Latest news with #mobilehomeparks
The Independent
24-07-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Takeaways from AP's report on water quality and safety at US mobile home parks
More than 50 years after the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed to assure Americans of safe water, millions of people living in mobile home parks can't always count on those basic protections. The Associated Press examined an Environmental Protection Agency database on violations by water systems across the country, ranging from the tiniest up to major metropolitan areas. AP also surveyed states for their oversight of water systems. Here's a look at key findings from the AP report: Mobile home parks violate water rules more than cities and towns Nearly 70% of mobile home parks that run their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules over the past five years. That's well above the rate for cities (48%) and larger towns (57%), according to EPA data. The U.S. has some 50,000 water utilities, most serving small towns and rural areas. Many struggle to find expert staff and funding, and they violate clean water rules more often than the handful of large utilities that serve cities. But even among the hard-pressed small utilities, mobile home parks stand out. The AP analysis found that more than half these parks failed to perform a required test for at least one contaminant or failed to properly report the results, in the past five years. And they are far more likely to be repeat offenders of safe drinking water rules overall. Some mobile home parks go unmonitored The problems may go beyond what the figures show. Some parks don't appear in EPA's database at all and may go completely unregulated. For example, EPA officials were investigating high levels of cancer-causing arsenic in tap water at a Southern California mobile home park in 2021 when they realized there were several others in the area that weren't in their records, said Amy Miller, a former EPA head of enforcement in the region. Some were found to have high levels of arsenic that residents had been drinking for years. It's impossible to know how many under-the-radar parks there are. Most states aren't actively looking for them and say they don't find very many. There's another way that problems with mobile home park water can escape attention. Some mobile home parks get their water from an outside source — a nearby town, for example. That water can be safe when it reaches the park boundary but become contaminated if the park has substandard or poorly installed piping. The EPA doesn't generally track water once it's on private property, so those problems can go unseen. It may not be easy to escape bad water Bad water isn't always unsafe. Residents of mobile home parks in Michigan, Iowa and elsewhere reported taps that frequently ran dry or problems with discolored water that looked like coffee or tea, stained their laundry and made them fearful to open their mouths in the shower, for example. If residents are unhappy with management's response to such problems, it can be difficult to leave. That's because 'mobile' homes aren't all that mobile. Residents often own the home but rent the land they sit on, and it's difficult and expensive to move them. Esther Sullivan, a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado, calls residents 'halfway homeowners' because of this dynamic. She said they often put up with problems because of the difficulty in moving. Almost 17 million people in the U.S. live in mobile homes. What some states are doing Utah is the rare state that enforces safe drinking water standards even within parks that get their water from another provider, according to AP's survey of states. And Colorado passed a law in 2023 that requires testing the water in every mobile home park. It gives health officials the ability to go beyond federal law to address taste, color and smell that can make people afraid to drink their water, even when it's not a health risk. ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit
Associated Press
24-07-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Takeaways from AP's report on water quality and safety at US mobile home parks
More than 50 years after the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed to assure Americans of safe water, millions of people living in mobile home parks can't always count on those basic protections. The Associated Press examined an Environmental Protection Agency database on violations by water systems across the country, ranging from the tiniest up to major metropolitan areas. AP also surveyed states for their oversight of water systems. Here's a look at key findings from the AP report: Mobile home parks violate water rules more than cities and towns Nearly 70% of mobile home parks that run their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules over the past five years. That's well above the rate for cities (48%) and larger towns (57%), according to EPA data. The U.S. has some 50,000 water utilities, most serving small towns and rural areas. Many struggle to find expert staff and funding, and they violate clean water rules more often than the handful of large utilities that serve cities. But even among the hard-pressed small utilities, mobile home parks stand out. The AP analysis found that more than half these parks failed to perform a required test for at least one contaminant or failed to properly report the results, in the past five years. And they are far more likely to be repeat offenders of safe drinking water rules overall. Some mobile home parks go unmonitored The problems may go beyond what the figures show. Some parks don't appear in EPA's database at all and may go completely unregulated. For example, EPA officials were investigating high levels of cancer-causing arsenic in tap water at a Southern California mobile home park in 2021 when they realized there were several others in the area that weren't in their records, said Amy Miller, a former EPA head of enforcement in the region. Some were found to have high levels of arsenic that residents had been drinking for years. It's impossible to know how many under-the-radar parks there are. Most states aren't actively looking for them and say they don't find very many. There's another way that problems with mobile home park water can escape attention. Some mobile home parks get their water from an outside source — a nearby town, for example. That water can be safe when it reaches the park boundary but become contaminated if the park has substandard or poorly installed piping. The EPA doesn't generally track water once it's on private property, so those problems can go unseen. It may not be easy to escape bad waterBad water isn't always unsafe. Residents of mobile home parks in Michigan, Iowa and elsewhere reported taps that frequently ran dry or problems with discolored water that looked like coffee or tea, stained their laundry and made them fearful to open their mouths in the shower, for example. If residents are unhappy with management's response to such problems, it can be difficult to leave. That's because 'mobile' homes aren't all that mobile. Residents often own the home but rent the land they sit on, and it's difficult and expensive to move them. Esther Sullivan, a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado, calls residents 'halfway homeowners' because of this dynamic. She said they often put up with problems because of the difficulty in moving. Almost 17 million people in the U.S. live in mobile homes. What some states are doing Utah is the rare state that enforces safe drinking water standards even within parks that get their water from another provider, according to AP's survey of states. And Colorado passed a law in 2023 that requires testing the water in every mobile home park. It gives health officials the ability to go beyond federal law to address taste, color and smell that can make people afraid to drink their water, even when it's not a health risk. ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit
