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Sedona Red Rock News: Goldwater sues city, Jablow over short-term rentals

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The Goldwater Institute has filed suit against the city of Sedona, Mayor Scott Jablow and City Manager Anette Spickard over the city’s refusal to grant a short-term rental permit to the new owner of the Oak Creek Mobilodge.

Oak Creek Hospitality LLC purchased the 59-space mobile home park in September 2023, although the sale was not recorded with Coconino County until June 2024.

The mobile home park, which is zoned single-family residential, predates the incorporation of Sedona in 1988 and “is considered a legal nonconforming use,” then-Community Development Director Audree Juhlin stated in a letter to then-owner Don Campbell in...

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Based on the information presented in the article, the bureaucrats in Sedona are going to have a tough time trying to negate their written representations to the buyer that the mobile home park was legal for short-term rentals. Maybe next time they should write their certificates of zoning in invisible ink?

BUREAUCRATS GONE WILD RATING: 7

Saco Bay News: Old Orchard Beach set to vote on mobile home park rent control ordinance

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Tenants at one of southern Maine’s most affordable mobile home parks are up in arms over the possibility of future rent increases under new ownership, and have successfully petitioned the Old Orchard Beach town council to add a rent control ordinance to ballots for the Nov. 5 election.

Voters in Old Orchard Beach will be asked: “Shall the Ordinance entitled ‘Citizens Initiative Petition, Amendments to the Town of Old Orchard Beach Code of Ordinances, Chapter 34, Housing, adding Article IV, Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance’ be adopted?”

The sale of the Old Orchard Village and Atlantic Village mobile home park (a single park with...

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Concerned that the increase was a precursor of things to come under the new owner, tenants in the park initiated a petition drive to establish a rent control ordinance for mobile home parks. Tenants found such an ordinance in use in a town in California and revised it to be OOB-specific. The petition was submitted to the town in August, and was subject to a public hearing before the town council on September 3. The ordinance has been reviewed by the town’s attorney, and found to be acceptable. The council had two choices at the September meeting: approve it that evening, or allow voters to decide the matter in the form of a referendum. The latter was approved on a 4-0 vote.

So Maine apparently wants to be the next California. It makes complete sense that only mobile home parks should have rent control and that the bureaucrats have decided to allow the locals to vote on whether it’s a good idea or not, right? I wonder what would happen if the locals also voted on putting a cap on gas prices, food prices, insurance prices, and even car prices, because that’s the logical next step.

BUREAUCRATS GONE WILD RATING: 10

Jefferson Public Radio: Oregon will auction off defective modular homes in an effort to recoup almost $24 million

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The state purchased the homes in 2021, with most of them intended to rebuild Royal Oaks Mobile Manor in Phoenix, which was destroyed in the 2020 Almeda Fire. Families who lost their homes in the fire were prioritized for housing.

But last summer, the homes were found to be unfit to live in, due to mold, water leaks and other issues. There are unresolved questions about why the homes had defects.

Now, OHCS has announced it will auction off the defective homes in an effort to recoup some of the approximately $24 million dollars it says it spent on them.

Caleb Yant, deputy director of OHCS, said buyers will be informed about their...

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Oregon Housing and Community Services, the state's housing agency, will auction off 140 defective modular homes in a series of two-week-long auctions. The state purchased the homes in 2021, with most of them intended to rebuild Royal Oaks Mobile Manor in Phoenix, which was destroyed in the 2020 Almeda Fire. Families who lost their homes in the fire were prioritized for housing. But last summer, the homes were found to be unfit to live in, due to mold, water leaks and other issues. There are unresolved questions about why the homes had defects. Now, OHCS has announced it will auction off the defective homes in an effort to recoup some of the approximately $24 million dollars it says it spent on them.

