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AXIOS: Rising lot rents squeeze Florida mobile home park residents, report says

  •    Originally released by AXIOS on August 4th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

Rising lot rents are pricing Floridians out of manufactured home parks, according to a new report from WUSF.

Why it matters: Manufactured home parks are "a crucial source of unsubsidized affordable housing for vulnerable individuals," the report says.

  • Residents are often older, retired adults on fixed incomes.

How it works: Manufactured homes, also known as mobile homes, are generally much cheaper than single-family homes built on site.

  • Residents typically buy their own homes and pay rent for the land underneath.

State of play: From 2015 to 2023, Florida's median lot rent has almost doubled, per WUSF, citing Census Bureau... Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

EVERYTHING squeezes Florida mobile home park residents. Gasoline, food, medicine, insurance, property tax, cable TV, cell phone, water, sewer, trash – you name it. How can you single out lot rent as the only culprit? Look, we live in a country which has the highest inflation and interest rates in 40 years. That’s not the fault of mobile home park owners. I seriously doubt that anyone – including the residents quoted in the story – really believe that. They’re just hoping they’ll get lucky and some bureaucrat will propose rent control. Here’s a news bulletin: there’s 0% probability of rent control in Florida. But if you want to propose it in Vermont, you might have a shot.

EHN: Millions in mobile home parks face drinking water pollution violations far higher than city utilities

  •    Originally released by EHN on July 30th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

An Associated Press investigation found widespread failures to meet safe drinking water standards in U.S. mobile home parks, where residents often rely on poorly regulated or untested water systems.

In short:

  • Nearly 70% of mobile home parks with their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules over the past five years, far more than municipal utilities.
  • Aging infrastructure, unregulated water sources, and weak oversight leave many residents exposed to contaminants like arsenic and bacteria.
  • Some states, including Utah and Colorado, have begun...
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Our thoughts on this story:

This is a regurgitation of the same article as last week, only with even more factual blunders. Let’s start with the obvious. The article is only talking about parks with water wells. That’s maybe 10% of all parks (probably more like 5%). Roughly 8% of Americans live in “trailers”, but less than half of that number live in mobile home parks, with the other half residing on their own private land. So here’s the actual math: 300 million Americans times 3% = 9 million Americans. Then multiply that number by 10% and you get 900,000. Then take away all the water wells that are properly permitted and maintained (about 50% according to the article, which I will bet $100 is completely wrong and more like 90%) and you have 450,000 people. So the title should be “hundreds of thousands” and not “millions”, even based on the writer’s faulty figures and logic.

But then there are other difficulties with the stats here. This entire article series is not based on any actual data but extrapolating some bureaucrat’s opinion regarding only the mobile home parks of Utah. Utah, and that region of the U.S., has some of the worst contaminants of water – including arsenic – that require methods of active extraction. In most of the other states, all you have to contend with is adding chlorine for water purification. So that’s hardly a fair data set to base assumptions on.

There are definitely “trailer parks” out there that have unlicensed water wells with zero supervision. We’ve all driven through their muddy roads where the homes lack skirting and the tenants lack shoes. Nobody buys those, and they remain in the hands of the original mom and pop builders for an eternity. But to claim that those properties are a fair representation of all the properties with licensed water wells that are regularly inspected based on state, county and city laws is ludicrous.  

Post Independent: Two mobile home parks accept offer for resident ownership following initial rejection

  •    Originally released by Post Independent on August 1st, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

The current owners of Mountain Valley Mobile Home Park and Aspen-Basalt Mobile Home Park on Monday, July 28, accepted an offer from the residents of those parks to purchase the communities for $42 million. 

The two communities have been working towards converting their respective mobile home parks into “Resident-Owned Communities,” or ROCs. An ROC functions similarly to a mortgage on a standard house; however, instead of one person paying their mortgage monthly, the entire community pays it down as rent. 

