Why are trailer parks disappearing?

The term “housing affordability crisis” is commonly used today.  It refers to the difficulty of homebuyers, particularly first time buyers, being able to purchase a standard “stick-built” home. A “stick-built” home is constructed on site, and the home buyer purchases the home as well as the land  on which the home was built.

There’s another type of homeownership that close to 10% of households use.  Here, a household buys a pre-constructed home, usually referred to as a trailer.  They locate their home in a community with other trailer owners often termed a “trailer park.”  The big difference is they typically don’t own the land under their trailer.  Instead, the trailer owner pays a periodic fee to the owner of the land. In summary, the household owns their dwelling but rents the land under the dwelling. 

This situation creates a potential problem for these households. Once the land rental contract has expired, there is no assurance the trailer owner can renew it.  If it is not renewed, the trailer owner must move.

This situation appears to be happening more frequently, including in North Carolina. Trailer park lands are being sold, forcing trailer owners to leave.  Unfortunately, some of the trailer owners may not have the funds to pay to move their trailers.  They may end up selling their trailer and trying to find another way of living.  While there is no official measure, there are estimates suggesting that up to a quarter of the almost 3000 trailer parks in North Carolina have been sold in recent months. 

What’s happening?   Two things have been happening.  First, North Carolina is rapidly growing.  Second, growth usually means land values rise. 

Let me be more specific.  Regarding the first point, anyone who has been in North Carolina for a significant period of time knows it is one of the most rapidly growing states in the country.  In the last decade, North Carolina ranked 6^th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia in population growth.  The State is also in the top rankings for business location. 

For the second point, more people and more businesses mean more land usage, and it often means more expensive use of the land. A parcel of land with a trailer park will yield relatively low revenues to the land owner compared to what the owner could derive from a high-end home subdivision or a shopping center. 

I’ve seen the closure of trailer parks in the Triangle area where I live. One park was located in one of the major cities and was very accessible to shopping and other city amenities.  It was no surprise – at least to me – that when the trailer leases expired, the owner was approached by developers. Over time, land uses will move toward the most profitable development.  I first saw this when my grandfather’s farm was sold for a housing subdivision.

Of course, the big losers are the owners of the trailers, who now must find new sites for their trailer homes or find new ways to live.

What are these options?  Assuming the owner can afford to move the trailer, one possibility is to choose a location away from the fast-growing cities, such as in rural or semi-rural regions. In fact, with land prices usually lower in more remote locations, some trailer owners may be able to purchase a plot of land for their trailer. Or, several trailer owners could possibly combine their resources to buy enough land for a new trailer park.  But, for those with limited financial resources this option is likely not practical.

  However, the downside of more remote locations is they are likely farther away from job centers, meaning trailer owners will be commuting longer distances. 

Another option for trailer owners is to sell the trailer and use traditional renting options, such as living in an apartment.  But this means giving up ownership of the trailer and the ”pride of ownership” that comes with owning.

If there are enough households in the community who are concerned about the challenges to trailer owners forced to leave trailer parks, those households could combine their resources and purchase new land for trailer parks.  The new trailer parks could be structured with long leases and protections for trailer renters.  For this option to be practical, the land would likely need to be outside of popular urban sites.

Last, the public sector,  meaning cities, counties, and even the State, could consider involvement with the issue of disappearing trailer parks.  Many governments are already considering the problem of housing affordability, and the lack of affordable land for trailer owners is certainly part of housing affordability.

Simply put, the public sector could consider buying land for use by trailer owners and thereby establishing new trailer parks.  The major difference is the land is owned by the public. Stipulations could be set prohibiting sale of the trailer park for other uses.  Of course, taxpayer money would be needed to fund the land purchases, and the involved governments would be foregoing significant property tax receipts if the land was used for more expensive projects.       

The recent decrease in the availability of land dedicated to trailer parks has created an additional component of the housing affordability issue.  Is there a way to address this issue to keep trailer ownership as an important part of affordable living?  You decide.

Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University.