It is unbelievable that the State of Oregon spent $24 million on 140 mobile homes to begin with – that’s $171,428 per home! But what’s even crazier is that they spent all that money on homes that are so defective they can’t even be used. In the private sector, everyone involved in this would be fired. But my bet is that not one person will be held accountable. Oregon will lose $20 million at auction, and then spend another $24 million on the replacement homes, which means they will then have $300,000 in each mobile home. This type of wasteful spending is what separates the government from the rest of us and is why the average American has zero confidence that their tax dollars are being properly spent.

BUREAUCRATS GONE WILD RATING: 10

Ocean City Today: Mobile home residents seek improved insurance choices

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Residents and local officials are seeking the state’s help in finding insurance options on mobile and manufactured homes in Worcester County.

On Wednesday, the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) held a virtual hearing to gather the public’s thoughts on the lack of available insurance coverage for manufactured and mobile homes in this county and its coastal areas.

Marie Grant, the agency’s acting commissioner, noted that the meeting would help the state to identify the scope of the problem and to collect potential solutions.

“Based on the MIA team’s preliminary research, it appears many homeowners are unable to find full...

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Based on the MIA team’s preliminary research, it appears many homeowners are unable to find full coverage on the standard market for mobile and manufactured homes in certain coastal areas in Maryland,” she said at the start of this week’s hearing. “Our research has also shown that surplus line carriers are beginning to limit their coverage for these homes, for example, by excluding wind coverage, or only writing [policies for] homes that are less than 20 or 25 years old.

The National Flood Insurance Program has created a monster. The result of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, it is the primary source of flood insurance coverage for residential properties in the United States. It is a coop of government agencies which issues over five million policies providing over $1.3 trillion in coverage. The program collects in only about $4 billion in annual revenue from policyholders’ premiums and the government funds the rest.

Now think about that for a minute. Those with homes in the flood areas chip in $4 billion against a total exposure of $1.3 trillion. How in the heck is that going to work? Effectively, the U.S. government has allowed people to build homes in flood areas – literally sponsored it – and has an unfunded obligation that is 30% of the nation’s total annual tax revenue. The damage in Hurricane Harvey was $200 billion. Hurricane Helene is thought to be about the same. Hurricane Milton was a bargain at around $50 billion. So let’s see, those $4 billion premiums should catch up on just those three hurricane losses alone in only 112 years, assuming there’s not another hurricane loss for the next century. And there’s no way out of this mess.

BUREAUCRATS GONE WILD RATING: 10

KDLL: Soldotna strengthens protections for mobile home park residents

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More than a year after residents of a mobile home park in Soldotna  over alleged insufficient utilities and illegal evictions, city council members have updated health and safety standards for residents.

Council member Jordan Chilson sponsored the ordinance. He’s invoked the lawsuit in explaining why the changes are necessary.

“What I’m concerned about is in the event that those close – and it’s likely a matter of when, not if,” he said. “ … My intent is that when that eventually happens, those tenants are treated fairly and given an opportunity to relocate.”

The owners of River Terrace told tenants in July last year...

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The owners of River Terrace told tenants in July last year that they’d need to move off the property by this past May. The eviction notices caught the park’s roughly 40 year-round residents, many of whom are low-income or seniors, by surprise.

You don’t see a whole lot of articles on Alaskan mobile home parks, but this one’s pretty ridiculous. The owner had already given the residents one year notice to leave the property prior to redevelopment, then the city tied it up in court for a year, and now the city has passed a new rule that states … park owners must give the residents one-year advance notice to close the park. Common sense would say that the owner has already met that threshold, but the crazy bureaucrats have now tacked an additional year on this saga with no compensation for the property owner who did everything right.

BUREAUCRATS GONE WILD RATING: 7

Tigard Life: Owners of manufactured homes take case for park rent caps to Capitol

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Rapidly rising rents in local manufactured-home parks have driven some residents to fight back, which included a recent trip to the state Capitol to press their legislative representatives to take action on their behalf.

On Sept. 25 Royal Villas residents Kathy Elliott and Pat Bishop, Eldorado Villas resident Rita Loberger and King Village resident John Spencer, who together represented about 540 homes in the three parks, met with Sen. Aaron Woods (D-District 13), and Reps. Ben Bowman (D-District 25) and Courtney Neron (D-District 26) at their Capitol offices’ conference room for a half-hour to discuss the issue.

