Moving Out: Mapping Mobile Home Park Closures to Analyze Spatial Patterns of Low–Income Residential Displacement

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Harris County ◽  
Mobile Home ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Mobile Homes

Mobile homes provide the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the United States. However, in mobile home parks residents live at risk of eviction because they rent the land on which their homes are located. This study formulates a methodology to examine the residential turnover and displacement that result from the closure of these parks. I investigate the spatial distribution of closing mobile home parks through ArcGIS modeling of land–use data for all 1.2 million parcels in the case study region of Houston/Harris County, Texas, from 2002 to 2011. Findings demonstrate that the spatial distribution of closing mobile home parks is clustered along Houston's expanding city limit in areas where affordable housing development is taking place. Beyond providing spatial documentation of the process through which this important source of affordable housing is lost, this study highlights how low–income housing pressures and urban redevelopment intersect to shape affordable housing in contemporary metropolitan areas.

scholarly journals “Trailer Trash” Stigma and Belonging in Florida Mobile Home Parks

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarethe Kusenbach
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mobile Home ◽  
Central Florida ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Mobile Homes ◽  
Community Belonging

<p>In the United States, residents of mobile homes and mobile home communities are faced with cultural stigmatization regarding their places of living. While common, the “trailer trash” stigma, an example of both housing and neighborhood/territorial stigma, has been understudied in contemporary research. Through a range of discursive strategies, many subgroups within this larger population manage to successfully distance themselves from the stigma and thereby render it inconsequential (Kusenbach, 2009). But what about those residents—typically white, poor, and occasionally lacking in stability—who do not have the necessary resources to accomplish this? This article examines three typical responses by low-income mobile home residents—here called resisting, downplaying, and perpetuating—leading to different outcomes regarding residents’ sense of community belonging. The article is based on the analysis of over 150 qualitative interviews with mobile home park residents conducted in West Central Florida between 2005 and 2010.</p>

Displaced in Place

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mobile Home ◽  
Manufactured Housing ◽  
Forced Relocation ◽  
State Programs ◽  
A Site ◽  
Comparative Ethnography

This article examines housing insecurity within manufactured housing—the single largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the United States, home to about 18 million low-income residents. A large portion of manufactured housing is installed in mobile home parks, which can legally close at any time, displacing entire communities. Based on two years living within and being evicted from closing mobile home parks in two states, this comparative ethnography of mass eviction juxtaposes sites of distinctive state practices for managing the forced relocation of park residents. I analyze the experience of eviction in Florida, a site of explicit intervention and “model” legislation for mobile home park closures, in light of the experience in Texas, where the state has adopted a hands-off approach. I describe the paradoxical effects of Florida’s protective, yet market-oriented, state housing interventions, which produced both a cottage industry of mobile home relocation services and a more protracted, pernicious eviction for displaced residents. I outline the specific mechanisms through which this paradox of state intervention occurred and consider the implications not only for mobile home parks but also for a variety of other state programs that are currently being delivered through an adaptive reliance on the private sector.

scholarly journals The Rebuilding of the South Bronx after the Fiscal Crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 932-959
Author(s):  
Themis Chronopoulos
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
City Government ◽  
The South ◽  
South Bronx ◽  
Public Subsidies ◽  
The One

This article explores the rebuilding of the South Bronx since 1977. This rebuilding represents an important public policy accomplishment, since the South Bronx was one of the most physically devastated areas in the United States. In terms of economic policy, the rebuilding of the South Bronx defies linear narratives. One the one hand, public–private partnerships, which represent some of the most important features of urban neoliberalism, were used heavily in the revitalization of the South Bronx. Community organizations that had been rebuilding areas in the South Bronx in the 1970s and the 1980s were required to conform to the requirements of the market, if they were to continue participating in urban development. On the other hand, the building of housing for low- and moderate-income people is not exactly a neoliberal economic policy, since these housing units were built with public subsidies and regulated by government agencies. In its insistence to rebuild the South Bronx as well as other physically devastated areas, the city government of New York became involved in creative financing by incorporating nongovernment organizations that were ran by accomplished businesspeople but remained nonprofit. And whatever the original intentions of city administrations in building and preserving affordable housing in the South Bronx may have been, the accommodation of so many low-income people performing low-paying but essential jobs has contributed to the making of a more vibrant urban economy, even if these same people are not necessarily the ones benefitting from New York’s economic dynamism.

Halfway Homeowners: Eviction and Forced Relocation in a Florida Manufactured Home Park

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (02) ◽  
pp. 474-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Mobile Home ◽  
Private Lands ◽  
Manufactured Housing ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Forced Relocation ◽  
The Stability

The last four decades of US housing policy have seen a shift from the federal allocation of affordable housing as a public good to the neoliberal model of private and for‐profit provision of affordable housing. This shift warrants a study of the link between the interests that now shape low‐income housing markets and the stability of the housing they provide. Nowhere are the effects of this shift more evident than in the homes of the 20 million Americans living in manufactured housing, which is installed largely on the private lands of for‐profit developers who can close mobile home parks and force residents to move themselves and their homes with as little as 30 days' notice. This ethnography of mass eviction in a Florida mobile home park examines state regulations intended to protect residents of closing parks and analyzes how private interests shape the implementation of these policies.

scholarly journals Finescale Assessment of Mobile Home Tornado Vulnerability in the Central and Southeast United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 797-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Strader ◽  
Walker S. Ashley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mobile Home ◽  
Socioeconomic Vulnerability ◽  
Mobile Homes ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Disaster Potential ◽  
Social Vulnerabilities

