How long is it going to take to galvanize the various members of the many organizations who advocate affordable housing into a UNITED group of concerned citizens with ONE VOICE? This would surely get the attention of lawmakers, including the Governor himself, who should realize what is happening to the residents of many of our mobilehome parks. If ever there was a time for UNITED ACTION, by all manufactured home owners, it is NOW.

For the residents of the many well-established parks that are being purchased by wealthy investors today, there is a blatant disregard for what will happen to the many elderly, disabled and working-poor homeowners once they are evicted harassed or scared out of their homes. The horror stories are as varied and numerous as the parks themselves. Perhaps you, too, are a victim or a potential victim of a well-organized plan to take over the last, and ONLY, affordable housing left in America.

There is no mistaking that this is a well-thought out plan. It usually begins by bringing in new managers who use bullying tactics to evict any resident of an older home who has any complaints against them, whether these complaints have any basis in fact or not. For anyone who has ever had a complaint against a neighbor, this “cleaning up” of the park seems like a good idea at first. However, it doesn’t stop there. The managers may begin to “patrol” the park on a continuous basis, looking for any infractions of The Rules, especially by those residents who have been targeted.

This has the effect of putting most of the residents in the position of trying to make themselves “invisible” to the managers and feeling like they live in a “concentration camp.” The next step is to begin telling residents that they must paint their homes, have new skirting installed or do some other exterior repair or maintenance. The cost of doing so may be $1500.00 which can be added to their monthly rent statement in installments. This puts an enormous strain on people who live on fixed incomes. If the resident decides to sell their homes instead, they are told it will require an inspection that will eventually cost them more than what the home is worth.

The park will then “take it off their hands” for a nominal fee, usually $2,000.00 to $5,000.00 depending on their own criteria. Also, during this time, other expenses start to increase, sometimes at incredible rates. Rent and utilities are the first to go up. A $100.00 overall increase in six months is not uncommon. This is spread over several items so as not to have the residents clamoring for Rent Control. In fact, most feel relieved that the increase is not more. However, this will not be the last of the increases. Storage fees and the cost of installing water meters add approximately another $15.00 per month to what was once affordable housing. Yard clean-up notices are issued that may cost as much as $200.00 if the resident is not able or cannot afford to do the job themselves. Regular mail delivery of rent statements is also cancelled and residents are told to attach a clip or like devise to their homes in order to receive their rent statements. This cost is minor but the possibility of having a statement lost or being evicted because a resident did not receive proper notification of a problem is enormous.

At some point, the residents will also be told that the new owners property taxes will increase enormously and that their rents will have to be increased accordingly. This accounts for quite a large increase for people who live on fixed incomes, as much as $45.00 per month.

While many of the residents have, by now, been evicted, their homes as well as the new homes being brought in are allowed to sit in a state of disrepair for months while the managers continue to evict or buy out other residents. The psychological effect of this are enormous and, no doubt, intentional. Many of the residents who spoke so bravely before begin to talk of moving to get away from the stress of worrying about if they will be next.

By now, there has already arrived on the scene one, two or more people who are “not real estate agents” but have bought another home in the park and might be “interested in buying another home as well.” The prices that are now being offered by the “new” purchasers is greater than what the park offered the tenants who were previously bought out and makes for a very tempting proposition for people who now believe that they will lose everything if they don’t act quickly. These “new purchasers” neglect to tell the residents, however, that they are representatives of the dealers of the new manufactured homes that are being brought in to replace their homes. These dealers, in turn, are representatives of the manufactured home industry who build the new homes. And the members of the manufactured home industry are, most often, investors in the latest purchase of the park from the beginning. They are, “fractional owners” of the very lot which they are now eager to purchase. Most residents have no idea of the intricacies of this network of deception and, in fact, believe that these people who are “not real estate agents” are just people looking for “a place for Mom and Dad” or for the “grandparents.”

For the owner of an older home who decides to sell their home themselves or to hire their own real estate agent to handle the process, the credit rating required by the park for new residents is raised so high that it is impossible for someone who can only afford an older home to move into the park. If a resident makes arrangements and/or has been able to move into another home or apartment he or she is simply “waited out” until they can no longer afford the cost of two rents. This is usually a short wait no matter how impassioned the person may feel about what is happening to themselves or their neighbors.

We often speak of the need for affordable housing for age, ability and income restricted citizens but fail to realize that we already have it in place. Mobilehomes are, and always have been, primarily inhabited by those who have few, or no, alternatives. Why should there be a need to find adequate housing for people who already live in their own privately owned homes in order to make room for more expensive models? Most heads of household are women who are primarily older than their apartment residing counterparts.

If it were even possible to move their homes, because of their age and the tremendous cost of moving them, there are no parks available in which to place them. Little, if any, thought is being given to what will happen to these residents once they move from their familiar surroundings in well-established parks.

What is desperately needed is an impact study to show the consequences of removing these residents from their homes, removing the homes from the parks and then destroying them. The adverse effect of evicting or buying out the residents of older mobilehomes for far below what their homes are worth will have far more dire consequences for society in the future. All advocates of low income housing should unite and not only be heard, but have the facts to prove their case in order to present these facts to those who design and institute the laws that should be in place to protect this most vulnerable segment of society.