All the parks are owned...

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Elliott suggested that maybe there should be one rate cap for people on Social Security and a higher cap for people who are still working.

Oregon already has rent control. But some mobile home park tenants don’t think it goes far enough. They now want there to be two types of rent control: one for seniors and one for younger people. I know that using the word “socialist” has been worn out this election season, but that’s effectively what we’re talking about here. To quote Wikipedia: ”the goal of socialism is to distribute goods and services equitably”. Basically, it’s the inverse of the free-market capitalist system. If Oregon wants to change from capitalism to socialism, that’s fine I guess, but at least be honest about it.

BUREAUCRATS GONE WILD RATING: 9

Anna Maria Island Sun: Condemnation at mobile home parks explained

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BRADENTON BEACH – City Building Official Darin Cushing addressed condemnation questions and outlined the next steps for homeowners at the Pines Trailer Park and many at the Sandpiper Resort Co-Op who received letters assessing their mobile homes with substantial damage due to hurricane-related flooding.

“People are throwing the word condemned around, but no trailers have been condemned, yet,” Cushing wrote in an Oct. 25 email to The Sun. “There are a few in the Pines that are pretty wrecked, so we will cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“We’re doing this part first but then we’re going to be looking at the ones that are going to be...

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Florida is a “red state” in name only. I’m not sure if their goal is to go back to raw farmland, but you can’t go to people that have just had their homes ruined in a hurricane and tell them “sorry but now we’ve changed the rules and you have to spend another $50,000 just to put your $5,000 singlewide back on its lot”. This whole nightmare for Floridians began with the condo building collapse a few years ago followed by the empowerment of bureaucrats to make impossible demands on good-natured people who simply want to retire in peace (the going average is around $100,000 per condo owner for studies and structural refinement). Now Florida is stacking on similar “deal-killing” mandates for single-family and mobile homes. The result is that people are starting to leave the state in droves. I’m not sure what Ron DeSantis is thinking, but I’ve never seen a state so bent on self-destruction. Between the State’s inept attitude, the regular hurricane season and the lack of available insurance, the only thing residing in Florida may eventually be orange trees.

BUREAUCRATS GONE WILD RATING: 10

WFTS Tampa Bay: Mobile home residents getting eviction notices on top of storm damage

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NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — In a neighborhood already wrecked by Helene’s storm surge and Milton’s winds, a simple piece of paper is causing even more agony.

Some residents with seriously damaged homes in Harbor View Mobile Manor are now getting eviction notices.

Janel Heffelfinger, Harbor View HOA board president, said, “We have some that are trying to live with no electric. No floors. They are falling through their floors when they walk. We have one couple who has a man who is completely paralyzed in a wheelchair. She can’t even bring him back here. They are paying money out of their pocket for a house they can’t live in because his...

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Some of Harbor View is still without power and much of the trash is still piled up. “When I first moved here this was a beautiful mobile home park and now we are living like trailer trash. It’s ridiculous. We pay way too much money to this big corporation to not have any consideration,” said Heffelfinger.

This Park was wiped out in Hurricane Helene and the residents are blaming the park owner for that. Good to see that even in a national crisis the “free rent movement” is going strong.

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: HURICANE HELENE

Portland Press Herald: OOB to vote on mobile home park rent control

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Old Orchard Beach residents will vote in November on a proposed mobile home park rent control ordinance.

If approved by voters, the ordinance would ensure lot rents for mobile home park residents could only increase by 5% yearly, except under special circumstances.

Residents in Old Orchard Beach’s mobile home parks typically own their home and rent the lot the home sits on.

In February of this year, residents of Atlantic Village and Old Orchard Village learned that the longtime owner — Seagate Limited Partnership — was selling the properties to California-based company Follett USA.

In an effort to keep rent costs low, residents attempted...