Abstract Research has illustrated that tornado disaster potential and impact severity are controlled by hazard risk and underlying physical and social vulnerabilities. Previous vulnerability studies have suggested that an important driver of disaster consequence is the type of housing affected by tornadic winds. This study employs a Monte Carlo tornado simulation tool; mobile home location information derived from finescale, land-parcel data; and census enumerations of socioeconomic vulnerability factors to assess the tornado impact probability for one of the most wind hazard–susceptible demographics in the United States: mobile home residents. Comparative analyses between Alabama and Kansas are employed to highlight regional (i.e., Southeast vs Great Plains) differences in mobile home tornado risk, exposure, and vulnerability. Tornado impact potential on mobile homes is 4.5 times (350%) greater in Alabama than in Kansas because Alabama, in comparison to Kansas, is represented by 1) a greater number of mobile homes and 2) a more sprawling mobile home distribution. Findings reveal that the Southeast’s mobile home residents are one of the most socioeconomically and demographically marginalized populations in the United States and are more susceptible to tornado impact and death than illustrated in prior research. Policy makers, engineers, and members of integrated warning teams (i.e., National Weather Service, media, emergency managers, and first responders) should use these findings to initiate a dialogue and construct interdisciplinary actions aimed at improving societal and individual resilience before, during, and after hazardous weather events.

The Cost of Low-Hanging Fruit?

2020 ◽  
pp. 132-153
Author(s):  
Emily Becker ◽  
Nathan McClintock
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Nonprofit Organization ◽  
Internal Structures ◽  
Income Neighborhood ◽  
The Cost

Through a case study of a community orchard in an affordable housing neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, we examine how the involvement of an outside nonprofit organization can transform the very notion—and composition—of community. We illustrate how the internal structures and day-to-day practices of a nonprofit privileged participation by more affluent individuals from outside the neighborhood, and ultimately subsumed a grassroots initiative, transforming it in ways that reinforced dominant power relations and created a whiter space within a diverse, low-income neighborhood. We conclude by drawing attention to the growing reflexive awareness of these issues by staff, and to their subsequent commitment to making programmatic changes that have mitigated the momentum generated by nonprofits’ funding requirements and the energy of eager outside volunteers.

Millennial ‘YIMBYs’ and boomer ‘NIMBYs’: Generational views on housing affordability in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 003802612091612
Author(s):  
Max Holleran
Keyword(s):  
Baby Boomers ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Market Rate ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Housing Costs

This article examines housing activism in five American cities using interviews with millennial-age housing activists, seeking more apartment development, and baby boomers who are members of neighbourhood groups that oppose growth. Many of the groups supporting growth have banded together under the banner of the ‘Yes in My Backyard’ (YIMBY) movement which seeks fewer zoning laws and pushes for market-rate rental housing. In desirable cities with thriving job opportunities, housing costs are pricing out not only low-income renters but also the middle class. The millennial activists sampled blame baby boomers for the lack of affordable housing because of resistance to higher density construction in neighbourhoods with single-family homes (characterising these people as having a ‘Not in My Backyard’ [NIMBY] mindset). The research shows that boomers and millennials not only disagree over urban growth but also more fundamental questions of what makes a liveable city.

Green gentrification or ‘just green enough’: Do park location, size and function affect whether a place gentrifies or not?

Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 402-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Rigolon ◽  
Jeremy Németh
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Housing Price ◽  
The United States ◽  
Active Transportation ◽  
Census Tracts ◽  
Price Increases ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
And Function ◽  
Park Location

Recent research shows that the establishment of new parks in historically disinvested neighbourhoods can result in housing price increases and the displacement of low-income people of colour. Some suggest that a ‘just green enough’ approach, in particular its call for the creation of small parks and nearby affordable housing, can reduce the chances of this phenomenon some call ‘green gentrification’. Yet, no study has tested these claims empirically across a sample of diverse cities. Focusing on 10 cities in the United States, we run multilevel logistic regressions to uncover whether the location (distance from downtown), size and function (active transportation) of new parks built in the 2000–2008 and 2008–2015 periods predict whether the census tracts around them gentrified. We find that park function and location are strong predictors of gentrification, whereas park size is not. In particular, new greenway parks with an active transportation component built in the 2008–2015 period triggered gentrification more than other park types, and new parks located closer to downtown tend to foster gentrification more than parks on a city’s outskirts. These findings call into question the ‘just green enough’ claim that small parks foster green gentrification less than larger parks do.

Public Housing and Vouchers

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Housing Subsidy ◽  
Housing Program ◽  
Design Evolution ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Privately Owned ◽  
Low Income Households

Public housing and rental vouchers constitute two distinct forms of housing subsidy in the United States. Public housing, the nation’s oldest housing program for low-income renters provides affordable housing to about 1.2 million households in developments ranging in size from a single unit to multibuilding complexes with hundreds of apartments. The Housing Choice Voucher Program, founded more than 35 years after the start of public housing is now the nation’s largest rental subsidy program. It enables around 2 million low-income households to rent privately owned housing anywhere in the country. Although both programs provide low-income households with “deep” subsidies that ensure they spend no more than 30 percent of their adjusted income on rent, and both are operated by local public housing authorities, they offer distinct advantages and disadvantages. This chapter reviews and compares the two programs, examining their design, evolution, and strengths and weaknesses, including issues of racial segregation and concentrated poverty.

scholarly journals Affordable Housing For Low-Income Masses: A Case Study of A Densely Populated Area in Lagos Metropolis

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Oluranti Olupolola Ajayi ◽  
Olajide Julius Faremi ◽  
Simeon Dele Roger ◽  
Antony Uwaje
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Populated Area
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