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Hartford Courant: A CT debate: Rent cap or no rent cap? Tenants and landlords disagree.

Preview:

Through her search for a new apartment, one question on rental applications seemed to jump off the page at Debbi Halsted: Have you been evicted?

The answer was no — at least not yet.

But over the past few weeks, she had been worried her answer would change if she couldn’t pay her rent. Her Clinton landlord wanted to raise the payment from $650 a month to $1,250, more than a 90% increase. Halsted is on a fixed income and knew she couldn’t afford that rent. Even if she opted not to pay any other bill, her monthly income is just $1,119, which would leave her $131 short.

“There’s nothing right now that I see that I can afford. So what do you...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Regarding limiting a landlord’s ability to set rents using a free-market system, this Republican offers the reality check that needs to be said:

“It’s just simply not workable, because who is  going to invest in the state of Connecticut, to build more housing or make housing available when there is going to be a limit to the amount of money they’re going to make?,” said Housing Committee ranking member Rep. Tony Scott, R-Monroe.

Fortunately, the bill failed because others agreed that it was a really, really stupid idea.

Billings Gazette: Move it or lose it: Billings mobile home owners pushed out of their park

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fter an accident at the Stillwater Mine in 1988 left Bert Stephenson with a disability that barred his return to work, he started volunteering, helping the homeless and others in his community.

Now, at 63, the longtime Billings resident fears he’ll soon be homeless himself.

After 26 years of living quietly in his Heights mobile home park, Stephenson and 15 of his neighbors have been served with eviction notices.

The trailer park’s owner sold the property earlier this year. The new landlord wants to move in mobile homes he owns, so residents have until September to get out.

Stephenson and his neighbors own their homes, but rent...

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Our thoughts on this story:

OK, look at the photos in this article. You can see exactly why the landlord is evicting these tenants. It’s not about a battle between tenants and landlords. It’s not because of the evils of capitalism. It has nothing to do with the fact that mobile homes are hard to move. The simple reason – as evidenced by each and every photo – is that these homes look atrocious and the new owners of the park are trying to clean up its aesthetics. Nothing more.

Connecticut Public Radio: Sen. Blumenthal proposes law to protect mobile home residents

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A new federal law proposed by three U.S. senators, including Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal, aims to protect mobile home owners. The law would curtail extreme rent increases and other predatory operator tactics.

In recent years, mobile home communities across the country continue the shift from locally owned and operated to hedge fund management.

Dave Delohery, president of the CT Mobile Homeowners Alliance, has lived in mobile homes for about a decade.

Delohery is a resident of the former Jensen mobile home community in Southington. It was purchased in 2019 by Sun Communities, the nation’s second largest manufactured home...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The good news is that this bill was shot down when the votes were counted. The bad news is that people elect bureaucrats this stupid.

Superior Telegram: Douglas County struggles to give land away

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SUPERIOR — Douglas County was willing to give land away and found no takers.

Now officials are going to try it again.

The county's Land and Development Committee on Tuesday, June 27, directed the County Clerk’s Office to advertise parcels that once housed the north and south Country Acres trailer parks for sale again.

No bids were received after the property was advertised in June.

County Board Chairman Mark Liebaert said he anticipated receiving three bids on the property, which was valued at $33,600 during the last assessment in Parkland in 2013. Tuesday, he was worried the lack of bids would leave Douglas County to bear the cleanup...

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Our thoughts on this story:

More parks being torn down to make way for better uses. Parks are starting to resemble the 1870s buffalo population.

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Manufactured-home communities aren’t just in rural Pa. Owners on rented land are often unprotected

Preview:

Mobile homes and similar single-family dwellings that are built elsewhere and placed on rented land have long been a low-cost option for aspiring homeowners across Pennsylvania.

Manufactured-housing communities are disproportionately in rural areas, but they’re not exclusive to small rural pockets. In Pennsylvania, a slight majority are in urban areas, particularly in suburbs outside midsize and large cities, according to the first statewide analysis of these communities, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Trends in lot vacancy suggest that demand for these homes is strongest “on the outskirts of larger urban areas,...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This paragraph sums up the perspective this journalist has on how to fix affordable housing:

For policymakers who want to preserve low-cost home ownership, “there’s a lot of opportunities for policy innovation that will really improve the lives of a lot of vulnerable homeowners,” she said. The Philadelphia Fed is planning further research about manufactured-housing communities, including their vulnerability to climate-related risks such as flooding and excessive heat, and residents’ access to infrastructure.