The communities have been working with Thistle, a Boulder-based non-profit that manages various affordable housing schemes in Boulder,...

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Our thoughts on this story:

We’ve sold a few mobile home parks to the residents over the years. There’s nothing wrong with that. When the non-profits offer you $42 million for two “trailer parks” any smart person would say “yes., yes, yes”. It’s not rocket science. But will they actually close on the deal? That’s the big question.

The Islander: Pines Trailer Park homeowners v. PPI hearing pushed back

  •    Originally released by The Islander on August 5th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

A hearing to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Pines Trailer Park homeowners association against the park owner was pushed to late August.

Originally set for July 28, the hearing was rescheduled for Aug. 29 before 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Edward Nichols via Zoom.

According to court documents, the park owners’ attorney, Pines Park Investors LLC, Shawn Arbeiter, requested the delay. A reason was not stated for the scheduling change.

The homeowners association at the trailer park, 103 Church Ave., filed a lawsuit March 28 against PPI, a corporation managed by developer Shawn Kaleta. The HOA alleges a series of violations related to an...

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Our thoughts on this story:

And another park bites the dust.

News Gazette: Local developers plan to redevelop Rantoul trailer park into apartments

  •    Originally released by News Gazette on August 5th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

RANTOUL — In 2018, Todd Modglin and his father, Kevin, bought a small parcel hosting about a dozen trailer homes in west Rantoul through their property management company, KTRM LLC.

Now, seven years later, the pair — who are also the CFO and president at Mid Illinois Concrete and Excavation Inc., respectively — are looking to redevelop the 0.68-acre site.

Todd Modglin told The News-Gazette he and his father feel the trailers have begun to “age out a little bit and were going to need some updating.”

“We own other rental properties in Rantoul,” he said. “And the last couple of years, we’ve gotten a lot of requests for higher-end rentals,...

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Our thoughts on this story:

And another park bites the dust.

WUSF: When even manufactured housing becomes unaffordable

  •    Originally released by WUSF on July 30th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

Homeowners in Florida are being quietly priced out of their communities. People often own their manufactured homes but rent the lot underneath them.

Census data shows lot rent in the state has nearly doubled over the last decade. That means manufactured housing parks, which are considered the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing, are now growing unaffordable.

Under Florida law, management can pass along fees, like utility charges and property tax increases, as long as they are considered “reasonable” and are mentioned in a park’s original governing document, which is called a .

WUSF spoke with various homeowners who...

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Our thoughts on this story:

I’m not sure what they mean by “unaffordable” but it’s an absolute fact that lot rent, insurance, property tax, utilities – pretty much everything related to owning a single-family home, condo, or mobile home – is going up at a rapid pace. Who’s to blame? Not park owners. We’re the folks that have delivered the least expensive form of detached housing America has ever seen. The actual culprit is inflation, which has been the direct result of government over-spending (we’ve got $36 trillion in debt) and other failed policies. If you want to hate someone, hate the government. But blaming mobile home park owners for all the ills of America is ridiculous.

Adirondack Daily Enterprise: Residents resist purchase of Cascade Acres

  •    Originally released by Adirondack Daily Enterprise on August 5th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

LAKE PLACID — Residents of the Cascade Acres mobile home park are attempting a last-ditch effort to keep a private equity firm from buying the park land that their 124 manufactured homes sit on, over concerns that a new owner could lead to lot rent increases.

A rumor has sprung up that the buyer plans to replace the mobile homes with condos. This is not substantiated, though, and owners of the company say they have no such plans.

Cascade Acres is currently owned by M.H. Communities Ltd., a mobile home park owner based in Nashua, New Hampshire. In March, residents learned of plans to sell the park to the private equity firm Crown...

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Our thoughts on this story:

But, one week ago, they learned the state cannot buy the property. The appraisal for the 52-acre property came back $1.1 million below the $6.5 million offer from Crown, Preston said. By law, the state cannot pay more than the appraised value.

