Across the country, residents of mobile homes are organizing to buy and cooperatively run their communities, with government help, to protect themselv

Trailer Park Residents Are Forming Cooperatives

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2024-05-09 00:00:24

Across the country, residents of mobile homes are organizing to buy and cooperatively run their communities, with government help, to protect themselves from landlords known for jacking up rents and neglecting infrastructure.

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Bev Adrian, a retired career placement counselor for people with disabilities, lives in Woodlawn Terrace, a mobile home park just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota. The nearby streets are full of bustling local commerce — a Sota Boys Smoke Shop, a Pump N Munch Gas — but Woodlawn is a quiet park tucked away under maples and pines. Adrian moved there four years ago, coincidentally right as Woodlawn’s owner was looking to sell. Woodlawn’s landlord was well liked, but for years Woodlawn’s residents had been hearing rumors about possible sales to much less friendly owners.

Mobile home parks, also known as trailer parks, are officially and more accurately called manufactured housing parks. Prefab homes are substantial constructions; once placed in a park, more than 80 percent of them are never moved. In these parks, residents own their homes but pay rent to landlords who own the land and its infrastructure (like water and gas hookups).