America’s Last Affordable Housing Is Under Threat

America’s Last Affordable Housing Is Under Threat

Across the US, corporate buyers are purchasing mobile home parks and driving up rents for those on the brink of being homeless. VICE News went to Fresno, California, where one such company is attempting to buy a park called Trails End, and residents fear the worst.

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50 Responses

  1. Austin Russell says:

    As someone who grew up in a southern California trailer park, this hurts. The people in my community were some of the most hard-working, giving and respectable humans I’ve ever met. Everyone deserves housing, these people deserve better.

    • Aaron Brown says:

      You have to live at a standard that is safe and healthy. Basic human rights begin with basic human responsibilities. This is what life is like at the bottom. Ownership has to increase rents because taxes are going higher. Drugs. Trash. Obesity. That’s a different problem.

    • Random Stuff with No Fluff says:

      @Kuri Starks Your exactly right, he should’ve been nicer, even though he knew he was gonna get some lip service.

    • Kuri Starks says:

      @Random Stuff with No Fluff I’m with you on the rules. The woman was rude but I wouldn’t exactly expect her to be nice given the other guys approach. Right when he saw her, he immediately told her the dog should be on a leash. He could have said, good morning, how are you doing? It’s obvious he’s a boss and an authoritative figure. No need to walk down the middle of the road with a posse flaunting… Everything about his body language was aggressive and when you have aggressive body language you can expect friction.

    • Treebeard The Ent says:

      @46nstilldancing If the residents were treated with respect, which also means no greedy huge rent increases, then they would not push back against a gradual enforcement of reasonable rules.

      Also in a community there needs to be room for compromise, not “my way or the highway”. Yes, generally dogs should be on leashes, especially dogs of certain breeds and sizes, but most people and young children (especially important) are typically not bothered by old slow, not big dogs.

    • 46nstilldancing says:

      True. I grew up around poor people who are the salt of the earth. The man telling the woman to put the dog on the leash has an attitude that is pervasive with people who have never experienced this type of poverty. He said “who does she think she is talking to” and that what she did was effectively an eff you loll ahhh the melodrama!

  2. Chris says:

    Life is so short. But we have people worried about the basic needs everyday until their life is over. I couldn’t imagine the pain these people feel on a daily basis.

    • SendThis says:

      @Chad Neu
      Ummm,…I never mentioned how hard anyone has to work…at all.
      Cute straw man argument tho.

      Control your audacity, princess.

    • Chad Neu says:

      @SendThis this is peak boomer rational. “I WORKED HARD SO THE NEXT PERSON SHOULD WORK 2X AS HARD!!” We progress as a society so that people dont have to live in tents. Your privilege is disgusting.

    • Bo McGillacutty says:

      They are accustomed to it.

  3. Madeline Dixon says:

    This happened to me, my lot fee was $110. By the time I had my trailer paid off, the property was bought by a realestate company and increased the lot fee to $240. I asked people that lived there for over thirty years and they said the owner Mike only increased the lot fee once from $75 to $110 in 30 years. Just like that $130 a month more. Most of my neighbors live on SSI or disability, so they are literally just not eating and driving as much as they were before, they didnt get higher checks.

  4. Snoozerpoo says:

    I live in a small town in Nebraska; they did something worse here. There was one small mobile home park that some people had lived in for 20 years and had no other choices in the town. The city changed the law, made the park illegal and just kicked everyone out and removed all the trailers. They have not done anything with the land to provide more housing, and many people were instantly homeless. Because trailers are not popular with cities.

  5. Magnulus76 says:

    They are doing this with apartments also, they are taking advantage of people having no choices in affordable housing.

    • Davi Beatz says:

      everyone scrambing to find solutions house of cards collapsing nothing we can do

    • Youngtrapnyssa says:

      Absolutely true. Paying high prices for shitty apartments with little to no “management”. I’ve also been a caregiver for years and it’s sick what they’re doing to “senior living” apartment complex’s. They just keep tacking on the fees & rent knowing these poor old people have no way of keeping up with it.

    • BB says:

      Priced us out of several spots in tn.

    • A B. says:

      @Pastor Yoda craziness

    • Patrick says:

      @John Morris You cannot demand the unaffordable though. they are just fucking over people’s lives for SHORT TERM share holders / flips

  6. Bradley Johnson says:

    Gentrification is something that is completely out of the hands of the people it kicks out and moves along to even harder conditions. There is no voice for for the people that need it. Great topic. Great reporting.

