to fix it up and raised the rents accordingly. At the end of the movie, the residents will be paying the same lot rent in both parks (because park #1 will still need all this work done eventually and the rent will have to go up to pay for it) only the quality of life in park #1 will probably be lower as they will have poor management and zero fiscal governance.

Iowa City Press Citizen: Guest column: Mobile home park owners making housing unaffordable

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If you have a favorite cashier at the store, or a favorite nurse’s aide at the nursing home who takes care of your mother, or you belong to a veterans association, you might know someone who lives in a mobile home park in Iowa. If you do, they, like me, are either already in trouble, or headed that way. Here’s why.

Mobile home parks are the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the U.S. The residents own their homes, but not the land their homes are on. So, they must pay lot rent every month to the park owners. Therein lies the problem.

Several years ago, out-of-state investment firms started buying up MHPs in Iowa and...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Another story of how larger owners buy up failing properties, inject capital into them to bring them back to life, save them from the wrecking ball, and are now guilty of ruining the world by giving people a better place to live at a still highly affordable price. Maybe this writer should contact the folks at Lee’s Trailer Park and get their take on that.

Yakima Herald-Republic: At the mercy of the market: Yakima trailer park residents feeling the pain of higher rent

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Dora Flores pulls into a parking spot in front of her trailer house after picking up her grandchildren from school. The two boys run inside, splashing through a couple of small potholes. Flores takes a look at her home of almost 10 years and feels only concern. By the end of next month, she says, she may not have a home at all. 

Over the last year, Flores and her neighbors at Valley Community, a small trailer park in Yakima on the corner of Fruitvale Boulevard and North 16th Avenue, have faced steep rent increases, a new monthly water usage cap and now have to pay the city for garbage collection themselves. Residents have struggled to...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The rent was $350 per month and now it’s $600 under the new owner. The park is in Yakima, WA and the average single family home is $290,300 and the average apartment is $1,435 per month. Any sane person would say “looks like the rent at $600 per month is too low”.

WGCU: Residents of Bonita Springs RV and mobile home park chased away as new owner takes over

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Finding a site to place an RV or camper at this time of year in Southwest Florida has always been a struggle. Add to that the number of RV and mobile home parks that were decimated by Hurricane Ian and the result is those that remain are packed.

Not so in Bonita Springs.

Gulf Coast Camping Resort right now looks like it’s in the throes of the summer doldrums and not the height of tourist season in Southwest Florida.

Noticeably absent are people tooling around on golf carts, walking dogs, or sitting outside enjoying the pleasant winter weather.

These days there’s only a handful of renters left at the once-bustling RV and mobile home...

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Our thoughts on this story:

A guy bought an old RV park for $5 million. His intention would appear to be to develop it into a different use. The residents don’t want to leave even though he has terminated all leases and told them to be out by 1/1/2023. Looks like he followed all of the laws and the tenants are trespassing and are violating his property rights – not the other way around.

Fast Company: ‘They never told us when we bought this place’: How mobile home communities are dealing with flood risk

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Charlotte Bishop was standing at her kitchen window in January 2019 when she saw water streaming into her yard. A block of ice had clogged the brook that snakes around the mobile home park where she and her husband Rollin live in Brattleboro, Vermont. Bishop grabbed her keys and rushed outside to move their cars to higher ground. Within minutes, she was wading through knee-high water. 

Bishop lives in Tri-Park Cooperative, Vermont’s largest and oldest resident-owned mobile home community. The co-op represents a crucial source of affordable housing for about 1,000 residents, but many of its lots are vulnerable to flooding. Bishop said her...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Non-profits now want to fund ventures to elevate mobile homes in flood zones and even relocate these homes. Who is paying for all this stuff? It looks like non-profits are America’s fastest growing new industry. There’s probably even a non-profit to fund starting non-profits.

Seeking Alpha: Manufactured Housing: Recession-Resistant REITs

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Summary
  • Manufactured Housing REITs snapped an incredible streak of nine straight years of outperformance over the REIT Index in 2022, impacted by headwinds from higher interest rates and hurricane-related disruptions.
  • Despite their REIT-leading growth rates, Manufactured Housing ("MH") REITs have historically been among the most interest rate-sensitive sectors due to their counter-cyclical demand profile and remarkable operational consistency.
  • While rent growth has moderated from record-high levels across other residential property types, MH revenue growth is poised to accelerate in 2023, driven by their under-appreciated...
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Our thoughts on this story:

Mobile home parks are the best sector in U.S. real estate. Couldn’t agree more. Great stats in this article. One of the few good ones in a sea of woke idiocy.

The Sonoma Index-Tribune: Mobile homes bolster Sonoma’s affordable housing stock

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When Moon Valley Residential Community lowered the age restrictions for mobile home residents from 55+ in 2009, Robert Caldwell became one of the first of a younger generation to benefit from the affordable home model.

When the Index-Tribune met Caldwell, he was putting away Christmas decorations from his double-wide manufactured home that he bought for $35,000 in 2010. He was jolly talking about the appreciation of his home after his neighbor sold their unit for upward of $100,000.

“For one, it’s cheaper than buying a home, because that’s gotten just ridiculous,” Caldwell said. “I think in the past, if you lived in a mobile park you...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The first part of the article was fine but then this typical California journalist promoted the concept that greater bureaucracy is the key to affordable housing. Isn’t California where city and state government tried to build new affordable housing units recently at $600,000 each? Why not let the free market do its thing and you could have affordable housing that does not rely on subsidies.

