CHICAGO (AP) — A lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses nine mobile home community management companies and a mobile home market data provider of conspiring to fix and inflate lot rental prices at more than 150 locations across the U.S.

The lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Chicago claims the management companies bought up mobile home parks and used “competitively sensitive market data” provided by Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc. to exchange pricing information and conspire to raise rents.

“In the face of these significant manufactured home lot rent increases, some manufactured home residents...

About 22 million Americans live in mobile homes or manufactured housing, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and as the housing crisis continues to worsen in places like Arizona, California, and New York, that number could go up.

But for some, mobile homes conjure up an image of rusting metal units in weed-choked lots, an unfair stereotype that has real consequences — advocates argue that mobile homes are not only a housing fix but could also help with the climate crisis.

According to Andrew Rumbach, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, mobile homes are a good solution with a bad reputation. 

It’s unfair, he said, because the...

A new state law in Washington aims to give tenants of manufactured housing communities the opportunity to purchase and own the lots they rent from landowners.

“Manufactured home communities are often sold off-market,” says Victoria O’Banion, Spokane-based marketing and acquisitions specialist with Northwest Cooperative Development Center. “When the park wasn’t listed, residents didn’t know what was happening and that the park was being sold.”

The legislation, known by some as the Notice of Opportunity to Compete to Purchase bill, was signed into law on April 6 and now requires owners to share their intentions to sell with residents,...

AFTER building a dream tiny home for $25,000, a person who wanted to live off the grid found out they had nowhere to park it.

But thanks to a clever letter, they now live for $350 a month and zero mortgage on a Christmas tree farm.

L. Gilbert (@_l_gilbert_), who uses they/them pronouns, is an artist living in California who became sick of living with roommates in the nation’s most expensive state.

As a way to make their own affordable home, they built a DIY tiny home using salvaged lumber and new materials like a trailer and solar panels.

In a recent video for Kirsten Dirksen’s YouTube channel, Gilbert gave a tour of their unique tiny...

The River Terrace RV and Trailer Park is just upstream of the Kenai River Bridge in Soldotna. To the right, there are temporary and seasonal RVs parked along the banks of the river. To the left, about 40 trailer homes house a low-income community, many of them seniors.

On July 27, trailer park residents got notice to vacate by May 3, 2024. The notice says the closure is related to “planned changes in the future use of the land.”

Daniel Lynch has lived in the trailer park since 1995.

“There’s no need for these people to become homeless, and that’s what’s gonna happen to the majority of them,” Lynch said.

He said there are few options for...

It's hard enough to afford or rent one home in Denver, let alone an entire mobile home park. The residents of Capital City/Montevista Mobile Home Park in the Westwood neighborhood defeated the odds when they raised nearly $11.5 million to buy the land their homes sit on.

This is a community of hardworking families in Denver, and after the mobile park home went up for sale last year, the community rallied to find solutions.

After ROC also known as Resident Owned Communities pulled out of helping out in February due to safety concerns. The community was worried, but then Sharing Connexion, a nonprofit that connects nonprofits and affordable...

Residents of Little Woods Mobile Villa on Lakeville Highway worry they might end up homeless if the management company running their mobile home park makes good on its threat to close it.

That was the message of many park residents as they spoke out against a possible closure during a news conference held Tuesday evening at the park and broadcast over social media.

The news conference – organized by members of Littlewoods Neighbors United, a group of residents that formed in response to the threat of the park closure – was the latest in an ongoing saga of upheaval at mobile home parks throughout the county.

In Petaluma, an update by the...

Sept 1 (Reuters) - A group of the country's largest corporate managers of mobile home communities and a market data provider were sued in U.S. court on Thursday for allegedly conspiring to inflate rental prices for older and low-income residents.

Two Illinois residents who rented lots for their manufactured homes filed the prospective class action in Chicago federal court against Datacomp Appraisal Systems and nine other companies that own or have controlling interests in more than 150 housing communities across the country.

The lawsuit alleges that the corporate owners shared competitively sensitive information about lot rentals and...

