Al Kemp, the Executive Director of the Manufactured Home Park Owners Alliance of British Columbia has an important message. “Trailers haul beer. Manufactured homes provide housing for people.” When talking about them to the public, or to elected officials, that’s the first item that Kemp likes to clear up. Instead of the stereotype of a “trailer,” he says that this is …

The controversial and unsentimental storyline in the posted video trailer and full-length movie shown further below is largely Canadian; more on that later, but for now it is worth mentioning that the plot could have occurred either in the U.S. or Canada. IMDb has this plot summary credited to Production: “A young mother drifts from one motel to the next …

Lois Requist is retired.  She’s an author, and the former Benicia, CA poet laureate. She recently moved into a manufactured home in a community in San Francisco metro. Terry Reynolds has a manufactured home too. Reynolds and his wife own a triple sectional, Requist has a more modest, yet still appealing, multi-sectional. Each has a story to tell, and we …

A U.S. House of Representatives Democratic staffer told MHLivingNews/MHProNews that the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) has a reputation on Capitol Hill for being anti-consumer. The context of that staffer’s remarks was connected to manufactured home industry connected financing controversies, some of which will be explored in this report. When Mobile and Manufactured Home Living News (MHLivingNews) offered Manufactured Housing Institute …

The death of billionaire Samuel “Sam” Zell has and will spark an array of commentaries, among them this from the Associated Press (AP) which quoted Zell as follows. “I’m a professional opportunist,” Zell told AP at the time. “I’m pretty sure that no matter what topic you pick, we’re involved in some way or another.” That absolutely holds true for …

Samuel “Sam” Strommen from Knudson Law forged an evidence-based and systematic case that points the finger of monopolization at Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage Corporation, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, and several specific members of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI). Minneapolis Federal Reserve professional researchers James A. Schmitz Jr and David Fettig have made their own evidence-based argument that “Monopolies Inflict Great Harm on Low- and …

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) are among the nonprofits, media, and public officials who have called RHP Properties and other “consolidators” of land-lease manufactured home communities “predatory.” While such comments were once more commonly reserved to Democratic lawmakers, Republican officials have, in recent years, also become concerned that what is occurring in what for decades was “affordable housing” is …

  “In general, the figures suggest that manufactured homes have seen price [appreciation] trends broadly similar to those of other homes.” – August 23, 2018 news release by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), page 24 of the federal document linked further below as a free download.    “I will never make a disparaging remark about a manufactured home. It …

Preface. This article will first outline a five-point plan for affordable housing and manufactured home living recovery. Then, it will give some specific examples of why this plan makes more sense than others that are being discussed. Interlaced with that will be facts, evidence and specific examples of how the battle for affordable housing has been weaponized by some powerful …

During a widely acknowledged affordable housing crisis, one would normally imagine that affordable housing would be doing very well. While some segments may be performing well, perhaps the most proven form of U.S. affordable housing ever is struggling at historically low levels. How is that possible? Furthermore, millions of Americans who live in this most proven form of affordable housing …

Superficially, manufactured housing is an easy to understand product, service, and industry. It costs far more to build a house on site – so-called ‘stick building’ – then it does to build one in a factory and was permanently installed on a buyers preferred home site. It costs more to build apartments than it does a manufactured home community. The …

Kurt Kelley, JD, is the publisher of the Manufactured Housing Review (MHR), as the below reflects in his quarterly’s “Publisher’s Message.” For the 2019 Quarter 1 issue, his message read in part as follows.   “…We also [in this issue] address Senator Elizabeth Warren’s attempt to gather private information from Manufactured Home Community owners. New things surprise us each day, …

Imagine for the new few minutes that you are a detective trying to solve a mystery. Detectives look for clues and examine evidence. Investigators ought to be objective. Like a doctor seeking the cause for an ailment, there are tests, results, facts, and reason that should to be the drivers for solving any puzzle.   Investigators ask questions, such as …