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In an effort to keep rent costs low, residents attempted to purchase the parks. When this effort did not work, they began to explore rent control.

And if that doesn’t work, they’re going to slash the park owner’s tires? This has nothing to do with fairness or value but simply the “free rent movement”. These folks simply don’t want to pay rent regardless of what a great deal they’re getting.

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: PEOPLE WHO DON’T WANT TO PAY THEIR RENT BUT INSTEAD WANT A HANDOUT.

KTTC: Stewartville mobile home residents express more concerns after new ownership brings higher costs

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STEWARTVILLE, Minn. (KTTC) – Residents of Southern Hills/Northridge Place mobile home parks shared concerns as they say they face more expensive lot rentals, increased fees, and lack of maintenance.

In March, Havenpark Communities, a Utah-based investment company, became the new owner of Southern Hills/Northridge Place mobile home parks. Tenant Evelyn Kuschel said the issues arose shortly after this transition of ownership.

According to Kuschel, current residents of the mobile home parks pay around $500 in lot rent, but new residents will now need to pay an increased rent of $895. On top of this, the residents' lot rentals for next year...

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According to Kuschel, current residents of the mobile home parks pay around $500 in lot rent, but new residents will now need to pay an increased rent of $895. On top of this, the residents' lot rentals for next year will face a 10% increase.

Let me get this straight: a current tenant who pays $500 per month in lot rent is complaining because all new residents moving in will have to pay $895 per month. That would be like me complaining that I used Hotels.com to get a $100 rate while other people (who I don’t know) are paying full retail for the same room.

The new park owner even pointed this stupidity out:

Over the last few weeks, we’ve notified residents about all our improvement projects, which will result in an average rent increase of $52 that will go into effect on January 1, 2025. New residents moving to Southern Hills will receive landscaping services and be paying a rate that is more in line with the local market.

What’s really going on here? Some random ‘free rent movement” advocate wants to complain about things that are none of their business because, clearly, landlords are inherently evil.

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: LONELY TENANTS WHO WANT THEIR 5 MINUTES OF FAME

WPBN/WGTU: Residents in Marion Township rally against proposed mobile home park development

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CHARLEVOIX COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- Public meetings about housing are often crowded. A hearing in Charlevoix County on Thursday night was no exception.

But, residents were not just concerned about development.

They had already voted on the proposal two months ago.

In 2023, Marion Township passed a zoning change paving the way for “Copper Creek Meadows,” a mobile home park.

The land near Castle Farms is currently vacant.

This year, residents overwhelmingly voted that down in the August primary, seemingly definitive.

“The next meeting after that vote, it was announced by the zoning supervisor that the development was going to be...

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The city said “no” to building a new mobile home park

This year, residents overwhelmingly voted that down in the August primary, seemingly definitive.

And then the guy wanting to develop it appealed that vote and they voted again:

The appeal was unanimously rejected by the three-person board.

So now the deal is dead. What’s the lesson learned? Nobody – and I mean nobody – who owns property in the United States wants a mobile home park built anywhere near their property. That’s never going to change. And that’s why I’m so negative when people tell me they are going to start a venture to build new parks. It’s simply a futile mission.

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: THE SIMPLE TRUTH THAT THE PRESENCE OF A MOBILE HOME PARK DEPRESSES THE VALUE OF ALL PROPERTIES SURROUNDING IT

Industry Dive: What does it take to decarbonize a manufactured home community?

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Electrifying and decarbonizing one home is a step in the right direction. But what if a whole neighborhood had cleaner, more efficient power? 

Paulo Cesar Tabares-Velasco, an associate professor of mechanical engineering with the Colorado School of Mines, wanted to find out. His question has led to 16 manufactured-home owners in Lake County, Colorado, agreeing to swap out some gas-powered appliances for electric ones, increase their insulation, make small retrofits and subscribe to a community solar installation elsewhere in the state. The project is partially funded by federal grants and includes partnerships with state agencies, other...

