RESOURCES

Mobile Homes: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Manufactured homes are an affordable housing option, but large investment companies are making them less and less so. John Oliver discusses the value of manufactured housing and the challenges it faces on this segment that first aired on April 8, 2019.
APAC Community Organizing Manual
The All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC) Community Organizing Manual is a collection of original and modified organizing materials specifically designed for use in manufactured home park organizing efforts. These materials are not only for homeowners and homeowner associations, but for nonprofit professionals to better understand resident concerns and how to effectively work with them, including housing and consumer advocates, public interest law firms, community housing development organizations, and others.

The downloadable sections are as follows:
1) Introduction & Table of Contents
2) Organizing
3) Leadership
4) Resident Associations
5) Park Prejudice
6) Racial Justice
7) Media and Messaging
​8) Policy
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I'M HOME Manufactured Housing Toolkit
Prosperity Now and their partners developed a set of tools to help advocates educate policymakers, allied organizations and the general public about how public policy can improve the lives and financial security of owners of manufactured housing. The Manufactured Housing Toolkit includes:

  • Communications Tools, which include concise messages to share with policymakers and community members and tips for advocates in framing the discussion. 
  • Policy Briefs, which are intended to be broadly disseminated and shared with policymakers and allies.
  • Policy Guides, which include legislative analysis, examples of states where certain policies have been adopted, and other detailed information to help advocates in making the case for manufactured housing.
  • Data and Policy Snapshots, which provide data and policy information designed to inform and empower key stakeholders with new materials about the affordable housing need and resources within a given geography.
National Consumer Law Center Resources
NCLC has developed a number of resources for identifying and advocating local, state, and federal legislation related to manufactured housing, which you can find HERE.
AARP: Shifting the Balance of Power
Representatives from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the National Consumer Law Center worked with manufactured homeowners and representatives from several state associations to publish “Shifting the Balance of Power,” a publication with model legislation for manufactured homeowners.
Read Full Report
From Mobile Home Park to Mixed Income Community: A Guide and Case Study
This resource guide (pdf, 21.2 MB) offers a case study, checklists and other resources to enable individuals and organizations to follow the Sunrise Park model. Among the key elements for success identified by this study:
  • The community needs to be ready for and embrace the change.
  • Logical and sensible business approaches should be in place.
  • The design should be efficient, flexible and green.
Calistoga (CA) Leverages Data on Mobile Home Parks
Results of a study conducted on the demographics of Calistoga’s mobile home parks will be useful in securing future assistance programs for the seniors who occupy the parks, officials learned at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Read the complete article ​here.
American Red Cross - Home Fire Preparedness Campaign
​Home fires kill an average of seven people every day. Every 40 minutes, an injury from a home fire is reported. Roughly 1,000 times every day, fire departments are called to a home fire. The American Red Cross supports the Home Fire Preparedness Campaign and its goal to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by home fires. 

​Read the Home Fire and Smoke Alarm Summary Fact Sheet.
Three-Part Series on the Value of Manufactured Housing 
​Ishbel Dickens, past Executive Director of the National manufactured Home Owners Association is extensively quoted in an article by Natalie St. John of The Chinook Observer highlighting egregious business practices and bad living conditions in manufactured housing communities in Spokane, SW Washington and parts of Oregon, where the community owners have racked up huge debt and allowed at least one of the properties to fall into foreclosure.
Part 1   Part 2   Part 3

Homes for All - 2023 Planning Process Update