Yeah, that’s kind of a deal killer. Clearly, the only way to buy the park is to factor in raising the lot rent to market levels and filling vacant lots.  And that pretty much sums up why these “tenant-owned” deals never happen, because they’re not professional deal makers and have zero common sense on the requirements of how to put big mortgages on properties and actually pay the bills.

JOLT: Olympia City Council seeks creative solution to protect manufactured home communities

  •    Originally released by JOLT on July 31st, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

The Olympia City Council is exploring ways to preserve manufactured home communities by addressing land use concerns not covered by the state of Washington's rent stabilization law.  

At a study session held on Tuesday, July 29, Olympia Housing Program Senior Specialist Christa Lenssen discussed the state's newly enacted House Bill 1217, which introduces measures for rent stability and tenant rights, as well as protections for manufactured home communities.  

Under the legislation, landlords are restricted from increasing rent by more than 5% annually and are prohibited from raising rents during the first 12 months of tenancy.  

While the...

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Our thoughts on this story:

While the bill focuses on rent-related protections, it does not address land use concerns or prevent the redevelopment of manufactured home parks.  But the underlying issue is that property owners can redevelop their land according to zoning allowances, potentially replacing manufactured home communities with apartments, townhouses or commercial developments.  

Well, they finally figured it out. When you enact rent control, mobile home park owners simply tear their parks down and build back better uses. Maybe they should have thought of that first?

MITCHELL NOW: Mitchell Nets $2 in Trailer Auction at City-Owned Mobile Home Park

  •    Originally released by MITCHELL NOW on July 31st, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 8th, 2025

Preview:

The City of Mitchell netted just $2 in a recent auction of trailers located in its city-owned mobile home park near Hitchcock Park. Held on Wednesday, the auction offered three trailers and one building, but drew only two bidders. Two trailers sold for $1 each, while the remaining trailer and house received no bids and are slated for demolition.

The city of Mitchell made just $2 at an auction for trailers in its city-owned mobile home park near Hitchcock Park. The Wednesday auction offered three trailers and one building, with only two bidders participating. Two trailers sold for $1 each, while one trailer and a house received no bids and...

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Our thoughts on this story:

I could have told these idiots that selling old mobile homes in an auction format like that would be a total failure. I’ve been to these type of tax sales and nobody ever shows up to bid. Bureaucrats should stick with things that they’re good at … which is basically nothing.

KAALTV: New study shows drinking water in 68% of mobile home parks is unsafe

  •    Originally released by KAALTV on July 25th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 1st, 2025

Preview:

(ABC 6 News) — If you live in a mobile home, a new study says your drinking water may be unsafe.

The Associated Press reports 68% of mobile home parks that run their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules in the last five years.

For comparison, city water systems come in 20 points lower at 48%. More alarmingly, many parks go completely unregulated.

The study comes after EPA research into a cancer cluster in California traced back to high arsenic levels.

Nationwide, nearly 17 million Americans live in mobile homes.

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Great headline for sensationalism, but then you read in the article that it’s NOT 68% of mobile home parks that supposedly have water issues but only 68% of those with their own well water. But then the argument gets even weaker when it’s revealed that the “68%” number is not rooted in science but merely an estimate based on a micro-sampling of a few small trailer parks in western states, which sometimes have a very high degree of carcinogens in their water supply that can’t be cured with simply chlorine. The reality is that maybe 10% of U.S. mobile home parks are on well water and, of those, all of the institutional-quality ones are tested monthly and in 100% compliance. So when you take the supposed 68% and apply it to roughly 10% of mobile home parks on well water, that’s just 7%. But then you take off all those professionally-managed parks and leave just those nasty 1-star slum trailer parks down by the river and you are probably at 2% or less of all parks. So shouldn’t the headline actually read “New Study Shows Drinking Water in 98% of Mobile Home Parks is Safe”? Absolutely!