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Electrifying and decarbonizing one home is a step in the right direction. But what if a whole neighborhood had cleaner, more efficient power? 

Sure, you would imagine that – at a time in which Americans have never been more broke – there would be more important items than “decarbonizing” mobile homes (you know, like buying food). Unbelievable that they would not be embarrassed to run this article.

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: WRITERS THAT HAVE LOST TOUCH WITH REALITY.

WWSB: Hundreds of Bradenton Beach mobile homes likely to be condemned

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BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) - It was a heartbreaking afternoon for hundreds of residents on Bradenton Beach.

“We were all anxious to reinvest in our properties and in the community again, and then we are hit this morning with this bombshell,” said Pines Trailer Park resident Bill Lavelle.

That bombshell he is referring to – an announcement from the city saying FEMA told them all manufactured homes on the island that had any flooding from the recent hurricanes essentially had to be destroyed.

“This is my little chunk of paradise that I was just able to get at this stage of my life, and now it’s been ripped away from me,” Lavelle said.

The only...

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The only other option is to build the homes up in some cases 12 feet to make them compliant with the city’s flood ordinance. But given the cost and the layout of the two mobile home communities in town, that’s virtually impossible.

And now you know why Ronald Reagan said the nine scariest words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”.

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: THE CITY OFFICIALS.

Daily Journal: Lee County residents air concerns of manufactured housing code updates

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TUPELO — A fiery Thursday-morning board meeting ended with little resolution as residents aired their frustration with a recent update to manufactured home codes in Lee County.

Amid a packed board room, Board President and District 3 Supervisor Wesley Webb explained that the recently approved update to manufactured housing regulations has been paused, with planned advertising shelved until changes can be made.

“We are going to try our best to come up with a compromise with everybody. We can’t please everybody, but we are going to do our best,” he said, adding that there would be no discussion of the code until the public meeting.

The...

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Webb said the purpose of the regulations, specifically the 2-acre lot size requirement, was to ensure wastewater and sewer hookups were adequate.

Sure, it makes complete sense that single-family homes are fine on a quarter-acre lot but mobile homes require 2 acres under the new ordinance. And I’m sure that it’s to ensure wastewater hookups are adequate. No way it could be a way to make sure there are no more mobile homes brought into Tupelo, Mississippi, right?

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: THE NEGATIVE STIGMA AGAINST MOBILE HOMES.

The Republic: Settlement conference planned in legal dispute between mobile home park owner and Seymour

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INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge has scheduled a settlement conference in a legal dispute between the owner of a mobile home park and the city of Seymour involving allegations that the company had underreported its water usage by nearly 63 million gallons over roughly a two-year period.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Crystal S. Wildeman recently scheduled a settlement conference on Feb. 19 to explore the possibility of reaching a settlement to resolve the lawsuit, according to filings in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.

The lawsuit, filed June 27 by Parkland Inc., alleges that the city of Seymour, among other things, violated what the company...

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In the complaint, Parkland Inc. alleges that former company employee Todd Storey, who the company says was in charge of reading the meter and reporting the readings to the city, resigned in November 2022 and vowed to “take (Gregg) Pardieck down for $250,000.” Pardieck is identified in court filings as the company’s president. Collectively from June 2021 to August 2023, Parkland Inc. reported using around 62.83 million gallons more water to IDEM than what it reported to Seymour’s water utility, according to records included in the complaint.

So let me get this straight. The park owner fires the manager and he “vows to take the owner down” by reporting that he under reported to the city 62.83 million gallons of water that had been dumped down the sewer line without any supportive evidence of any type.

For those who are complete idiots (apparently the city and the reporter qualify) 62 million gallons of water would equate to filling 62 football fields 10’ deep in water… and that’s how much this little trailer park supposedly used… and the city believes that… yeah right.

I hope the city has a really good attorney because the judge will have to be smoking crack for them to win. 62 million pounds of crack to be exact.