The bad news is that absolutely none of these issues is of any importance except to academics trying to sell a research paper. In fact, all of these concepts will simply resort in higher priced mobile homes and more parks closing down to escape this woke nonsense.

Energy.gov: Biden-Harris Administration Invests $25 Million to Expand Weatherization Assistance Program and Cut Costs for More Americans

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that applications are open for the $25 million Enhancement & Innovation (E&I) competitive grant program that aims to accelerate the clean energy transition through demonstration projects. These projects will not only support low-income homes by making them more comfortable and safer, but they are also an opportunity to explore new weatherization techniques and technology and showcase best practices that could possibly be emulated and adopted more widely among other weatherization projects. 

The E&I grant program...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Put your checkbook away and save the $25 million, Joe Biden. We’ve already studied how to make old mobile homes more energy efficient using a thermal gun and some common sense (kind of like the scene in Ford vs. Ferrari where the old-time car driver fixes the aerodynamics of the GT40 using a ball of yarn and scotch tape). Here’s what you do to improve the energy efficiency of an old mobile home: 1) install new weatherstripping on both front and back doors 2) new caulk around all windows 3) use thermal switch plate covers on all exterior walls and 4) put plastic sheeting or thermal drapes over all windows. Case closed and now you can donate that $25 million to a more important study on how to properly winterize a tortoise or improve the quality of life for crickets.

City of Portsmouth New Hampshire: CITY OF PORTSMOUTH CELEBRATES COMPLETION OF AFFORDABLE HOME AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

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The City of Portsmouth and New Hampshire Community Loan Fund held a ribbon cutting Tuesday, June 20 on a project including five new affordable homes and significant site and infrastructure improvements at Woodbury Cooperative, a resident-owned manufactured-home park near downtown Portsmouth.  

The initiative to finance and support infrastructure improvements including water, sewer and paving upgrades was undertaken by the City’s Community Development Block Grant Program staff in conjunction with the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. The ribbon-cutting marked the completion of five years of effort to ensure that residents of Woodbury...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Ouch. $160,000 for a one-bedroom mobile home? I think maybe somebody at the non-profit in charge of this project should have maybe gone to the Louisville home show or talked to just about any park owner because … you got screwed.

Boulder City Review: Tiny homes coming to Boulder City?

Preview:

The Planning Commission is slated to consider changes to zoning in Boulder City that would allow for “tiny homes” (typically less than 400 square feet in size) to co-exist with mobile homes.

From the beginning of its history, Boulder City has been a place where home sizes were mostly on the smaller end of the scale compared to housing in other places. A typical home built for a dam worker in the 1930s was based on the “shotgun shacks” common in the South and could reportedly be put up by two carpenters in just 12 hours. As more permanent housing began to take shape in the 1940s, typical home sizes were between 800 and 1,000 square feet....

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Our thoughts on this story:

It’s only a matter of time before more cities revolt against the requirements that keep tiny homes out of mobile home parks. It’s a good thing for everyone involved – kind of like when they allowed Uber to replace taxi cabs.

Patch: Beautiful Mobile Home Wows With Luxurious Features

Preview:

CAMPBELL, CA — Come see this beautiful mobile home in the family community of Timber Cove.

This three bedroom, two bath home has an open floor plan that seamlessly flows and offers spacious shared living areas and bedrooms.

Luxurious features include stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, wood laminate floors, and high-end wood cabinetry. Across from the gourmet kitchen and island, the living room will have 9 foot high tray ceiling with crown molding, dual paned windows, and a gas fireplace.

The large primary bedroom is its own sanctuary, with an en-suite bathroom drenched in light, that has a walk-in closet, double sinks,...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Us Midwesterners read things like this – a $430,000 mobile home with a lot rent of $1,800 per month – and wonder why anyone who would buy this trailer would not simply move to a place like Kansas in which you can buy a brick home on a golf course for less money and zero lot rent. Is living in California really that much fun?

Olean Times Herald: Study: Manufactured homes play important role in NY

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More than 20 million Americans live in manufactured housing — mobile homes — according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s more than in public housing and federally subsidized rental housing combined.

Since manufactured homes make up a significant part of the nation’s housing stock and provide a viable affordable housing option, the Rural Housing Coalition of New York believes manufactured homes should play a larger role in discussions, policies and plans to address the ongoing housing shortage.