HOULTON, Maine — After nearly six years of undrinkable chemically contaminated water flowing through their pipes at the Houlton Mobile Home Park, residents will soon get relief, according to the park’s owner.

Once the final piece of financing is approved that is.

State testing showed unsafe levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the well water almost as soon as Tony Brettkelly purchased the mobile home park off the Old Woodstock Road in Houlton about six years ago, he said.

Park management has been supplying residents with bottled water ever since, although the contaminated water is used for laundry, showers and...

Some of the most enduring images of Hurricane Idalia will be the tree-battered and flood-damaged mobile and manufactured homes in the storm’s wake — a sight that’s become all too familiar in the coastal US. As Florida’s communities rebuild, government leaders everywhere must take steps to protect a key source of affordable housing in the age of climate change.

At a recent workshop, Milford City Council heard from Judson Malone, Executive Director of Springboard Collaborative, about a pallet village constructed in Georgetown designed to address the homeless issue. Springboard Collaborative works in partnership with other agencies, including First State Community Action and others to not only provide housing for those who are experiencing homelessness, but also help them reach goals that could provide them a steady income, housing and a stable lifestyle.

“What would a city council meeting be that you talked about pallet homes and I didn’t have something to say?” Martha Gery, founder of Milford...

The recent Novato City Council meeting was a textbook example of political malpractice.

The issue was the potential sale of the Marin Valley Mobile Country Club. The facility consists of 325 manufactured homes owned and is occupied by 410 Novato residents . They are all over age 55 and 41% have low or very low incomes.

The balance is working folks who saved to buy a manufactured house on land owned by the city.

Events were precipitated by Marin County Civil Grand Jury’s report, “Novato’s Chronic Fiscal Deficits: A Call to Action.” It focused on the poor state of Novato’s fiscal management. The report was in part based on a misleading...

Spencer, IA (KICD)– The Spencer City Council met in special session Monday evening to hear an appeal from a local trailer park owner to have electricity fully restored to his property more than a year after it was turned off due safety concerns.

The appeal stems from a decision rendered earlier this year by the city’s Electrical Board that kept power from being fully restored to the trailer park on West 18th Street.

Attorney Anne Quail represented master electrician Lane Schindler and property owner Bill Caskey and asked that the original verdict be overturned citing a section of Iowa code that she says was not taken under...

A trailer park home set in the Hamptons has hit the market for an astonishing $4.4 million proving that location really is everything. 

Far from being trailer trash, the 2,150-square-foot dwelling, built in 2015, would set a 2023 record if it sells for the eye-watering price. 

Set within the Montauk Shores 'upscale' trailer park, the property commands a price that rivals that of luxury homes in the area. 

The two bedroom, two bathroom property sits just 75 feet from the Atlantic Ocean and the beach at Ditch Plains - a renowned surfing spot. 

'This outstanding modular home boasts two bedrooms and two bathrooms and is situated right next to...

Residents of the Donovan-Smith Manufactured Home Community had the first of two chances to tell Lewes city leaders what they think of proposed zoning changes that would bring their community up to code.

The Aug. 24 meeting was conducted in English with a Spanish interpreter.

Lewes Mayor Andrew Williams and city council members went over the ground rules and addressed the top six concerns they’ve heard from residents.

Next, City Planning and Building Manager Janelle Cornwell took the podium to explain definitions of terms like conditional use and text amendment, go over details of the proposed zoning ordinance and dispel rumors. It only...

Today, Governor Polis and the Business Funding & Incentives Division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) announced three recipients of the Innovative Housing Incentive program (IHIP) grant and the launch of the loan component of the IHIP program. This round of grant funding will directly incentivize the creation of 490 affordable and attainable housing units across Colorado. 

“I am committed to creating more housing for every Colorado budget, and by supporting businesses building more efficient housing options, we can lower housing costs and save Coloradans money,” said Governor Polis. “This...

Soul Cotton, 53, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer three months ago. He uses a walker to tread the gravel and dirt driveways of the makeshift trailer park where he’s lived the past six years.

