22MAmericans living in manufactured housing
5.6%Average annual land rent increase in manufactured home communities
72%Value loss when manufactured home must be moved
4,300Manufactured home communities acquired by private equity 2015–2024
A mobile home is a house you own, but the land under it belongs to someone else — you pay rent for that land every month. The problem is that if the landlord raises rent too high, you can't just pick up and move. Moving a mobile home usually destroys most of its value. So you're stuck paying whatever the landlord demands. And private equity companies are buying up these parks, knowing that residents have nowhere to go.
Manufactured homes (called "mobile homes" colloquially) are HUD-code housing built in factories. 22 million Americans — disproportionately elderly, rural, and low-income — live in them. In community parks, they own the home but rent the land. Average land rent: $750/month, rising 5.6%/year. Because moving costs $5,000-10,000 and typically reduces home value by 60-72%, residents have essentially zero bargaining power. Private equity (Blackstone, RHP Properties, SUN Communities) has consolidated ownership of 4,300+ communities in the last decade.
Manufactured Housing Institute 2024: 22M residents in 43,000 communities. CFPB Manufactured Housing Report (2021) documents predatory lending via chattel loans (homes treated as personal property, not real property) at rates 1-2% higher than real mortgages. Private equity acquisition data: FRED/CFPB tracking; Blackstone's Treehouse Communities portfolio alone covers 100+ parks. Rent increase data: NLIHC, Lincoln Institute, GFA Research. Community land trust model (ROC USA) — resident ownership — has produced stable rent environments: 0.5-1.5%/year. State protections vary wildly: Oregon has 90-day eviction notice + just-cause; most states have 30-day notice with no cause required.
CFPB Manufactured Housing Finance (2021): consumerfinance.gov/data-research/research-reports/manufactured-housing-finance. MHI industry data: manufacturedhousing.org. Private equity acquisition: GFA Research/NLIHC "Tracking Private Equity in Manufactured Housing" (2023). ROC USA (resident-owned communities): rocusa.org — 325 resident-owned parks, 21,500 homes. Lincoln Institute "Manufactured Housing as a Path to Homeownership" (2023). NLIHC Out of Reach 2024 for affordability analysis. State protection laws: Manufactured Housing Legal Resource Center: mhlegalcenter.org.
The Trap Mechanism — Own the Home, Not the Ground
The manufactured housing trap works because residents have sunk costs that make exit nearly impossible. Private equity exploits this structural lock-in.
Land Rent Growth vs Inflation vs Manufactured Home Owner Income
Land rent is growing 3× faster than incomes of manufactured home residents
Private Equity Acquisition of MH Communities (2010–2024)
Consolidation is accelerating — increasing landlord power over captive residents
Manufactured Home Value Destruction on Relocation
Moving a manufactured home destroys most of its value — trapping owners in place
The Resident Ownership Solution
ROC USA has helped 325 communities convert to resident ownership — where the residents collectively buy the land beneath their homes. In resident-owned communities, rent increases average just 1% per year and foreclosure rates are near zero. The model works. It just requires capital and political support that is slow in coming for 22 million Americans who are mostly invisible to policy makers.
Sources
CFPB Manufactured Housing Finance Report (2021) · Manufactured Housing Institute Industry Data (2024) · NLIHC / GFA Research Private Equity Tracking (2023) · Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (2023) · ROC USA Network Data · National Consumer Law Center "Manufactured Housing: Ongoing Concerns" (2022)