The Rural Housing Coalition commissioned a report — The Role of Manufactured Housing in New York’s Affordable Housing Crisis — that lays out policy...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The State of New York funded a study on mobile home parks (probably because some bureaucrat’s unemployed literature major kid needed a summer job) and this was the only interesting thing they found:

The report showed that the “number of registered parks has declined from 1,800 to 1,200”

That’s a really, really big drop (30%).

Do you think it might be time to end rent control yet? Because the wrecking ball and apartment construction crews are working overtime to get those rent-controlled mobile home parks made into a better use since lot rents can’t go up.

The U.S. Sun: We were evicted from our tiny home village designed for seniors – I’m ‘baffled’ by the way we were forced out

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DOZENS of residents of a mobile home park designed for seniors in Nevada have been evicted from their village, leaving many scrambling to find a new home. 

The Pair-A-Dice Mobile Home Park in North Las Vegas officially closed down earlier this month. 

Approximately 88 units were occupied in the park, according to Clark County data obtained by local Fox affiliate KVVU.

Following the notice that the village would be shutting down, the county contacted approximately 60 of the tenants and assisted them with relocation. 

However, many were left to find a new home on their own. 

“I was baffled. I mean, and then they don’t help people,” resident...

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Our thoughts on this story:

So you’re thinking it’s another article about a mobile home park being torn down to make way for apartments, right? Well, you’re wrong … it’s a shopping center this time.

The Real Deal: Ram proposes 400-unit mixed-use project on mobile home park site near North Miami

Preview:

Ram Realty Advisors wants to develop a 400-unit multifamily mixed-use project on the site of a mobile home park near North Miami.

Palm Beach Gardens-based Ram Realty, through an affiliate, has the Biscayne Breeze Mobile Home Park site at 11380 Biscayne Boulevard, and adjacent properties at 11320 and 11340 Biscayne Boulevard, under contract for an undisclosed price, according to an application filed to Miami-Dade County last week. The 7-acre property also is home to Blue Runner Seafood restaurant, Summer Day Garden Nursery and The Body strip club. 

The proposal is for an eight-story residential project, with 50 units of the 400 designated...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Let’s do the math. 58 lots x $745 per month lot rent = $518,520 total annual revenue as a mobile home park vs. 400 x $2,000 per month rent = $9,600,000 total annual revenue as an apartment complex. How high would the lot rent have had to be to make the mobile home park option attractive enough not to file an application to demolish it? If you calculate the cost of building the 8-story building for the apartments, maybe $1,500 lot rent per month would have worked. But, of course, the park owner would have been publicly criticized for a rent increase that big so they never even bothered to consider it. So instead of paying $1,500 per month for their existing dwelling, the residents will end up paying $2,000 per month for an apartment smaller than their mobile home. 

Fullerton Observer: Mobile Home Park Sues Homeowners

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Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park, owned by the Nicholas Family, has sued an elderly couple. The senior couple, the Kims, will have to pay the lawyer fees and also have been threatened with eviction. So how did this happen, and what could have been done differently?

The Kims moved to Fullerton on May 26, 2022, to escape the Texas heat. They retired to the 55+ community of Rancho Fullerton (no, not the infamous Rancho La Paz with its predatory owner John Saunders – this is a different senior mobile home park on the southwest side of town). The Kims purchased their mobile home and never failed to pay the park’s $950 monthly space rent. The...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This is a very one-sided story, as the journalist clearly favors the resident over the landlord (big shock). Basically, it’s a story about the Kim family that started a renovation to their mobile home and were still putting around on it four months later, at which point the park owner demanded that they clean up the debris and get the job done. I doubt anyone would look favorably on their neighbor turning their home and yard into a construction site for four months – so how about the 8 months after that in which they STILL had not completed work or removed the debris. Clearly, the park owner could not let this situation continue and enlisted court help to correct the situation (which was granted).

Mobile home park owners try to be tolerant of residents making repairs and upgrades to their homes, but they also have to respect the quality of life of the general community, and this resident’s inability to complete their work in a timely manner can only be blamed on the resident. 

Marin Independent Journal: Novato resident offers city $30M for mobile home park

Preview:

As Novato grapples with budget deficits, a resident has offered to pay $30 million to purchase a city-owned mobile home park that city staff say could pose future financial problems.

The City Council is set to meet in closed session on Tuesday to discuss the proposal by Dean Moser to purchase the Marin Valley Mobile Country Club at 100 Marin Valley Drive. Moser is the founder of HCA Property Management Inc. in Novato and said the company owns 17 mobile home parks on the West Coast.

Moser made his pitch at the City Council’s budget hearing on June 13, when city officials discussed how to cover a projected $1.3 million budget deficit and...

