Preservation
Manufactured Home Park Report on Closure Dynamics, Preservation Strategies
CASA of Oregon and the Community Development Law Center (CDLC) have just released a comprehensive report entitled “Manufactured Home Parks in Oregon”. The study was funded under a grant from the Corporation for Economic Development (CFED), with additional funding provided by Oregon Housing and Community Services.
Manufactured housing is one of the largest sources of affordable unsubsidized single family housing in the state and in the nation. 65,469 Oregonians live in the state’s 1,300 manufactured home parks. Two-thirds of park residents are low-income: more than one in ten households earned less than $10,000 and 62.9 percent have annual household income of less than $30,000.
As a result of rapidly appreciating land values, population growth and aging park infrastructure, many Oregon manufactured home parks are being closed and redeveloped. Since 1995, 2,736 families have been displaced by the closure of 71 manufactured home parks, approximately five percent of the parks in the state. Forty-seven of these closures occurred between 2004 and 2006, when land prices increased at an extremely rapid pace.
At the heart of this crisis is the nature of property ownership in manufactured home parks. The park owner owns the land and leases it to the tenant, who owns the home. In a redevelopment or conversion, residents’ and owners’ goals can be in direct conflict.
The report provides a wide range of information about manufactured housing in Oregon and outlines strategies to preserve parks in Oregon. Included are discussions of park preservation through (1) resident-owned communities, in the form of cooperatives or mutual benefit nonprofits; (2) nonprofit ownership by community-based organizations like community development corporations, community action agencies or community land trusts; and (3) public ownership, through local housing authorities.
To download a PDF copy of the paper, click here:
