Manufactured Home Communities

Manufactured Home Parks are a critical source of affordable housing in Minnesota. An estimated 906 licensed parks in Minnesota house about 48,500 households. Nationwide, it is estimated that there are around 55,000 parks, 3.1 million households, and 10 million residents. In some communities these parks are the only source of affordable housing. However, with increasing property values and development pressures, parks are at risk of closure or conversion resulting in the displacement of the low income resident households. When parks close, residents are forced to find comparable affordable replacement housing in markets with affordable housing shortages, a situation likely to be exacerbated as housing programs shrink and costs rise. Beyond the financial costs of park closures, there are also social costs that result from breaking up manufactured home park communities. This is especially difficult for the large number of school age children and elderly residents who live in the parks.

Victories!

Read the order from the Shady Lane case, Community Health and Education Corporation v. Portland Park LLP

The film "American Dream Under Fire: Manufactured Home Park Residents Fight to Hold Ground" - produced with the help of HPP and featuring our President, Ann Norton - was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category "Documentary – Topical." To view the film, click here.

Media

When available, we have provided a link directly to the article. Most of the other articles can be purchased for a small fee on the publisher's website.

Mobile Homes, a Low Cost Housing Option, are Getting Squeezed Out
Minnesota Public Radio, April 27, 2006

Affordable Housing Advocates Mourn Loss of Trailer Park
Kare 11 News, April 3, 2006

Manufactured Housing: Not What You Think National Conference of State Legislators, January 2006

Shady Lane Residents Fall Short in Attempt to Buy Bloomington Mobile Home Park
Minnesota Sun, January 5, 2006

Shady Mayor of Bloomington, MN
Pulse of the Twin Cities, November 23, 2005

Shady Lane Residents Seek to Save - and Own - Their Homes
Minnesota Sun, June 23, 2005

Farewell to Shady Lane: MHP Closings Aggravate Affordable Housing Shortage
Spokesman-Recorder, April 12, 2006

Mobile Home Parks are Vanishing
Star Tribune, March 5, 2006

Home Park Residents Get Help
Albuquerque Journal, December 7, 2005

Trailer Park to Some, Obstacle to Developers
Star Tribune, November 27, 2005

Residents of Bloomington Mobile Home Park Sue to Buy Property
Star Tribune, August 10, 2005

Del Rey Sage Should Prompt New Thinking
Albuquerque Journal, June 6, 2005

Developers Drop Rezoning Effort; Mobile Home Park Stays Put for Now
Albuquerque Journal, June 1, 2005

Trailer-Park Davis vs. Greedy Goliath
Albuquerque Journal, May 8, 2005

Mobile Home Park in Limbo: Residents Band Together to Fight Landowner's Development
Albuquerque Journal, May 2, 2005

Mobile Home Park May Face Eviction
Albuquerque Journal, March 30, 2005

Spreadsheets and Reports

PLEASE NOTE: All of our data is compiled from 3rd party sources. HPP does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Protocol for Determining Demographic Information about Manufactured Home Communities
A significant challenge for advocates is the lack of available demographic information about who lives in manufactured home communities. This data can be a critical tool because through data it is possible to challenge the inaccurate preconceived notions about manufactured home communities that are shared by both policy makers and members of the general public. The directions above, as well as this Excel Template, will allow you get an idea about the demographics of those living in manufactured home parks in your state.

Manufactured Home Communities Park Licensing Requirements and Information Tools
The ability to use tools such as database and mapping technology is dependant, in large part, on access to reliable data. One method of obtaining data on manufactured home communities (MHC) is through state licensing requirements. This is a brief introduction to how licensing schemes affect the ability of advocates to utilize database and mapping tools.

Complete List of Manufactured Home Parks in Minnesota
This data was compiled from the lists of parks licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health and various county health departments. Because much data was initially missing, we called many (though by no means all) city and county offices in an attempt to fill in the blanks, and in the process discovered many licensed parks that had in fact closed as well as numerous existing parks that were not licensed.

Power Point Presentation on Manufactured Home Parks
This presentation was compiled by HPP to help educate community members and affordable housing advocated on manufactured home communities specifically in Minnesota.

Manufactured Housing: A Home that the Law Still Treats Like a Car
The Consumers Union looks at how manufactured homes are subject to repossesion laws written for cars and couches, and how these laws lack the protections offered conventional homebuyers in the foreclosure process.

What's it Worth?
The Consumers Union looks at how murky pricing hurts consumers in the manufactured housing industry.

Moving Home: Manufactured Housing in Rural America
This HAC report includes a data analysis regarding manufactured housing in rural America plus short pieces written by local rural housing providers, national organizations, and a representative of the manufactured housing industry illuminating some of the pros and cons of using these structures to provide affordable sustainable homeownership.

Is Manufactured Housing a Good Alternative for Low-Income Families? Evidence from the American Housing Survey
A study by HUD that contradicts several preconceived notions regarding manufactured housing. This paper employs the American Housing Survey (AHS) between 1993 and 2001 to compare owned manufactured housing to rental housing and traditional owned housing as a tenure alternative for low-income households.

Why Advocates Need to Rethink Manufactured Housing
Richard Genz lays out a clear agenda to "reinvent manufactured homes." His article also outlines the multiple challenges: a hodgepodge of federal, state, and local laws and regulations; financing issues; negative stereotypes; and minimal consumer protection.

Manufactured Housing Community Tenants: Shifting the Balance of Power
Owners of manufactured (or 'mobile') homes face unique problems as consumers when they rent a lot in a community for manufactured homes. This report by the AARP Public Policy Institute presents a model statute that addresses these problems.

Manufactured Housing: Not What You Think
This report is part of the Affordable Housing Project of the National Conference of State Legislatures and received funding support from the Fannie Mae Foundation.

Manufactured Housing as a Community-and Asset-Building Strategy
This report is part of the Affordable Housing Project of the National Conference of State Legislatures and received funding support from the Fannie Mae Foundation.

Other Resources

For more information on resident's rights, visit All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC)

View the Minnesota Attorney General's Manufactured Home Parks Handbook

To find out more about cooperative ownership, visit Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund

To find out more about nonprofit ownership, visit theLow Income Housing Institute

Find out more about the unique city of Hilltop, Minnesota

Maps and Charts

If you have ArcView software and would like to be sent the original files so that you can interact with them, please email Emily.

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks Mapped by Zip Code

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Number of Lots per County

Percentage of Households per County Living in Manufactured Home Parks

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Age of Home

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Age of Householder

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Rent as a Percent of Income

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Household Size

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Length of Occupancy

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Race of Householder

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Distribution of People of Color

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Type of Housing for White Households

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Type of Housing for Latino Households

Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks - Type of Housing for Native American Households

Manufactured Home Parks in the Seven County Metro Area