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Our thoughts on this story:

“The report states the park “operates at a substantial deficit, has ongoing deferred maintenance, and presents increasing administrative and financial burdens on the city… The mobile home park’s expenses have exceeded revenues by a total of $3.6 million during the past four years. Without more revenue, the city projects the park’s reserve funds will be depleted within the next five years.”

That $3.6 million loss is simply the revenue less expenses, not including any debt payment on the property.

This is a park owned by the City of Novato itself. Someone offered the city $30 million for this deferred maintenance mess (which any idiot would take) and yet the city is holding out because of concerns that the new owner might raise the rent.

So if the park revenue does not even cover the expenses – and raising the rent is “evil” – then how will this park even exist 5 years from now? Clearly it won’t. In this case, it’s probably just the city finding an easy way out of having a mobile home park in their boundary, but it’s a further demonstration that all mobile home park lot rents need to go up – way up – for old parks to stay in business. 

Idaho Press: Meridian weighs future of mobile home park, residents while approving new project

Preview:

MERIDIAN — When Tiana Hunter moved to the Elm Grove Mobile Home Park in 2017, there were apartments on either side of the park. She remembers homes being built out back in the past few years. Now, developers are planning to put apartments where these mobile homes are.

On June 20, the Meridian City Council approved the developer’s plans, although it will be several years before the apartment phase of their project begins. But for people like Hunter, gentrification is squeezing in on this last patch of affordability in a notoriously expensive city.

“It’s a really peaceful place to live. I really enjoy living here,” said Hunter, sitting...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Yet another article about a mobile home park that is being torn down in the near future to make way for an apartment complex. Are you shocked? With apartments at an average rent of $2,000 per month and mobile home park lot rents at an average rent of $300 per month it’s not rocket science as to why this is the most common article theme you’ll find in the news.

Macomb Daily: Pace of progress on improvements at Warren trailer park miffs residents

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Warren resident John Lucero just wants the area surrounding his home in the Landmark Estates Mobile Home Community to be a safe area for his two-year-old son.

The good news, Lucero said, is that Open Management, the property management company currently overseeing day-to-day operations of the community as well as large scale projects planned for the next couple of years, has followed through on its promise to remove old, abandoned mobile homes that were dangerous or in extreme disrepair.

“I was glad to see it,” said Lucero, who has lived in Landmark Estates for four years. “But the contractors that did the demolition left a mess.”

Lucero...

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Our thoughts on this story:

I’m sorry but when the park owner has removed a bunch of abandoned, blighted trailers, rebuilt the roads, water and sewer infrastructure and generally cleaned up the aesthetics, how can you tell me that they have done a poor job? You can’t. The whopping two residents quoted in this article are clearly only complaining because the new owners raised the rent $50. I’m sure the other 99% of the park population (who they didn’t bother to talk to) are delighted to pay $50 more to have all that work done. If the media and a couple manipulative residents keep this false narrative up, they better get ready to find a new place to live because nobody would blame the owner for re-zoning the land for apartments and tearing the place down. 

Sioux City Journal: Residents of Arnolds Park complex face lease terminations, fear what comes next

Preview:

ARNOLDS PARK — Renee Comstock thought she'd found home.

Five years ago, she used the lion's share of her savings to buy a 366-square-foot mobile home and lease a lot at the Okoboji Trailer Park and Storage at 244 Highway 71. When she was a kid growing up near Denison, Iowa, Comstock and her family would make the two-hour journey up to Okoboji in the summer to fish, ride the wooden "Legend Roller Coaster" at the Arnolds Park Amusement Park and visit the historic Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin.

"And then I just decided I’m going to live up here," Comstock said. 

First she settled in nearby Spirit Lake, Iowa, and spent about 20 years at Polaris...

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Our thoughts on this story:

It’s rare when a park owner tells it like it is, but this is a classic quote from this story:

"It might not be what some of these tenants want, but I would encourage anyone to take a drive through the property as it sits currently and see the deplorable conditions some of these mobile homes and property are in. I'm sure you have seen in the local news/paper how many tenants here are behind on taxes, but over 80% are also behind on multiple months of rent. This makes the business and property unsustainable going forward as it currently sits."

What are they going to put on this site once the mobile homes are all gone? You’re right … APARTMENTS.

The Colorado Sun: Modular housing community near Telluride that may become a Colorado model welcomes its first residents after months of delays

Preview:

NORWOOD — Just after Thanksgiving, Pedro and Maria Jorge were ready to move. 

