Friday, January 27, 2023 11:40 AM
Filed by Local Housing Federation
When you live in a mobile home community, you may own your home, but not the land beneath it.
Across New York State and the nation, mobile home communities are threatened by real estate speculators who buy land and raise rents and fees, often while cutting services. This drives residents out and clears land for redevelopment.
The Rural Housing Coalition has created a mobile home community preservation manual. This manual shows how residents can maintain mobile home communities by purchasing mobile home parks from private owners in cooperatives or non-profits.
The manual also lists state programs to help replace aging mobile homes and improve the park’s infrastructure. In addition, this manual identifies relevant sections of the Tenant Protection Act for Residents of Mobile Home Communities.
“Mobile home communities, which provide important affordable housing options in rural New York State, are disappearing at an alarming rate,” said Mike Boges, executive director of the New York Rural Housing Coalition. I’m here. “New York state had 1,800 mobile homes in 2019, but only 1,200 in 2022, according to mandatory registrations.”
The Coalition has also produced brochures that can be mailed or hand-delivered to inform residents of mobile home communities of their options. Guides and brochures can be found on the Library page of the Union’s website www.ruralhousing.org.
According to data collected by the State of New York, Saratoga County has 105 mobile home parks, the most in the state.
Round Lake MP Carrie Woerner said: Mobile Her Home encourages all residents in her community to know their rights. She also thanks the Rural Housing Coalition for putting together this important resource for residents of her community. “
These materials were funded by a grant from Enterprise Community Partners, a national non-profit organization that exists to provide good homes for millions of homeless families. They were created with the support of PathStone, a non-profit organization that builds self-sufficiency for families and individuals by empowering farm workers, rural and urban communities.
“The state will work to maintain these affordable housing options in rural communities, including by creating programs to fund the transfer of development rights to these properties, as well as efforts to protect vacant and agricultural land. , and much more needs to be done,” Borges said. am.”
The Rural Housing Coalition of New York is a statewide organization dedicated to revitalizing rural New York by empowering housing and community development providers. The coalition supports local housing and community development providers through institutional capacity building, training and technical assistance, and increased public awareness and advocacy.