Second Wave Media: Preserving Homes, Changing Lives

  •    Originally released by Second Wave Media on July 29th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 1st, 2025

Preview:

Across the country, community development financial institutions (CDFIs) such as IFF are changing lives. These specialized financial organizations support nonprofits, small businesses, and individuals in low-income areas who may have difficulty accessing traditional banking services. Their aim is to promote economic development, affordable housing, and community growth – and that is exactly how IFF is helping Detroit Phoenix Center (DPC), and Family Promise of West Michigan. 

"By investing into our organization, they're also investing into the community, and hundreds of young people, potentially thousands, are going to be served," says...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Read this:

Recently, IFF closed a $430,000 loan that provided DPC with financing for the purchase of a 40-foot recreational vehicle (RV).

OK, now read that again.

If you are thinking WTF then you have common sense. If you are thinking “I don’t get it” then you must have worked in the Biden administration.

Santa Maria Sun: County supervisors amend zoning to protect senior mobile home parks

  •    Originally released by Santa Maria Sun on July 24th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 1st, 2025

Preview:

Almost 7,000 seniors populate housing authority waitlists for affordable senior housing in Santa Barbara County.

“In the face of such high demand, the preservation of existing affordable housing, including mobile home parks, is clearly important,” county planner Lila Spring said at the July 15 Board of Supervisors meeting. “However, the county lacks regulations to prevent the conversion of senior mobile home parks.”

But by the end of the meeting, that was no longer the case. 

Supervisors passed zoning ordinance amendments to preserve existing mobile home parks in the unincorporated areas of the county and prevent the conversion of senior...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

Bureaucrats may be able to force owners to deny residency to non-seniors, but they won’t be able to stop them from tearing their parks down and putting up more profitable uses.

Time Standard: ‘You are heard’: Fortuna council agrees to talk mobile home rent stabilization at a later date

  •    Originally released by Time Standard on July 25th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 1st, 2025

Preview:

The Fortuna City Council has agreed to discuss rent stabilization for manufactured home parks, after hearing pleas from seniors who say they are being priced out of Royal Crest Mobile Estates. The council, earlier this week, unanimously voted to discuss park rent stabilization in a future meeting.

City Manager Amy Nilsen said during the meeting there are steps and meetings needed before voting on a completed ordinance — the timing of the next session to workshop the idea depends on the hiring of an attorney experienced on the topic. She said a discussion could possibly be held in the second council meeting of August at the earliest, but...

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Our thoughts on this story:

I used to be on the Landmarks Commission in my small town. Occasionally we would have some nutty group come down to city hall and rant and rave about something and we’d say things like “you are heard” to get them to shut up and leave. That’s all the Fortuna council did here. There’s absolutely nothing of value in their declaration. It’s like when Teddy Roosevelt would tell the Indians “we shall endeavor to persevere”. Just verbal garbage, nothing more.

Mass Live: Housing Court judge denies landlord’s request to stay a rent reduction at Ludlow mobile home park

  •    Originally released by Mass Live on July 25th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 1st, 2025

Preview:

SPRINGFIELD — The rents at a mobile home community in Ludlow will return to previous, lower rates until the town’s Rent Control Board follows procedure, a judge has ruled.

Judge Jonathan J. Kane ordered on July 10 that monthly rents — which residents pay to live on their lots at the West Street Village Mobile Home Community — will return to $207, a rate that they were paying in 2023.

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Our thoughts on this story:

I have three main takeaways from this article:

  1. If anyone thinks that a $207 per month lot rent is sustainable in a town with $293,000 single-family home prices and $1,510 per month apartment rents, then you’re too dumb to argue with. Clearly, this owner needs to tear the park down immediately and redevelop into apartments or any other use. I’m sure they’re calling the land brokers right now.
  2. The protestors’ signs in the photo are all professionally made and NOT by the residents. This is clearly the work of a well-funded “Free Rent Movement” group. The residents are simply pawns in this game.
  3. Massachusetts is a state filled with political and judicial nut cases.

So let me now tell the judge and tenants what will happen next:

  1. The park owner will find a better use for the property and give the tenants termination notices.
  2. The residents will have to leave and will find all other housing options cost literally ten times more than the park did.
  3. The political action group that is funding and promoting this nonsense won’t even take the tenants’ phone calls when they realize they’ve been played for fools.
  4. The residents end up 100% screwed and the park owner ends up with a more successful use that makes ten times more money than the park ever did.

How do I know? That’s how these situations always turn out.

Next City: As Private Equity Squeezes Mobile Home Parks for Profit, Residents Fight Back

  •    Originally released by Next City on July 24th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 1st, 2025

Preview:

This story is part of a series on manufactured housing and solutions to help mitigate threats facing mobile home residents. Read our previous pieces on the health impacts of private equity ownership and historic preservationists’ role in protecting these communities.

Marjory Gilsrud and Yvonne Maldonado have never met. They live in separate manufactured home communities, more than a thousand miles apart from each other. But both women, as leaders in the tenant associations at their respective parks, are fighting the same threat as they work to preserve one of the last bastions of affordable homeownership.

Home to some 22 million...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The media regurgitates this story every week. Look, if you think that private equity groups are evil then you better go on Google and look up all the holdings by Carlysle, Apollo – and hundreds of others – and you’ll realize that pretty much everything you do or use on a daily basis is owned by private equity groups. As a result, you’ll have to move to an island in South America and live in a tent to escape the reach of what you believe to be Satan. Smart people realize that private equity groups inject millions of dollars into their mobile home park holdings to bring them back to life and nobody else has the money to do so in a big way. Thank God they exist.

Realtor.com: They Own Their Homes—So Why Are Mobile Park Residents Still Getting Evicted?

  •    Originally released by Realtor.com on July 24th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on August 1st, 2025

Preview:

obile home parks have long been one of the last bastions of affordable housing in America. For millions of residents, they offer the dream of homeownership at a fraction of the cost of traditional housing.

But that dream comes with a catch: Residents typically own the structure, but not the land beneath it. That legal distinction leaves them vulnerable. Despite being homeowners, they can still be evicted under landlord-tenant laws, sometimes for falling just a few hundred dollars behind on rent.

This vulnerability hasn’t gone unnoticed. As real estate investors increasingly buy up mobile home parks, evictions are rising. In Florida,...

Read More

Our thoughts on this story:

As real estate investors increasingly buy up mobile home parks, evictions are rising. In Florida, eviction filings jump by 40% in the months after a park is sold, according to research from Princeton’s Eviction Lab.

It should come as no surprise that evictions jump 40% in many parks immediately following purchase by professional investors. That’s because the new owners require that residents actually pay their rent every month – something that the former mom and pop owners never made them do. We’ve bought parks in which tenants have not paid lot rent in 4 years yet mom and pop never kicked them out. Those days are coming to an end as new owners have huge mortgages to pay every month and dead beats can no longer be afforded.

The Punxsutawney Spirit: Crestwood Mobile Home Trailer Park sold to Allegheny Estates, new owners working on improvements

  •    Originally released by The Punxsutawney Spirit on July 22nd, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

BROOKVILLE — The Crestwood Mobile Home Trailer Park in Brookville has been sold to Allegheny Estates, and the new owners are working on completing improvements and maintenance to the property.

Brookville borough manager Dana Rooney said Allegheny Estates owns another trailer court in Brookville and the borough has a good relationship with the owners, Matt and Marci Steinman. She said the sale does not currently change ongoing lawsuit between the previous owner of Crestwood, Robert Joseph, and the Brookville Municipal Authority, which is still ongoing.

“We are looking forward to working with the new owners. Working with them will...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Here’s a novel plan: a city working with a park owner to ensure that the park gets brought back to life and the residents don’t get displaced. Why can’t more cities be like this?

Sun Journal: Maine just took a historic step toward housing for all | Opinion

  •    Originally released by Sun Journal on July 19th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

Housing is the solution to many of Maine’s crises, but it’s a challenge to build, rent or buy affordably.

This year, Maine took decisive, positive action. Thanks to the leadership of the Legislature and Gov. Janet Mills, several bold new policies the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition (MAHC) prioritized were signed into law. They remove barriers to housing development, unlock critical investments and help Maine people — young workers, older adults, families and essential employees — live where they work and put down roots in the towns they love.

For the first time ever, Maine’s state budget includes a dedicated, ongoing revenue stream to...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Look, Maine has nice scenery and L.L. Bean, but it also has a total population smaller than St. Louis and only a very small number of mobile home parks. Their new $10,000 per lot private equity penalty – if it holds up in court – is downright embarrassing. Maine would be better off if they just stuck to things they were good at, like making hunting boots.

Next City: An Unexpected Idea for Preserving America’s Mobile Homes

  •    Originally released by Next City on July 17th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

This op-ed is part of a series on manufactured housing and solutions to help mitigate threats facing mobile home residents. Read our first story on health impacts of private equity ownership.

Punctuating the country is an unknown world of mobile home parks that are often seen but rarely recognized. These communities are everywhere: scattered along highways, in urban crannies in California, Florida, and the Sunbelt, on exurban territory from the Northeast to the Pacific Northwest, next to factories, farmland, mines and military bases. Blink and you’ll miss them. The National Register of Historic Places certainly has.

There is not a single...

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Our thoughts on this story:

There is not a single mobile home or mobile home park in the National Register — a glaring omission that, if addressed, challenges the preservation field to join the fight for affordable housing.

I’m shocked that not a single mobile home park is in the National Register. I would have thought that some of the earlier landmark properties, like Point Dume, would have made the cut.

Michigan Advance: Michigan among highest rates of private equity-owned mobile home parks in nation, research finds

  •    Originally released by Michigan Advance on July 21st, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

Michigan has the second-most manufactured home parks owned by private equity in the nation, according to research from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project and Manufactured Housing Action.

The state has 192 parks, accounting for 50,626 home sites, owned by private equity firms and hedge funds.

Only Florida has a higher share, with 269 parks made up of 64,354 home sites. Texas trails Michigan, with 148 parks with 31,265 home sites.

The research shows a disproportionate share of private equity-owned manufactured housing, with firms owning more than one in every four manufactured homes in the state.

This marks a slight increase from 2020...

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Our thoughts on this story:

More of the “Private Equity Derangement Syndrome” in action. Perhaps the reason that Michigan has so many private equity groups owning parks in that state is simply because there are a ton of parks in poor condition that need private equity money to rebuild them and bring them up to modern standards. There’s certainly nothing sinister going on. 

Komu: Columbia City Council annexes mobile home park amid sewer concerns

  •    Originally released by Komu on July 21st, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

The Columbia City Council approved the annexation of Woodstock Mobile Home Park into city limits, which requires many residents to establish a sewer connection with the city. Woodstock is expected to foot the bill.

Half of the 208 mobile homes on the property are already hooked up to the city’s sewer system. The others are serviced by two on-site sewage treatment facilities that are noncompliant with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ standards, according to a city staff report to the council.

“Had the existing on-site package treatment facilities been compliant with DNR requirements, the park would have been capable of...

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Our thoughts on this story:

A very proactive and sound decision by the City of Columbia, Missouri allows this park to connect to city sewer and saves half the tenants from having to leave. Bravo, Columbia.