Mid Hudson News: State attorney general sues Sullivan County mobile home park

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NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James Thursday filed a lawsuit against River Valley Estates, LLC, a Town of Fallsburg mobile home park and its operators.

The suit alleges its owners, George Levin and Gayla Sue Levin, for years failed to maintain infrastructure in the park that left hundreds of residents without clean water and for charging illegal fees and rent hikes that cost residents hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The lawsuit alleges Reiver Valley violated several state laws meant to protect the health and safety of tenants, causing residents to endure raw sewage overflowing into their homes, regular water outages,...

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From the same Letitia James that brought you Trump’s bizarre victimless fraud case, she is now turning her legal prowess to solving the problems of some mobile home park residents who stupidly think they are using her to get rent reductions when, in fact, they will simply end up homeless once she fines the owners $3 million and shuts the park down. Smart.

Michigan Live: Flint Township plans to remove squatters, demolish condemned mobile home park

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FLINT TWP., MI -- The township isn’t planning to wait for the owner of the Myrtle Grove mobile home park to tear down trailers and other buildings on the West Dayton Street property.

Members of the Flint Township Board of Trustees voted on Monday, Oct. 7, to contract with Burnash Wrecking for the emergency demolition work, saying the park has become a public nuisance and homes must be removed to keep squatters out.

“If we don’t do something, (people) will go back up there, and it’s not fit for dogs to live there,” township Supervisor Karyn Miller told fellow board members on Monday. “It’s not safe for anyone to be in there.”

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Flint can’t even provide safe drinking water but somehow, they view a mobile home park as the most dangerous thing on earth. It would appear the city can’t get the park torn down fast enough – or at least before anyone questions why it can’t just be fixed up. Gee, I wonder why? After all, I thought that cities love affordable housing. That’s what they’re always saying, right?

The Press Democrat: Santa Rosa moves to designate 12 mobile home parks as seniors-only. Legal challenges may come next

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Santa Rosa is taking initial steps to strengthen protections for seniors who live in many of the city’s mobile home parks.

The City Council during a Tuesday study session directed planning staffers to move forward with a proposal to designate 12 of the city’s 16 parks as seniors-only.

The designation would require most residents in the 12 parks be 55 and older, ensuring that rental spaces remain available to older adults and making it tougher for park owners to convert existing senior parks to all-ages.

Senior residents have been championing the change since they secured some of the tightest local rent control protections in late...

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So, the city has decided to unilaterally make 12 of the 16 parks in the city “seniors-only” without any authorization, process or approval from the government. Never mind that the city is fully aware it will never hold up in court. Sounds like they need to hire Letitia James as she doesn’t typically let the law stand in her way. Doesn’t It remind you of the scene in Blazing Saddles in which the outlaws are deputized by the corrupt governor and then given badges to which they shout “badges?... we don’t need no stinking badges!”

The New York Times: Residents of a Mobile Home Park Join Forces to Buy Their Community

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Manufactured houses, widely known as mobile homes, are one of the most affordable options for homeownership in the United States, but they typically come with a big risk: You own the house; you don’t own the lot it sits on.

That has made mobile home parks ripe targets for investors, who buy communities and then increase the lot rents to boost profits. It’s a massive industry: manufactured homes account for approximately one in 10 new single-family homes in the United States, according to a 2023 report by the Manufactured Housing Institute trade organization.

To curb investor involvement, the state of Maine ushered in a new law last year...

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Manufactured houses, widely known as mobile homes, are one of the most affordable options for homeownership in the United States, but they typically come with a big risk: You own the house; you don’t own the lot it sits on.

That has made mobile home parks ripe targets for investors, who buy communities and then increase the lot rents to boost profits. It’s a massive industry: manufactured homes account for approximately one in 10 new single-family homes in the United States, according to a 2023 report by the Manufactured Housing Institute trade organization.

To curb investor involvement, the state of Maine ushered in a new law last year that requires mobile home park owners to give advance notice to residents if they intend to sell, giving the community members a chance to buy it themselves.

Let’s break this typical “free rent movement” narrative into the three positions presented.