    • A S says:

      They do it on purpose

    • Sab S says:

      Gentrification is good because home prices increase all the time and you pay the market price or move elsewhere where the cost of living matches your income.

    • Lifetime Expat says:

      But the other end of gentrification is that it pits poor people against slightly less poor people who have also been priced out from wherever they were before (otherwise they would not be here) and now they are portrayed as not deserving sympathy gentrifies. It is an inevitable consequence of housing unaffordablilty. But corporate landlords will always operate differently from a small landlord with 2 units as his/her retirement plan. Corporate landlord must increase profit quarter after quarter because that’s the metric they are evaluated on. Just making some profit and covering cost is not enough comes earnings call. It is not just personal greed, it is a capitalist model that demands it. Now, customers or employees of the companies are never prioritized to the extent shareholders are.

    • zxth says:

      And I hate how people say “this is good because wages will go up” BUT IT DOSENT because they love taking advantage of workers who is trying to get a meal at 13$ a hour

  7. Lambda Lambda Lambda says:

    I live in a home in a trailer park. When I bought it the monthly fee was $575. Every year they send a new contract from their lawyer terminating my lease agreement and raise the fee by $25 a month. I’m up to $725 a month now. If I would’ve known I would’ve definitely purchased a trailer.

  8. Enugu Man says:

    This reminds me of my home country, Nigeria. Rich people take everything including poor people’s homes , while poor people take nothing. This is the wicked world we live in .

    • Jon Winder says:

      It amazes me that no one wants to live in nigeria that has lived there and rather live here, damn it sounds like a country id wouldnt even want to visit if its really that bad over there, the 419 i think ruined reputation

    • zxth says:

      Yea it’s happening to Puerto Rico they are taking advantage of poor people and buying land because taxes are cheap there

    • brio palumpus says:

      @John Morris apparently its is possible to rent for 2 usd in nigeria

    • Susan Keith says:

      @Juan Hernandez Maybe you should try intelligence.

  9. Emily Mikula says:

    Just before finally getting approved for the house I have now, I applied for a 2b1bath house that cost $850 a month in the middle of a drug filled ghetto. Steady employment, no eviction history, and good renting history.

    I got denied based on a credit score that dipped low because I had to take out a loan just to be able to apply. This is the housing market. It is so broken

    • KMR says:

      Me and my sister pay $2,160 rent in total per month on a 2 bedroom house. It is a struggle, but we manage to pay it without getting ourselves into arrears. Everything is so expensive these days.

    • BRETT CRAWFORD says:

      The illegal immigrants with nothing will likely find it extremely difficult. Will not likely help other people experiencing problems.

    • Emily Mikula says:

      @T -DUB I know! There were maybe 4 listings altogether that fit my commute to work and where my kids dad lives radius that were under $1000 a month. I feel really lucky that I did end up finding a 2b2ba eventually

    • T -DUB says:

      850$ a month? That’s a steal to die for

    • TheOneThatWon says:

      you will own nothing and you will be happy. 😂😂😂 they’re quickly headed to be right about part of it

  10. Madeline Dixon says:

    This one made me cry Vice. These corporate real estate companies ARE evil. I know they offer a lot of money- but as neighbors we have to care for eachother- but DONT sell out to a corporation, sell to another individual.🙏 A lot more will be homeless soon if this doesn’t change soon. I DONT CARE if these rich people think we live in “Lord of the Flies”, thats literally called “the white mans burden” and its NOT THEIR BUSINESS!! Why does he feel he has to enforce rules?? That boomer climbed the ladder, and kicked it out from underneath himself.

    • Puff Sassy says:

      AND none of you are actually gonna do anything about it… sad.

    • arifq123 says:

      Well said.

    • Chad Neu says:

      people agree to follow rules, then dont follow the rules, and that’s somehow not their fault? Cmon. I feel pain for these folks in their situation but we need to stop coddling people who refuse to do the BASIC WORK to follow rules. If they can’t live up to basic codes for safety then I don’t have a problem with removing them. They’re creating dangerous situations and then complaining when the danger is resolved. Cmon.

    • Madhie-kun says:

      Thx for pointing out the obvious… Honestly the Soviets lived better than most of us with their super cheap housing

    • Sab S says:

      Bruh the law is still in effect in Fresno, it’s not the same as other cities, they haven’t done anything to the prices and can’t increase the rent.

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