What Happens When Private Equity Takes Over Mobile Home Parks
1A
NPR
4.3 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
Around 22 million Americans live in a mobile or manufactured house. It's the largest sector of non-subsidized affordable housing in the country. Unfortunately, they aren't turning out to be the haven many were hoping for. Now, investors are scooping up these parks during the pandemic.
New ownership from out of state has meant restrictive rules, price hikes, and sometimes even eviction. Mobile home residents are particularly vulnerable to these buyouts with few rights and protections.
We talk about what this means for affordable housing in the U.S. and mobile home parks across the country.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Yes, hello, my name is Nicole Vagakis. I live in a mobile home park in |
| 0:11.2 | Vinylin, New Jersey. Hello, this is Joellen. I'm calling from Colorado. Hello, my name's Bob. |
| 0:17.2 | Some Southern Indiana. I've lived here for 25 years. They want to increase our rent by 20% |
| 0:23.0 | this month. I choose to live in a trailer park that many of my neighbors have no other options |
| 0:28.8 | because housing is so expensive where we are. My mother-in-law lives in a trailer park that was |
| 0:33.4 | just bought by a company in Montana. I'm not quite sure who the new owners are. It's kind of buried |
| 0:40.0 | under corporations made in Delaware. My lock ran to increased 8% a year. And her lock ran went from |
| 0:47.7 | 325 a month to 475 a month. Thanks in large part to the pandemic, the cost of the house is |
| 0:54.8 | soaring to new heights. In March, the median American home price hit a record high of more than |
| 1:00.0 | $370,000. Enter one option for more affordable housing, the mobile home. Around 22 million Americans |
| 1:07.6 | live in a mobile or pre-manufactured home. It's the largest sector of non-substitized affordable |
| 1:12.9 | housing in the country. But now, investors have turned their attention to these homes, and they've |
| 1:17.7 | been scooping up parks during the pandemic. New ownership from out-of-state investors has |
| 1:22.3 | meant restrictive rules, price hikes, and sometimes even eviction. Mobile home residents have few |
| 1:27.6 | rights or protections leaving them particularly vulnerable to buyouts. After the break, we'll get |
| 1:32.5 | into the impact of these new ownerships and hear from some of you about your experiences. |
| 1:37.4 | I'm David Gura, InfraGen White. You're listening to the 1A Podcast where we get to the heart of |
| 1:41.8 | the story. Remember to join future conversations, download our 1A Vox Pop app and leave us a voicemail. |
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