Mobile Home Park News Briefing

In California, mobile homes make up to 6% of the state’s housing stock. With as many as 300,000 homes in 5,000 mobile home parks in the state, they play a critical role in providing affordable housing. But state laws and efforts by for-profit developers to buy up mobile home communities are putting this kind of housing at risk. We talk to experts about the challenges mobile home owners face.

Guests:

Bruce Stanton, general counsel, Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League

Mary Currie, resident, Marin Valley Mobile Country Club

Randy Keller, advocacy manager, manufactured home parks acquisition, California Center for Cooperative...

The top Senate Democrat on the congressional Joint Economic Committee launched a new probe Monday into investment firms that hold large stakes in mobile home parks.

Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire has asked six firms to produce internal documents and materials showing the impact their business practices have had on mobile home residents and the profits their investments have generated.

About 22 million people in the U.S. live in mobile home communities across the country, and in recent years, investment companies and private equity firms have bought up many of the parks.

The firms that received letters include some of the biggest...

A mobile home park in North Charlotte is being sold to developers, resulting in the displacement of the large immigrant community that have called the park of 60-plus lots home for as long as 20 years.

Forest Park Mobile Homes is located in a rapidly expanding and sought-after area. The nearby I-485 loop allows easy access to the rest of the city, and the Prosperity Church area offers walkability to small businesses, a Publix, and a movie theater.

Wood Partners, the developer who is purchasing the Forest Park land, filed a rezoning petition with the City of Charlotte to demolish the mobile homes and replace them with multi-family units,...

JAY — When the Select Board meets this Monday, it may have enough information to move ahead on a request to limit rent increases on mobile home lots.

At its Nov. 24 meeting, the board asked Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere to consult with the town’s attorney on whether state law allows Jay to regulate such rent hikes.

“I’m hoping to have the information back from our attorney in time for the meeting (Monday),” LaFreniere said Wednesday. “It’s complicated because other municipalities that have acted have different forms of government, so we need to find out just what we can do as a town with a Select Board (and town meeting and manager) form...

San Jose mobile home residents say the city blindsided them by proposing changes that will increase rents.

The Housing Department is considering an update to its mobile home rent policy that would include a one-time rent increase up to 10% whenever a mobile home is sold, among other changes. Under the existing policy, property owners are allowed a 3% to 7% rent increase on each parcel every year. Anything more than that will require city approval, and they can’t increase rent to market rate prices except when the property is abandoned, the resident is evicted or when a sale falls through.

Residents said the city conducted no outreach to...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver says he wants to eliminate a 51-year-old federal law that drives up housing costs.

Representative Cleaver (D-MO) said the Housing Supply Expansion Act of 2025 would remove a requirement that forces manufactured homes to include a permanent chassis - even after installation.

Cleaver says removing the chassis requirement would:

• Lower construction costs
• Increase design flexibility
• Open more locations for affordable housing
• Help young and low-income families buy homes

Housing affordability has become a major issue in the Lehigh Valley, but a new land-leased housing development in Lehigh Township could offer a solution for some homeowners.

The Sam Del Rosario Group at SERHANT is marketing the new development being built by Valley Community Management.

Northwoods Homes will ultimately be a 200-home residential community on more than 60 acres in Lehigh Township, Northampton County.

Jared Surnamer, president of Valley Community Management, said as a second-generation manager of land-leased properties, he believes Northwoods will bring affordable living for many families.

Most of the homes, which are built...

SEDONA, Ariz. — Arizona's laws regulating short-term rentals don't allow cities to prohibit mobile home units from being rented out for this purpose, an appellate court has ruled.

On Wednesday, the Arizona Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a Yavapai County civil case brought against the City of Sedona involving how the municipality classifies short-term rentals.

The debate of how Arizona cities can regulate vacation rentals has been ongoing for years as these types of properties have become more prolific in the Grand Canyon State. Back in 2022, the City of Sedona even offered to pay homeowners stipends if they leased their rental...

CHESHIRE — Improvements at the Berkshire Village manufactured home park are mostly done, according to its owners, but residents say the fixes are the bare minimum and more must be done. 

Last week, Crown Communities' Justin Damore, who is the lead engineer on the repair project, explained the renovations to the Cheshire Select Board, which acts as the park's rent control board. The fixes, which are mostly concentrated around the park's septic system and were flagged by the state Department of Environmental Protection, must be complete before Crown can raise rents on the park's tenants, many of whom were in attendance. 

Damore, who...

Residents of Shady Oaks Mobile Home Park in Arundel are bracing for a sharp rent increase set to take effect December 1, raising fears that dozens of seniors and low-income homeowners could be forced out after the town declined to intervene.

Roughly 70 households own their mobile homes but rent the lots beneath them, currently paying between $530 and $680 a month. Tenants say they were notified that rents will rise by as much as $130 per month – a jump many say they simply cannot afford.

Longtime resident Jennifer Moreau, who relies on a fixed income, warned that “a whole other group of our population is about to be homeless.”

Residents...

Loudoun’s Affordable Dwelling Unit Advisory Board says the challenge of finding affordable living spaces could potentially be addressed in part by tiny homes, after the Board of Supervisors this year commissioned a study of the issue. 

As housing prices increase, supervisors are hoping there might be a way to use tiny homes to address the concern. According to the county staff, in 2025 the average price for one-bedroom unit in the county is $348,650, while a two-bedroom unit is $464,335. 

The county government already offers various attainable housing programs including the Affordable Dwelling Unit Purchase Program, but that has a...

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors unanimously shot down controversial mobile home park management company Harmony Communities’ attempt to increase rent at two local mobile home parks through a hardship request.

