Seen as the largest reserve of unsubsidized affordable housing in the country, preserving manufactured home communities is a priority for state and local leaders grappling with unaffordability across the region. Increasingly, local park owners are retiring, making way for investors and corporate owners that institute new policies, even restrictions, and often raise lot rents to market rate, forcing many long-term residents out. In many parks, despite owning their homes, residents feel powerless when up against the forces of park owners who own the land. Recently, Colorado passed new manufactured housing legislation, which updated the state’s Mobile Home Park Act, created a robust dispute resolution mechanism and the opportunity to purchase law, which creates a pathway for mobile home residents to purchase their park if it goes up for sale. In this episode of (un)affordable, we talk with Deborah Cantrell, law professor at CU Boulder and a main author of the new legislation.Â
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