Lookout Santa Cruz: In the Public Interest: Mobile home park residents lower their armor in rail trail fight, for now

  •    Originally released by Lookout Santa Cruz on July 21st, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

Last week, when mobile home park residents in Capitola announced their intention to thwart the county transportation authority’s effort to survey sections of their lots, it marked the latest escalation in a dispute between the mobile home park’s owner, residents and the government over who has the rights to swaths of land occupied by residents but technically owned by the government and needed for the Coastal Rail Trail project. 

Yet, with the weekend came deescalation, and residents announced Monday that they would relent and allow the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission to survey the mobile home lots that encroach onto...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This is the same article from last week in which many of the lots have to be torn down to expand the train tracks. So at least a part of another park bites the dust.

Vox: Cutting five words from this law could make houses cheaper

  •    Originally released by Vox on July 21st, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

There exists an almost absurdly simple fix that could help ease the housing crisis. It would cost the government nothing, require deleting just five words from a 50-year-old federal law, and has enjoyed quiet support from housing researchers and leaders for decades.

The target is an obscure regulation that requires every manufactured home to be built on a “permanent chassis” — a steel trailer frame that can attach to wheels. The idea was that the chassis was necessary — even after the home was installed and the wheels taken off — because manufactured houses, which trace their roots to World War II trailers, could theoretically...

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Our thoughts on this story:

It will be interesting to see if they can force HUD to remove the “chassis rule” and stop making mobile homes sit 3’ off the ground with the embarrassing skirting that screams “trailer park”. The single-family home lobby will fight this concept to the death, but maybe the industry will get lucky.

Montana Public Radio: Mobile home residents find little relief amid rent hikes, ownership changes

  •    Originally released by Montana Public Radio on July 16th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

Three women sitting around a kitchen table in Great Falls didn’t know each other before a shared predicament brought them together.

"What was that nickname they gave us … the three little ladies from Great Falls, or three nice ladies, or something," Vivian Rambo asks.

Rambo is reminiscing with Cindy Newman and Jan Bailey about their road trips to the Montana Legislature last winter. The women are all retired and in their 70s. They’re also manufactured homeowners living on rented lots, and they want more legal protection.

The company that owns Newman’s park increased rents for new tenants from $288 per month to $825 per month after buying...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This woke writer picked the wrong state to pitch rent control: Montana. Apparently, he doesn’t know that Montana state government is 100% red. The Republicans hold the House majority with 58 seats, while the Democrats have 42 seats. In the Montana State Senate, the Republicans also have the majority, with 32 seats, compared to the Democrats' 18 seats. On top of all that, the Governor is Republican. In the entire history of the United States, rent control has never happened in any state that is not Democrat-controlled in the House, Senate and Governor roles. The idea of rent control in Montana is as comical as the idea of Joe Biden becoming a debate instructor.

Arizona Luminaria: 5 questions with Tucson’s housing director: “Simply we don’t have enough housing to address the need”

  •    Originally released by Arizona Luminaria on July 18th, 2025
  •    Commentary made on July 25th, 2025

Preview:

Tucson needs more housing. There are upward of 2,000 people living on the streets and in emergency shelters. At the same time, the city is expected to see nearly 50,000 new residents over the next decade, and will need to produce more than 62,000 housing units to meet housing needs. 

Amid those complicated needs, the department of Housing and Community Development is at the forefront of creating a housing safety net for Tucsonans — doing everything from dispersing federal dollars for public housing to buying properties to eventually increase the stock of affordable housing. 

For nearly a year and a half, Ann Chanecka has been the director...

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Our thoughts on this story:

We own and operate approximately 2,000 units of housing, and administer the Housing Choice Voucher program for the region with about 5,500 vouchers. In total, we serve over 6,600 households that tend not to have other housing options. We have over 40,000 households on our [vouchers] wait list currently.  

If you have the capacity to issue only 5,500 housing vouchers – yet have 40,000 on the waiting list – you’re more screwed up than the Southwest Airlines gate agent when they cancel all the flights and there are 1,000 screaming people in line waving their tickets and demanding a seat on the next plane. What a total mess.