Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Oregon State University researchers expect that their study of life in three Sweet Home mobile home courts will help influence policy on mobile home parks from the local to national level.
The OSU study, led by Kate MacTavish, assistant professor of human development and sciences, and two graduate students, Devora Schaman and Megan Notter, is nearly complete; and they are hoping to bring a presentation on the report back to the Sweet Home community.
When the study is completely finished, it will be published in the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, said MacTavish, who earned a Ph.D. in rural and community studies by studying the “community effect of rural trailer parks on child and youth development.” The report will detail suggestions on how to shape public policy.
“We hope, of course, it doesn’t just happen at a local level,” MacTavish said. Combined with her other studies, she hopes it will have an impact at the state and national level.
The national publication and a report to the city of Sweet Home will include recommendations.
Recommendations will deal with park closures due to increasing property values, energy costs and financing for the homes.
“Our policies do really favor other kinds of housing,” she said.
Along with publications, she will provide policy briefs directly to lawmakers suggesting legislation. She also has been talking to media about what she has learned and sharing her results at policy forums and other meetings.
This study replicates research MacTavish has done in two other places. In each study, she has been trying to find out who is living in mobile home parks and how it’s working for them.
In the last couple of decades, mobile home parks have become the housing of choice for low-income families, she said. They’ve become one of the top real estate investments.
As part of the study, the study group rented a manufactured home in a park. The students and MacTavish rotated in and out of the home over the course of the study, from June to November.
“It was very interesting to bring my daughter, 3, there to live with me,” MacTavish said. “She made a lot of friends.”
The appeal of mobile home parks to low-income families is the opportunity it offers them to actually begin a cycle of home ownership, MacTavish. “In terms of housing, people really did feel this offered them a housing option that meets their desires.”
Mobile homes, or manufactured homes, are affordable and accessible, MacTavish said, and residents prefer them to apartments. On top of owning their own home, they like having their own four walls and the small yard that usually comes with them.
If the residents want to poke holes in the walls to hang pictures or paint, they can, she said. If they want a couple of cats, they can have them.
About half of park residents own their own home and rent only the lot, MacTavish said. The remainder rent, but in one Sweet Home park, the renters are able to count their rent toward buying their home.
Residents of parks in Sweet Home pay $135 to $525 per month for space rent, MacTavish said, noting that this is significantly more affordable than the $500 median apartment rent or $773 median mortgage payment in Sweet Home.
The researchers also found that for some people, who had some kind of crisis in their lives, the parks offered them a way to get back on their feet, MacTavish said. “For families in our study, finding affordable, stable housing in a small-town setting close to family was important.”
Park affordability may change as land values rise, MacTavish said. In other places, land has become too valuable for owners to hang on to parks. When the land gets too valuable, they sometimes sell their land for higher-end homes.
Park managers are key “in terms of helping to shape the quality of the trailer parks,” MacTavish said. With that in mind, Oregon is already considering requirements for park managers to receive training.
Although ratings varied a bit from park to park, the majority of local residents described their neighborhood as “somewhat” or “very desirable,” MacTavish said. “Many saw their neighborhood as having improved in the last five years, largely due to efforts of park management to improve park appearance, control stray animals and better manage drug and alcohol issues.
“While residents still worry about safety (speeding and theft), child supervision and stray cats, most say they would recommend their mobile home park to a friend.”
Parks in Sweet Home are a little different than elsewhere, MacTavish said. About 57 percent of households here are adult-only. Usually, about 60 percent of mobile homes are home to families with children. Parks generally have high turnover rates among residents.
In the Sweet Home study, the majority of the households that had children also had two adults living there, either couples or relatives. Two-thirds of the homes in the parks had at least one person working a job outside the home, MacTavish. Average earnings per home is about $2,300 per month.
“In many cases, people do need a little extra help, but not all,” MacTavish said. Most commonly, people taking public assistance used food stamps or the Oregon Health Plan.
While parks meet a variety of needs for people looking for affordable, stable housing in a small-town setting close to family, “several factors made living in a mobile home park challenging for families, especially with regard to raising children,” MacTavish said. “Transportation was an issue for many families. A lack of transportation meant missing out on the opportunities through the Boys and Girls Club available to other children in the community.
“Cost was another factor. Families spoke of not being able to afford activity fees, and many were unaware of scholarship opportunities.
“Stigmatization of park residents presented another concern. Some families spoke about feeling as if they were labeled as trailer trash by community residents. We noted misconceptions about park conditions among town residents, often based on a lack of accurate knowledge about the various parks.
“The majority of children living in the mobile home parks attend Foster Elementary,” MacTavish said. “While some families spoke of initially resenting their children being bused far from home, most parents were happy with the programs (after-school and one-on-one assistance) their children received at Foster.”