An evaluation of state-level policies to improve housing security and protect mobile home communities.
Report Publish Date: June 1, 2024
This journal article examines how successful Colorado legislation meant to protect mobile home residents has been implemented and whether the new policies have made an impact on families’ lives.
Mobile homes are an important source of affordable housing for low-income households in the U.S. and those living below the poverty line, and they are “one of the few viable pathways to achieve the American dream of owning a home for many low-income families,” the authors write. But because most mobile-home owners don’t own the land their homes are on, they are vulnerable to exploitation, eviction, and poor conditions depending on the management practices of mobile home park owners. And mobile home parks have, historically, not been well regulated.
In 2019 and 2020, Colorado passed three policies that aimed to better regulate parks and protect residents. The policies aimed to create a statewide regulation system, prevent unfair evictions and lease terminations, put in place fair and equitable park rules, and make it easier for residents to buy the land on which their homes sit.
The researchers had two main questions:
The researchers understood that policies on paper don’t always translate immediately into better outcomes for people. They wanted to investigate the success of Colorado’s new policies by learning about the lived experiences of mobile home residents.
To study the policies’ efficacy, the researchers reviewed the policies, surveyed residents of 10 mobile home parks, conducted key informant interviews with staff of community-based organizations that support and advocate for Colorado mobile home park residents, and conducted 12 focus groups with mobile park residents. The researchers then used qualitative and quantitative analytic methods to describe and understand the data.
“The implementation barriers and challenges observed in our study offer real-world feedback that can be integrated in the current and future policy efforts to improve housing stability among mobile home park residents.”
—Morgan Clennin, Denise Hartsock, Olivia Goodman, Stacie Daugherty, Cheryl Kelly
The researchers emphasize that it takes time, awareness building, and trust to translate policies into practice. They recommend that legislators allocate resources for implementing and enforcing policies and for educating the public and communicating with them about policies meant to benefit them.
Background
Manufactured and mobile homes are the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the U.S. However, mobile home residents face unique challenges and are at greater risk of housing instability. State-level policies to enhance the regulation of mobile home parks and expand protections for residents are needed to address these challenges. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation process and impact of newly enacted mobile home park policies on the housing security of Colorado residents and to identify policy implementation hurdles and successes.
Study Design
Policy implementation evaluation using mixed methods.
Methods
Ten mobile home parks in three small-to-medium sized communities in Colorado were invited to participate in the evaluation conducted between 2020 and 2022. The mixed methods policy implementation evaluation included cross-sectional surveys of mobile home park residents (n = 356), qualitative interviews with community advisory groups (n = 24), and focus groups with community residents (n = 12). Data were triangulated to identify themes related to policy implementation successes and challenges.
Results
Evaluation findings elevate mobile home park residents' lived experiences and summarize challenges related to implementation of Colorado's mobile home park policies. A substantial lag in policy implementation was observed. Notably, the infrastructure necessary to implement and monitor adherence to the new policies had to be developed. Among mobile home park residents, fear of retaliation from property owners, park management, and oversight agencies remained a significant barrier to policy effectiveness despite the new protections offered by the state-level policies.
Conclusions
Translation of policies into practice takes time and resources. Recommendations to enhance policy implementation are to ensure adequate allocation of inputs and resources to support implementation across multiple levels, including the infrastructure essential to monitor and enforce policy adherence, and educational materials paired with a strong communication plan to improve residents’ awareness and capacity to navigate the new policies.
Public Health in Practice, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2024.100571, June 2025
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people.