Maryland Coast Dispatch: Site Plan Approved For Mobile Home Park Expansion

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SNOW HILL– Plans for the expansion of a West Ocean City mobile home park moved ahead last week following approval by county officials.

The Worcester County Planning Commission last Thursday voted unanimously to approve a site plan for Salt Life Park. The project consists of a 34-lot expansion of an existing manufactured home park on Old Bridge Road.

“It’s really a nice continuation of the old park,” attorney Hugh Cropper said.

Cropper told the commission his client, Mark Odachowski, had purchased the existing park and started working to improve it. The 34-lot expansion is part of that improvement effort.

“It was really an eyesore,”...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This is exactly the way to get a park expansion approved – tie the expansion into an overall improvement in the original park. Then the trade off for the neighbors is that they can have a smaller but ugly property, or a slightly larger one that is not embarrassing to live nearby.

South Congaree landlord arrested for renting mobile home without a business license: South Congaree landlord arrested for renting mobile home without a business license

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SOUTH CONGAREE, S.C. (WIS) - A scrutinized South Congaree landlord was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly renting out a mobile home in a park that’s closing in two months.

Landlord Naomi Halter faces the misdemeanor charge of operating without a business license.

Tuesday morning a Lexington County judge granted her a personal recognizance bond, allowing her to await her court dates outside of jail without putting down any money.

The Town of South Congaree pulled her business licenses last August and her appeal failed in November.

In denying the appeal, the South Congaree Town Council triggered an ordinance-mandated eviction process for the...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The city takes the park owner’s license away because her properties are a “drain on city resources” (translation: those kids in the park are costing $8,000 per year in tuition each) and then have her arrested when she is kind enough to rent a vacant home to a guy and his mother who need a cheap place to live. She needs a good attorney and then should sue the heck out of these bureaucrats – maybe personally and not just in their city capacity. Sure, the homes could be nicer and there’s no excuse for a leaking sewer connection from a home, but I see nothing in this video that would suggest anything that has occurred is in any way appropriate or proportional.

News 5 Cleveland: Retirement communities' fears over rising rent prompts letter from senator

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STARK COUNTY, Ohio — Neighbors in several Northeast Ohio retirement communities are grappling with drastic rent hikes after a company took over properties in Navarre and Elyria. The seniors, many of whom are living on fixed incomes, worry how they’ll afford to stay in their homes.

News 5 stories highlighting the concerns are now being cited by Congress in a demand for answers.

Monday, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown issued a letter to Legacy Communities, LLC about the steep rent hikes at Navarre Village and Twin Lakes. He also sent one to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, better known as Freddie Mac, requesting a review of its...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Let me get this straight. The residents are mad because the new owner doubled lot rents for NEW residents moving in only but NOT for the existing residents. They claim this makes their existing homes harder to sell with the higher lot rent a new owner would have to pay. Perhaps the Senator would like to cover the rent differential if he feels that strongly about this ridiculous complaint. The residents could just pay the old rent and the Senator should pay the increase, right? If not, then he needs to shut up because he’s making a fool of himself.

Cape Cod Times: Judge makes decision in Pocasset mobile home park trial. Here's the latest

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BARNSTABLE — A Superior Court judge found on Wednesday that Crown Communities LLC is the rightful buyer of a Pocasset mobile home park.

The 15-page decision comes after a years-long legal battle between the Wyoming investment firm and the Pocasset Park Association, with both sides seeking ownership of the Bourne park, which is home to about 170 people at its prime location off Barlow's Landing Road.

"The Association lacked sufficient support (and authority) to exercise lawfully its right of first refusal and to purchase the park," wrote Judge Michael Callan, who decided the jury-waived trial.

In a statement to the Times, Walter B....

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Our thoughts on this story:

Another classic tale of park residents wanting to buy their mobile home park and failing miserably. They apparently cheated on the number of votes necessary to even start the process and the real owner and real buyer sued the tenants and the judge agreed that the tenants were wrong. Of course, in cases like these the tenants have no money to pay any of the legal fees involved or damages to the other parties. Had the roles been reversed, you know that the tenants would have sued the owner and buyer for $1 trillion.

Washington Post: In a trailer park, boxes deliver fresh produce and a sense of belonging

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His shoulders hunched against the raw wind and freezing rain, Gerson Lima trudged through puddles earlier this month with his 6-year-old son, Cristian. But they didn’t have far to go: It was just a few minutes’ walk from their trailer to the parking area where the food truck was parked. Every two weeks it brings ingredients for meals for the family of two adults and two children, who arrived seven months ago from Guatemala.

“It’s made a big difference,” said Lima, 28, one hand gripping a black umbrella, the other holding his son’s hand. “It’s helped a lot. It’s everything, especially now, because we just arrived and have no other...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Finally, a story with a purpose.

NBC 2: Lee County mobile home community still without water & electricity after Ian, 1,500 displaced residents awaiting answers

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LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Since Hurricane Ian, the Indian Creek RV Resort and Manufactured Home Community in Lee County still has zero water and zero electricity access in the park. 

“We moved here two weeks before Hurricane Ian and now we can’t move back in,” said resident Mike Jablonski. 

The park, according to residents, houses about 1,500 lots that were mostly full before the hurricane. 

“That’s 1,500 people now displaced,” said resident Clara Maggio.

The people in the park own their homes or RVs for the most part, but lease the lots at the park located on San Carlos Blvd, just over three miles from Fort Myers Beach. 

“That means they (Sun...

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Our thoughts on this story:

And this is why you don’t want to buy a mobile home park in a hurricane zone …..