CBC
27-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Tenants of Halifax mobile home park set water meter precedent across Nova Scotia
People living in mobile home parks around Nova Scotia could be eligible for thousands of dollars in retroactive water bill payments following a "big win" in court for Halifax-area tenants. A Supreme Court of Nova Scotia decision this month upheld an earlier small claims court ruling that found billing tenants for water through water meters was always unreasonable, and awarded retroactive compensation to two residents who had been billed for years. The tenants, Eloise Graves and Nicole Herd of Woodbine Park in Beaver Bank, said it was a tough "David and Goliath power dynamic" to go up against their landlord. But both women said support from fellow tenants kept them going, and they're proud of the result setting a provincewide precedent. "This wasn't about money. This was about making it fair," said Graves, who will receive about $1,700 for the meter fee and retroactive bills since 2021. "It feels awesome. But on the other hand, we kind of [don't] believe it. It's kind of a weird feeling," said Herd, who will get about $2,511 for her bills dating to 2019. Since 2015, the Woodbine landlord charged residents to install meters on homes sold in the park, leading to a tiered system where some residents paid for water and some did not. The meters track how much water a household uses, and those customers are billed every few months. Utilities like water are usually included in lot fees for park residents in Nova Scotia. They are among the operating expenses that landlords can cite when they argue for rent increases. Landlords of mobile home parks, officially called land-lease communities, were directed by the provincial Residential Tenancies Program to stop installing water meters on homes in 2023. But the policy excluded tenants who already had meters. Graves and Herd were among the roughly 300 of Woodbine's 630 homeowners who had meters and continued to get water bills. Both women took their case to small claims court and won in September 2024. But landlord Westphal Court Ltd. appealed, bringing the matter before the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Westphal's lawyer argued the 2023 policy was legally binding and should exclude anyone with water meters from compensation. But in her June 9 decision, Justice Mona Lynch said both the small claims adjudicator and residential tenancies had found water metering an unreasonable rule. "It is not reasonable for that unreasonable rule to continue to apply to the respondents," Lynch said. Nora MacIntosh, a Nova Scotia Legal Aid lawyer, represented Graves and Herd at small claims court. "We don't often get big wins for tenants. So yeah, this is a big win," MacIntosh said. "It provides economic justice to the tenants of land-lease communities, and it deters exploitative practices by landlords." It's unclear how many people could benefit from the decision, but MacIntosh said it is likely hundreds if not thousands of tenants in the province. Service Nova Scotia could not tell CBC News how many land-lease communities are operating in Nova Scotia or how many are using water meters. There are about 30 of these communities with nearly 4,000 homes in the Halifax municipality alone. Westphal Court Ltd. owns six parks, including Woodbine, with a total of about 1,600 homes. Susan McKeage, a spokesperson for Service Nova Scotia, said Lynch's ruling was a "positive decision" for the Woodbine tenants, and the water meter policy has now been revised to include tenants with existing meters on their homes. McKeage said eligible tenants can contact the Residential Tenancies Program to file for their individual compensation. Woodbine tenant Erin McInnis was one of 91 mobile park residents who filed with Service Nova Scotia last year looking for that compensation. Most of those cases have been on hold pending the result of the Supreme Court case. McInnis has had a water meter since 2017 when she moved in, and estimates she might be eligible for about $5,000 in water bills. "It's pretty exciting. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that money back," McInnis said. "Who doesn't need $5,000 in this economy?" But because the residential tenancy process can take so long, especially with potentially hundreds of people filing claims, MacIntosh said landlords should proactively pay back any tenants they've been "improperly charging" for water services. It appears at least one landlord will take that approach. In a letter to tenants on Tuesday, Westphal Court president Heather Scott said they were immediately stopping their practice of charging for water and sewer services in "standalone amounts" in light of the Supreme Court decision. Residents with water meters looking for compensation can send a request in writing to Westphal directly, Scott said, and "we are prepared to work with you to resolve such a claim." They will also work with anyone who has already filed a claim with residential tenancies, Scott said. "We trust that this process will prove to be preferable to all parties as compared to adjudication," Scott said. McInnis is also secretary of the Woodbine Community Non-Profit Society, which has been raising concerns about water meters and other issues in Nova Scotia parks for the past few years. She echoed Graves and Herd's comments that having tenants talk to each other and take action in larger groups has been key to making progress. "When it's just one or two people, that's how things fall between the cracks. But when we come together, we're a force," McInnis said. McInnis said they recently launched the Land Lease Residents of Nova Scotia Non Profit Society that will have a provincewide view on larger issues, with Woodbine and other parks forming subcommittees. She said they have heard from land-lease tenants across Nova Scotia who have said water meters are being used in "lots of places" around the province.