“When revenue fails to keep pace with inflation while expenses grow dramatically faster, the long-term viability of the community is at serious risk,” Harmony spokesperson Nick Ubaldi said. “The proposed rent adjustment is not about generating excess profit; it is the minimum necessary to allow the park to keep up with inflation and remain sustainable.”

To close the gap, rent increases were on the horizon for tenants...

AY — When JoAn Gray moved to a mobile home park on Lambert Street 12 years ago, she figured it would be the last time she would have to move.

Now 82, Gray is worried that a recent $50 a month lot rent increase could be just the beginning of higher costs. Her park recently sold, and she’s worried out of state owners won’t keep up with needed improvements.

“I know there are people in that park that are barely skimping by right now,” Gray said. “This to me is really scary.”

Gray is one of several mobile home park residents who hope their local select board will implement a moratorium to slow down lot rent increases. Waterville and Sanford...

A California law meant to boost affordable housing has set off panic in Bay Area mobile home parks — some of the last truly affordable housing in a region where single-family homes sell for $2 million (1) and the median rent is $3,179 a month (2).

As CBS News reports, Senate Bill 79 may make it easier for landowners who own mobile home parks near commuter rail stations to convert the land into high-rise apartments (3).

In Sunnyvale, where seven mobile-home parks sit close to Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail stops, residents quickly realized what that could mean.

Landowners could evict residents who own their mobile home...

Dozens of residents gathered at the Mobile Hope complex Saturday night to join solidarity vigil for the 85 families who are being displaced by the closure of the of Leesburg Mobile Home Park.

In July, park residents began receiving letters requiring them to vacate the property by the end of the year. The property owner, David Gregory, offered cash incentives of up to $6,000 to encourage early movers and $10,000 in relocation assistance. The residents were in a similar position in 2022, when the previous owner had plans to sell the 7.2-acre parcel to developers. Gregory stepped in to make the purchase, intending to provide the residents...

Last winter, I got an intriguing story tip: Many Wisconsin manufactured home communities were operating with expired licenses. 

I didn’t initially know much about these communities, often called mobile home parks, where residents own their homes but rent the land they sit on. I quickly learned they provide a critical source of affordable housing in Wisconsin and beyond — the country’s largest portion of unsubsidized low-income housing. 

Housing experts and advocates told me private equity’s growing interest in the model threatens to change that. My reporting found that Wisconsin’s government is failing to enforce basic protections for...

Mobile home communities have consistently remained one of North Carolina's hottest real estate investments throughout 2025 — and that trend is holding steady through the waning months of the year.

When sheriff’s deputies arrived at Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater, Florida, on Oct. 21, Ligia Siles sat on the steps of the home she’d built over 35 years, feeling powerless as she watched deputies change the lock on her door. 

“I made a video showing that I wasn’t abandoning my home, that they were kicking me out of my home,” Siles said. “They [said], ‘You can’t come in anymore. If you come in, you’ll be arrested.’”

Within hours, she and her husband were living apart because they could not find a place to accommodate them both. She stayed with a friend and he with their daughter, while former neighbors slept in cars or...

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Starting next week, the city of Toledo will begin preparations to demolish the Riverside Mobile Home Park.

The mobile home park was deemed unfit for habitation and residents have until Monday to be out.

For the residents still living inside the Riverside Mobile Home Park, they say that while they have been offered a temporary solution, they are still living with a lot of uncertainty. They wish this situation from the start would have been handled differently by the city, so they would not have to say goodbye to their homes.

“If they are worried about housing in the city, you know, fix it up themselves. I own two...

A new documentary collaboration between Arizona Luminaria and Arizona Public Media reveals the quiet crises unfolding inside Tucson’s mobile home parks and how neighbors are standing together to face them.

Watch the complete YouTube version to hear from local residents, advocates and experts. You’ll see what’s often hidden: families improvising to stay cool, neighbors organizing and elders fighting to keep the homes they’ve poured their lives into.

From my 30s to my early 50s, I was a tax lawyer in Big Law, Big Four Accounting firms, and banks.

I've given talks at tax-policy panels, sat on a trading floor, made $400,000 a year, and had an expense account.

During baseball season, I took clients to the VIP section of Yankee Stadium and sat behind home plate. My parents grinned when people asked them, "What does your son do?"

Big Law paid well, and it solved the cocktail-party question, but I always felt something was missing.

The hours were brutal. I was always on, 24/7. I couldn't touch, feel, or smell the product of my work. I struggled with the politics and zero-sum outcomes.

In...

Every year, and with every new owner, Lorena Vargas would receive notice of a rent increase for the land her manufactured home sat on. She and her neighbors in the Aspen Basalt Mobile Home Park in Colorado never knew in advance how much the hike would be or why.

Home never felt stable.

“It’s a false sense of security, because even if your mobile home is paid off, you still have this continuous lot rent that could increase,” said 34-year-old Vargas, who has lived in the community for 13 years with her husband and their two children. “So it makes you hesitant to invest in improvements in your home…it’s hard to take pride in something that’s...

Jon Torres, a Toledo resident and founder of Restore The Block, a neighborhood clean-up initiative, described what he saw inside the trailers.

“Deplorable, filthy and, uh, disgusting,” Torres said.

13 Action News spoke to a neighboring business that said they’re worried about a fire risk on the property because of the high weeds and dry conditions.

The City of Toledo and Lucas County Auditor website show the owner is Kingsmen Investments LLC.

An attorney for the company sent us this statement:

“KMI acquired the property in 2020 and it was operational until we closed it last year. At that time we removed 3 buildings and multiple trailers,...

Sanford has plans to demolish seven mobile homes on Carr Creek Drive on the city’s eastern edge.

During a city council workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 12, code enforcement officer Joey Cox said that “they’re all deteriorated beyond habitation.”

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...