8) How Trailer Park Hell became a "Little Piece of Heaven" as a Resident-Owned Community

There have been a variety of advances that can allow manufactured housing to enter a new era. The extensive benefits of manufactured housing—especially when done as Resident-Owned Communities where the residents form a cooperative that buys the property under their manufactured homes and the common facilities—are becoming so compelling that it deserves a serious look as an important pathway to create and preserve affordable housing. Communities should take steps to make sure that people currently living in “trailer parks” are not displaced and that this important part of “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing” does not disappear. Advanced manufacturing techniques, new opportunities for mortgages, and innovative ownership models makes manufactured housing one of the best ways to increase the number of affordable homes in many communities. And now that many manufactured homes can qualify for Fannie Mae-backed Mortgages, the monthly payments can be very reasonable.