One of America’s most affordable paths to homeownership is slipping away.
One of America’s most affordable paths to homeownership is slipping away.
At manufactured home parks—sometimes called trailer parks or mobile home parks—rents are rapidly rising due to large-scale buyouts by private equity firms.
Although private equity’s foray into the housing market is not new, the buyout of mobile home parks by investment firms is on the rise—with devastating consequences for residents. Over the past decade, rents in these parks have risen 45%, according to census data. Once a park is sold, the risk of eviction rises significantly in the following year.
I’m a poverty law attorney in Virginia, and many of my clients are residents of mobile home parks. Over the past four years, I’ve watched their communities get sold, one by one, to large investment firms. Many of them are desperately struggling to protect their homes—for some, their only source of wealth—in the face of exploding rents and threats of eviction.
Today, the term « mobile home » is a misnomer.
Historically, mobile homes were trailers designed for travelers and workers living near factories. With so many veterans returning home after World War II, trailers provided an easy and affordable way for them to obtain housing in the face of shortages. The trailers could be moved from place to place as people either attended school or sought work.
A shift occurred in the 1950s. Those with higher incomes bought houses, and those with less means continued to live in mobile homes. Eventually, mobile home communities cropped up throughout the country as places for people to park their mobile homes for months, years or permanently.
Nowadays, mobile homes are more often called « manufactured homes. » They are assembled in factories and rarely move once they’ve been purchased and settled. In fact, more than 90% of manufactured homes never move from their original site.
Today, around 20.6 million Americans live in a mobile or manufactured home. About one-third of mobile homes are located in mobile home communities.
In these communities, the residents usually own the home itself, but they rent the lot that the home sits on. They are responsible for the upkeep of their home, but the park owners are responsible for park infrastructure, including street maintenance and sewage systems.
Although many Americans still think of these homes as mobile, they’re prohibitively expensive to move. Many have had the wheels or hitches removed years ago. Additionally, many owners of trailers or manufactured homes have invested in additions, such as porches or extra rooms, that have made these homes even more difficult to relocate.
