Expanding Resident and Nonprofit Ownership of Manufactured Home Parks

Homeownership holds substantial promise as a strategy to promote health and racial equity. Owning a home can provide individuals and families with residential stability and the opportunity to build wealth. However, despite its potential benefits, homeownership has remained out of reach for many low- and moderate-income families and people of color.  Abt’s recent project, Using Homeownership to Advance Health and Racial Equity, explores a wide range of policies, programs, and actions that can expand access to affordable, sustainable homeownership opportunities for these communities.  The project produced four policy briefs as well as a landscape analysis and summary of recommendations.

This brief explores ways to expand resident and nonprofit ownership of manufactured home parks. Manufactured housing provides an affordable homeownership option for millions of Americans. Many of these homes are located within “manufactured home parks” in which individuals own their home but lease the land beneath it. This type of arrangement can make it difficult for homeowners to access a standard mortgage and can leave them vulnerable to displacement. In the brief, we review alternative ownership models that can help homeowners in these communities achieve greater residential stability and enhance the wealth-building potential of their homes.

This policy brief is part of a series that explores four policy options for making homeownership more accessible and beneficial. Each brief examines a different approach, but all of them highlight how homeownership can advance the goals of health and racial equity and promote economic and social well-being. These briefs can help policymakers, advocates, researchers, and other stakeholders better understand the barriers to homeownership in their communities, and identify action steps for addressing them.