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Mobile Home Parks And Parking Garages: Rethinking 'Boring' Investments
Brian Spear, Managing Principal & cofounder of Sunrise Capital Investors, a real estate investment company catering to accredited investors. getty Why do asset classes that seem "boring" make some of the best investments? First, they're often the safest—and no matter how fun or adventurous you may be personally, you likely don't want to be so adventurous with your money. Many investors are looking for an opportunity that's secure and stable, and "boring" investments often provide the most predictability, steadiest cashflow and even reasonable long-term growth. At my company, we pride ourselves on investing in mobile home parks (MHPs) and parking garages—assets often overlooked because they seem "boring." To us, boring is beautiful. Let me break down why and what investors should consider about these types of investments. The markets for MHPs and parking garages are fragmented, with ownership generally spread across many small operators rather than concentrated among a few dominant players. This fragmentation creates opportunities for investors, especially in the form of off-market deals. Off-market deals allow buyers to negotiate directly with property owners, sometimes securing assets well below market value. These transactions create what we call a margin of safety, enabling the buyer to "make money on the buy." Both MHPs and parking garages are generally backed by strong demand. People will always need affordable housing and parking—these are basic needs that do not fluctuate widely with market cycles. In the case of mobile home parks, demand is also likely to continue to rise due to the affordability crisis in housing. Similarly, the parking garage market size has experienced steady growth in recent years. According to The Business Research Company, part of this growth is attributable to a shortage of parking spaces in densely populated urban areas. I believe this lower supply only strengthens the fundamental demand drivers of existing assets. In short, the combination of shrinking supply and steady or increasing demand suggests continued strong supply-demand dynamics. One of the greatest advantages I see of MHPs and parking garages is their straightforward business model. These assets operate on a simple premise: People pay for a place to park or live. In our property management company, we streamline operations by managing our mobile home parks as though they were parking garages since, in fact, residents are renting a patch of ground to park their homes on. This simplicity makes ground-rent-based revenue streams easy to understand and manage. MHPs and parking garages also illustrate a solid investment strategy: that of cashflow-covered land plays. A covered land play is an approach where investors purchase income-generating properties with the potential for long-term redevelopment. While the property produces steady cash flow in the short term, its underlying land value appreciates over time. This strategy allows investors to enjoy consistent income while positioning themselves for future sale and/or development of the land for a different use. Think of an urban parking garage being converted to a multifamily development once population demand makes the economics of the land acquisition feasible for a developer. In my experience, owners often hold MHPs and parking garages long-term, as they tend to offer stability, predictable cash flow and growth over time. A long-term perspective means investors can potentially benefit from steady income streams and increasing land values. As they say about land, "They're not making any more of it." Land in growth areas remains an attractive asset in itself, regardless of economic changes. By holding these covered land investments for 10 years or more, investors can ride out short-term market cycles and sell when the time is right, thus unlocking significant wealth-building potential. Even though "boring" investments tend to be more stable than other investments, there are still risks to consider. For starters, many MHPs are decades old, meaning that utility infrastructure may be outdated or worn down, so repairs may be costly. Additionally, MHPs tend to have a negative stigma that can make investing difficult. Though strides have been made toward creating a more positive association, this stigma still exists—this can influence the demand for MHPs. In the case of parking garages, if you're just getting started, you may find it difficult to gather the most attractive financing options available in the marketplace. Since parking garages are a niche asset class, there are fewer lenders in the marketplace that understand its nuances (compared to multifamily, for example). Moreover, with the increase in ride-hailing services such as Uber or Lyft, some have suggested the possibility of a decline in car ownership. If car ownership significantly declines, commercial parking may not be the most attractive investment option. Even with these risks in mind, with the right operator, I believe the potential benefits of investing in mobile home parks and parking garages remain strong. These asset classes offer unique opportunities for strong cash flow and operational upside—especially for investors willing to dig deeper, operate smartly and play the long game. One piece of advice I would give investors is that location is everything in real estate—it can influence demand, rental income potential and property value. So, before committing to an investment, it's essential to examine the area the property is located in. For example, you might consider investments located in close proximity to urban amenities such as shopping centers, parks, hospitals or schools, as these amenities can foster population growth. Furthermore, local market conditions can impact investments. Job opportunities, population trends and unemployment rates can all affect an investment's performance, so it's wise to research local economic trends when considering an investment. "Boring" investments like mobile home parks and parking garages may not capture headlines, but they have delivered where it matters most for us. By adding these types of assets to your portfolio and following the advice outlined above, you can diversify your holdings and work toward protecting against recession risks. These investments embody the timeless truth that wealth is typically built steadily, not suddenly, and I believe this makes them a solid choice worth considering for investors. The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