The Telluride workers from Guatemala were living in a relative’s tiny apartment, crammed into a single bedroom with their 10-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter and an infant. They quietly came home to the third-floor unit when it was dark and left early, hoping to avoid scrutiny that might land their uncle in trouble. The kids could not play outside. 

Jorge had recently lost his restaurant job and the house that came with it. He landed another restaurant job quickly. As did Maria. But housing was elusive. 

After several months wedged into a single bedroom, the...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The future of new housing in America has many attributes found in this article – which is all about thinking outside the box. However, I have to believe you can build small houses for less than $350,000. I know they do it with 3-D printing in Europe and I wonder why we’re still using old-fashioned carpentry in an article on the housing of the future.

The Salt Lake Tribune: They own the house, but not the land under it. How this model is making homeownership attainable.

Preview:

This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.

Kari Taylor Schreck’s home, which she shares with her husband Jay, is filled with various shades of blues — from a deep navy to a bright turquoise. Paintings of desert landscapes with endless horizons line the walls. It is bright and cool and outside each window there’s a view of the red rock that millions of tourists travel to the town each year to see.

The Moab home is not only a quiet and lovely refuge from the desert heat, but part of a growing archipelago of affordable dwellings...

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Our thoughts on this story:

So I’m reading this article about putting 300 new homes on 41 acres of leased land (basically mobile home park density) and the writer is raving about how not owning the land makes the homes more affordable (just like a mobile home park) and then it hits me that when the city of Moab does the exact same thing a mobile home park owner does it suddenly is sheer genius and not “evil” any longer. Pretty hypocritical, right?

The Real Deal: Massive mixed-use project pitched for Miami-Dade mobile home park

Preview:

A mobile home park between Miami and El Portal could soon be the site of a massive mixed-use project anchored by nearly 4,000 apartments.

Affiliates managed by David Mordekhay in Hollywood and Tom Grinberg and Gary Otto in Miami are seeking Miami-Dade County’s permission to create a special district that would allow the trio to tear down the Soar Mobile Home Park at 8050 Northwest Miami Court. 

The 22-acre trailer park would be replaced by 3,990 multifamily units, 250,000 square feet of retail, 107,800 square feet of offices and 312 hotel rooms, according to an application filed with the county. 

The project is not a sure thing: It would...

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Our thoughts on this story:

When you can convert a 22-acre park with 247 lots into 3,990 apartment units, 250,000 sq. ft. of retail and office space and a 312-room luxury hotel all you can say is “wow”. They’re planning 50-story buildings on this property. And it’s interesting that the residents sued the property owner over “evil” lot rent increases not that many years ago. I guess the folks living in the park didn’t have much of a clue regarding the other options available for the land.

OPB: New modular homes for S. Oregon wildfire victims found to be uninhabitable

Preview:

About 60 modular homes in Phoenix that were meant to be prioritized for Almeda Fire victims were recently discovered to be uninhabitable.

Replacing the homes could cost $20-25 million.

The state had purchased about 120 modular homes to be installed on the site of the Royal Oaks Mobile Manor in Phoenix, which was destroyed in the 2020 fire.

The project broke ground in November and planned to house 118 families. But families were told this week that their move-in date has been postponed indefinitely after about half of the homes were found to be uninhabitable.

Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, said the defects were discovered in recent weeks as...

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Our thoughts on this story:

“About 60 modular homes in Phoenix that were meant to be prioritized for Almeda Fire victims were recently discovered to be uninhabitable. Replacing the homes could cost $20-25 million.”

Basic math yields that for 60 modular homes to be worth $25 million means that the bureaucrats spent $416,666 per home – that’s right nearly half-a-million dollars per unit.

Do you seriously believe they spent $416,666 per unit on homes that you and I can buy factory direct for maybe $80,000 all day long?

I know that government spending is out of control, but how can taxpayers read this and not freak out?

NBC4: Paramount families fear eviction after new RV park owners raise rent

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Residents of a mobile home park in Paramount fear that they may soon be homeless after being served eviction notices.

The new owners of Elijah Park, formerly known as The Wheel Trailer Park, in Paramount have raised rent for families. Tenants say they’re now expected to pay double, and for some even triple, what they were paying before.

When tenants told the new owners they could not afford the rent increases, the residents received a notice of eviction.

“I can’t sleep at night,” said a worried teen in an interview with Telemundo 52. “My family doesn’t know what we’re going to do.”