Amid a ramshackle assemblage of recreational vehicles, trailer homes, auto parts and junk, Adrian Cholula Gonzalez, his wife, Yasmin Lara, and their autistic son also have put down roots here.

Elizabeth Peterson, 64, has lived here with her daughter for 12 years. Peterson, who has a medical condition that causes swelling in her left leg and limits her mobility, cares for her daughter, who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child.

Along...

The Porterville City Council will look at the possibility of a significant increase in sewer and refuse rates during a study session tonight.

The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. today in the City Hall council chambers. At tonight's meeting the council will consider providing direction to city staff on what options should be taken concerning increased rates. A public hearing could then be held at one of the council's regularly scheduled meetings in November in which the council could adopt increased rates.

The meeting can be viewed on YouTube at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5KuhSrNMNL9nwHJVtnJvvA

Those interested...

SEQUIM — To help preserve manufactured home parks as more affordable housing options in Sequim, city council members recently enacted a six-month moratorium on redevelopment applications for those parks if it is for any project other than manufactured homes.

For the moratorium, city staff were directed to consider zoning options, such as a manufactured home overlay to protect park residents from potentially losing their homes in a redevelopment project.

Council members unanimously made the decision for a moratorium on Aug. 14 in response to continued concern from manufactured home residents about losing their homes to potential...

Across the US are tens of thousands of trailer parks offering low-cost housing to Americans and it's estimated that more than 20 million people are currently living in the mobile caravan sites.

But while they're traditionally seen as a more affordable way of living, one trailer park is so expensive, only the rich and famous can afford to live on the lavish site — and it's attracted celebs including Pamela Anderson and Matthew McConaughey.

Dubbed "America's most glamorous trailer park", Paradise Cove stretches across one of the most iconic beaches on the highly-sought after Malibu coast.

The private waterfront community has 265 trailers...

SUPERIOR — Douglas County officials will be seeking proposals to clean up the north and south Country Acres trailer parks in Parkland.

The County Board approved spending up to $200,000 Thursday, Aug. 17 to remove the mobile homes that remain on the two sites. Funding for the project will come from available the American Rescue Plan Act money allocated to Douglas County.

The project will be done in three phases — asbestos assessment, asbestos removal and removal of mobile homes.

The goal is to get the work done before winter, said County Board Chairman Mark Liebaert.

“We’re looking for at least three (proposals) in each separate category,”...

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.

Carolyn and Brett Matesen purchased a small, single-family home in Salt Lake City’s Ballpark neighborhood about five years ago.

While the house was small, the lot was large and they wanted to put an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on the property. They would live in it once they retired, enabling them to rent out the front house for extra income.

Rather than building another house on the lot, they purchased a prefabricated unit from Stack Homes, a Utah-based company that sells and...

RESIDENTS at a mobile home park fear losing their homes and having to "start all over again" after rent hikes and eviction threats.

Tiny home villages are popular among those with low incomes, veterans, and people with disabilities due to their affordability and sense of community.

However, residents at Live Oaks Manufactured Home Community in Mt. Washington, Kentucky say changes in ownership mean they are more likely to be able to "buy a home off the market" than afford their new rent.

Army veteran Mike Runnells moved out of Bullitt County in 2020 to find peace at Live Oaks after his father loaned him money to buy a mobile home.

Live...

Land use regulations are implemented locally, under authority given to municipalities by their state government. It is generally accepted that the federal government has limited ability to influence local land use regulations. Nevertheless, over the past 50 years, the federal government has sought to understand the extent and effects of regulatory barriers and encourage state and local governments to reduce the zoning and other land use regulations that have prevented jurisdictions across the country from providing adequate and affordable housing for current and future residents. This article discusses PD&R's role as part of those federal...

On the heels of a recent notification that some residents will be displaced from a mobile home park in Gunnison while the park undergoes renovations and has new mobile homes installed, the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) board of directors agreed last week to temporarily offer several vacant units it has available in Gunnison for workforce housing to alleviate the sudden housing crunch. 

The small mobile home park, Frontier Lands, is located in Gunnison city limits, has 12 lots and approximately 40 to 50 residents. The park went up for sale in late 2022, and the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA) set...