Paragraph 1 says that mobile homes have one HUGE risk: the tenant doesn’t own the land. Well, that’s why mobile homes are so inexpensive to begin with. The average detached dwelling in the U.S. is $400,000 and the average mobile home is probably $10,000. By not owning the land under the home it becomes actually affordable for the bottom third of Americans that can’t afford $400,000. It’s not a risk or a problem – THAT’S WHAT CREATES THE OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE IN A DETACHED DWELLING FOR AROUND $500 PER MONTH IN LOT RENT. They DO sell mobile homes that come with the land. They are called land/home deals. They cost around $150,000 and up.

Paragraph 2 says that “private equity groups increase lot rents to boost profits”. All businesses – large and small – raise prices, when possible, to maximize profits. It’s called the free market system. It’s part of our economic structure called “capitalism”. The issue is not that private equity groups want to increase lot rents – everybody does – but what’s important to note is that this is possible because mobile home park lot rents are ridiculously low. Owners of office buildings and shopping malls would also like to raise rents but there’s no demand so they can’t do it. And so would airlines, car dealers and every other business on earth. But mobile home parks could double existing lot rents and still be the cheapest housing on earth. And stay completely full. And that’s why private equity groups are buying mobile home parks, because they’re a bargain. That’s also why investors bought Apple when it was a dollar a share and gold at $300 an ounce.

Paragraph 3 says that Maine’s new law gives residents a chance to buy the park. But the problem is that residents have no money, so that’s not who’s buying the park. Instead, this concept requires a non-profit to provide the down payment and another non-profit to personally guaranty the loan. And there are not too many non-profits wanting to do that which, as a result, makes the successful purchase of the park by the residents about as rare as a documented sighting of Big Foot.

Click 2 Houston: 53 mobile homes need to be relocated in 90 days after surprise notice from landlord, tenants say

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HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Dozens of families in one northwest Harris County community are left scrambling to find somewhere to relocate their mobile homes.

They say they got the jaw dropping news that the land they rent is being sold within a few months.

We’re told there are 53 homes in Country Road Park, some dating back decades. About three weeks ago, they all got a bombshell notice this community is being dismantled.

“I’ve been here five years, my trailer is five years old.”

“I’ve been here 32 years, my mobile home is 32-years-old.”

“29 years and our mobile home is 29-years-old,” shouted out several residents in a crowd of more than a...

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This after their landlord’s 90-day notice to move their homes, stated the land was being sold and the new owner has other plans for the space.

I think I’ve been very clear for years now that there is a universal axiom that LOW LOT RENTS = REDEVELOPMENT. Contrary to what the “free rent” nitwits may tell you, mobile home park owners always have the option of simply cutting the park loose and building something else on the land. This trend is accelerating as apartment rents skyrocket and park owners are too insecure to match market numbers and, instead, simply elect to redevelop. Every single resident in every mobile home park would be smart to go to the owners and say “I’ll happily pay whatever the lot rent needs to be in order to keep the doors open”.

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 10

Post Bulletin: Demolition eyed at Bob's Trailer Park

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ROCHESTER — Eighteen abandoned mobile homes are marked for demolition more than a year after the last authorized tenants left a southeast Rochester trailer park.

The Rochester City Council will be asked Monday to approve using up to $60,000 in its contingency fund to support the estimated $180,000 cost of removing the homes at Bob’s Trailer Park.

The 3-acre trailer park at 1915 Marion Road SE closed on May 31, 2023, and the final tenants left approximately three months later.

“Since that time, the manufactured homes on the site have deteriorated to the point that they no longer are in habitable condition and present a hazard to any...

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Another park bites the dust.

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 5

WENY: Cherry Lane Mobile Home Park Sold to New Owner for One Dollar

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SOUTHPORT, N.Y. (WENY) -- Cherry Lane mobile home park in the Town of Southport was recently sold for just one dollar. The "Bargain and Sale Deed" was created on September 27th, 2024 between Cherry Lane Park, LLC., and the new party Jeffery Smith and James Vorhees, according to records filed with the Chemung County clerk's office. 