Many have been living in the RV park for years. Some...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Hmmm … I think I saw that same concept two stories ago. If the residents don’t want to pay a rent high enough to support keeping the mobile home park a mobile home park, then I can already hear the “land for sale” sign being nailed up on the frontage and the apartment developers starting to make offers. IS EVERYONE IN AMERICA TOO STUPID TO SEE THAT ARTIFICIALLY KEEPING RENTS LOW SIMPLY LEADS TO PARKS BEING TORN DOWN? Apparently so.

Weny News: Neighbors express concerns for Cherry Lane Park

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SOUTHPORT, N.Y. (WENY) -- Cherry Lane Park has witnessed every issue from mice, cockroaches, fires, and even residents receiving verbal assault. Neighbors on Sherman Avenue, across from the mobile home park, want the residents to be taken care of.

"All the condemned trailers was supposed to have been removed, and this has been gone ongoing for over a year now, and not one has been removed. What is wrong with this picture?" shares concerned Sherman Avenue resident, Grace Gee.

 

Jaqueline and her significant other received an eviction notice hours after signing new rules and regulations for the mobile home park. They have until...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This is the most confusing article I’ve ever seen. The residents are deliberately trying to get their own park shut down. At least that’s how it appears. Read this quote:

“Well, the promises that had been made to us residents was that if nothing got done in that trailer park by December, they were gonna close it down. And then lo and behold, it's still operating and still going strong," noted Mary Davenport, Southport resident.” 

I’m sure they’ll get their wish at the rate they’re going. 

Tampa Bay Times: A Florida mobile home park closed. What happened to its residents?

Preview:

The news that would upend Griselda Cano’s life came casually.

The same letter was tacked to every homeowner’s door that balmy September day. Its message, packed with legal jargon, spread quickly: The owner of their Clearwater mobile home park had new plans for the land.

In six months, they would be evicted.

“One never imagines such a thing,” said Cano, 34, in Spanish. “It’s such a big place, with so many families.”

But what was unfolding at Capri Mobile Home Park has become a familiar story.

When land for development is scarce and a housing market is hot, mobile home parks are particularly vulnerable to closures, housing experts say. Over...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This is an EXCELLENT article – fair and unbiased and based on fact. And the problem is best described in one quote from the article on what the residents of the park found when they had to find a new place to live as the park was being redeveloped: the “rent was often double, or even triple, the $850 a month they paid for their lot”.

In ALL of these type of stories – and there are several every week – the reason the park shut down was that you can build apartments on that land, stack them two or three high, and rent them for $1,850 per month per unit (that’s the price that the apartments that just went up on another nearby park are priced at). So what landlord needs a mobile home park for $850 per month in lot rent when you can get nearly $6,000 per month for that same spot of land?

Of course, the only difference is that the park already exists and you have to build the apartment building which costs capital. But the moral needs to be that all these residents and media advocates – and the idiotic politicians that pander to them – need to be chasing after park owners begging them to raise their rents high enough to not be tempted to tear the park down and put up apartments. It’s not rocket science.

The Appeal Democrat: Residents get win in trailer park lawsuit: Complaints included ‘raw sewage’ discharges and lack of fresh water

Preview:

Residents of the Country Air Mobile Home Park in Dobbins recently won an up-hill legal battle against the park’s management regarding eight points of litigation including alleged negligence to the property and causing distress to tenants.

After moving to the park with his wife in 2015, Jeffrey Warrens, a spokesperson for the lawsuit, had hopes of spending the rest of his life in their remodeled trailer. However, several maintenance issues and alleged hostility from the park’s management would prevent this.

According to Warrens, when Robert Glander of South Carolina stepped into his role as property manager, he fired all maintenance...

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Our thoughts on this story:

“After three court dates, Havens confirmed that Lawrence and Glander were willing to settle the case at $25,000. As of June 5, Warrens confirmed that the settlement was paid and will be split between all 15 plaintiffs. Prior to paying the settlement, Glander told the Appeal that he “categorically (denies) all the charges” and declined further comment.“They’ve all got this judgment on the record which is what we wanted so they couldn’t do this again,” Warrens said. “We succeeded in what we wanted to do. Whether we get a dime or not is not the big thing. It’s just nice to know that we did get the judgment.”

I know nothing about this park or any of the matters involved but when you subtract the legal cost of three separate court trials from $25,000 you end up with something like ($25,000) -- or worse – for the residents to split. So the tenants won basically nothing from all this. But wait, they did succeed with one thing… I bet you $50 the park owner puts this land on the market for redevelopment, and nobody on earth could fault him for that. For greater detail read article #1 above.