 

This change in ownership comes after years of scrutiny from neighbors living across the street on Sherman Avenue, who have repeatedly voiced concerns that the park is unfit to be occupied due to its deteriorating condition. 

 

The previous owners, Cherry Lane Park LLC, originally bought the property...

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Residents have described the living conditions as dangerous, citing and reporting problems such as rodent infestation, mold growth, and deteriorating floorboards in many units. These ongoing issues have made Cherry Lane Park a frequent topic of discussion at the Town of Southport's monthly meetings. Over the past two months, town officials decided to revoke the park's license to operate, which legally prohibits any residency on the property.

So the residents complained to the city and the city used them as pawns to get the park shut down and make them all homeless. When will mobile home park tenants realize that the city government is never on their side, but simply using them to find an opening to get the park torn down and a higher use put on that land?

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 10

ABC: Hudson mobile home park feels forgotten, lost after flooding from Helene

Preview:

HUDSON, Fla. — Hopeless doesn’t even describe it— what Rhonda Farley is feeling right now is something much worse.

“I don’t have anywhere to go. I’m a senior. We retired here. You know, what are we going to do?” she said.

At the Gulf Breeze Mobile Home Park in Hudson, almost every home flooded during Helene, including Farley’s.

“I was scared to death,” she recalled. “I never call my daughter. I called her and said, ‘You have to get me rescued. Get me out of here. I’m scared. I can’t swim. I’m going to drown.’”

A week later, she and the other neighbors feel forgotten, overlooked, and lost. They’re also angry because Pasco County has...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The beyond-hopeless feeling at Gulf Breeze Mobile Home Park isn’t going anywhere unless more help arrives.

The government has miserably failed in their approach to Helene, having no more than $750 to give out to those impacted by wiping out their budget before hurricane season. This is not specific to mobile home parks but to literally every single person who lost their homes. The incompetence is appalling.

STUPIDITY NDEX RATING: 10

Record Bee: Mobile park residents appeal to ERTH to mediate renter rights

Preview:

CLEARLAKE OAKS >> Controversey evolved over a mobile home park regarding added on fees once new management took over operations. The issue had a hearing at the Eastern Region Town Hall meeting at the Moose Lodge October 2.

A park tenant in unincorporated Clearlake Oaks, explained many tenants in the park (Lake Village Estates) are 55 or older living on a fixed income. The speaker addressing ERTH requested anonymity, to preserve confidentiality, and is referred to as Tenant H. “Currently space rent for most people in the park is $450 per month ($420, says management) because many of us were there prior to the recent takeover,” Tenant H...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Even Karl Marx would read this article and say “these California people are nuts!”

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: DESYAT (10 IN RUSSIAN)

Lost Coast Outpost: If You Live in a Problematic Mobile Home in One of Arcata’s Mobile Home Parks, the City May Have Some Money to Help You

Preview:

Reality, for a few residents in Arcata’s six mobile home parks, is roofs that fail to keep the water out, floors that fail to keep the feet dry, and plumbing that fails to make water go anywhere. Some mobile homes lack infrastructure that would make them accessible to people with mobility issues, or to the elderly.

A new state-funded grant could go a long way towards repairing some of those homes. 

The Manufactured Housing Opportunity & Revitalization (MORE) program, funded by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, will grant money to mobile home owners whose homes need repairs. This is the program’s first year,...

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Our thoughts on this story:

First of all, it’s extremely disingenuous for this article to start with a photo of a home destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and then put this caption in small print:

Your mobile home probably doesn’t look like this, but it might feel that way sometimes.

As for the California program mentioned, I won’t hold my breath until we see actual work done on the homes. California is notorious for promising things and never delivering on them. If they cough up the money and actually fix old homes for free, that’s great. But more than likely they’ll just study them, have committee meetings, and let the press die down before abandoning the concept.

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 5