Mayra Leyva and her husband knew they wanted to move into their own house one day.
However, her husband鈥檚 $30,000 annual income from his server job and Leyva鈥檚 inability to work because of her disability meant the couple could not qualify financially to buy one.
So, in 2018, they decided to buy a mobile home instead. The Leyvas purchased a $37,000 used mobile home and started renovating it 鈥� new windows and floors, new lighting, new bathroom and bedroom. By the time they finished, the house鈥檚 value increased to over $60,000, Leyva said.
鈥淚t was worth it,鈥� Leyva said. 鈥淲e really put our efforts into that house.鈥�
Eventually, they landed in Indian Creek, a mobile home park near the southeast Fort Worth neighborhood of Echo Heights. Last December, everything changed.
Leyva received a notice that the mobile park management company she was renting land from was not renewing her lease. She had two months to find $8,000 to move her house.
Unable to find another lot to move her house and the funds to do it, Leyva sold the house for $25,000. The sale was crushing to the couple, who fully paid off the mobile home in 2022.
鈥淛ust giving it away is killing me,鈥� she said, reflecting on the six years she owned her own place. 鈥淎t the beginning, it was very, very hard for me because when you put your savings 鈥� (and) you ask for loans to do things on your house 鈥� and your property is making you happy, but when somebody鈥檚 screaming, 鈥榞et out鈥� or 鈥榣eave all your stuff here and just get out,鈥� it鈥檚 sad.鈥�
Tarrant County had nearly 15,000 mobile home units in 2022, according to American Community Survey data. The appeal of mobile homes continues to rise, with Texans purchasing over 1,000 manufactured homes in February, according to the Texas Manufactured Housing Association. That鈥檚 an 8.7% increase from the same month in 2023.
For some, the purchase of a mobile home offers a low-cost alternative to homeownership. But in many cases, mobile homes lead to exploitation, said Hannah Lebovits, an assistant professor of public affairs and planning at the University of Texas at Arlington.
鈥淭hat specific space in the U.S. creates a lot of opportunities for manipulation and exploitation because we don鈥檛 really see that class of people as having power,鈥� Lebovits said. 鈥淚n fact, we see them as very disempowered and disadvantaged, and that creates opportunities to further marginalize them through systems of exploitation.鈥�
Both a tenant and a homeowner
Because people living in mobile homes are neither homeowners nor tenants, they can often end up being treated as both, Lebovits said. Blurred lines and unclear protections for mobile homeowners, who purchase the home but rent the land to place it within a mobile home park, leaves many of them vulnerable to mistreatment and being squeezed out of every dollar.
鈥淚t鈥檚 similar almost if we think about the dollar store model, to where we have these dollar stores popping up in communities that don鈥檛 have full grocery stores,鈥� Lebovits said. 鈥淎nd the theory is, well, it鈥檚 cheaper because it鈥檚 a dollar store, but actually, the per unit cost for most items at a dollar store is significantly higher than at regular grocery stores.鈥�
Manufactured homes vs. mobile homes
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development refers to factory-built homes as manufactured homes following the passage of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. The act established federal standards for the design and construction of manufactured homes to assure quality, durability, safety, and affordability. Before that, those homes were called mobile homes. The terms are still used interchangeably.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Despite their prominence in Texas, there is limited research on mobile homes and how policies affect residents. A found that Texas had the third-highest number of mobile home parks in the country with over 4,000. The state is outnumbered only by California and Florida.
Teresa Patterson has lived at Indian Creek for 24 years. When she first moved in, the monthly rent for the land alone was about $150. Most recently, her land rent was $700.
鈥淚 pay taxes like a regular owner on the house, I pay property taxes to Tarrant County on the house. I have all the responsibilities of an owner,鈥� Patterson said.
Earlier this year, Patterson was told she has until the end of July to find a new place for her mobile home.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not an eviction. It鈥檚 a nonrenewal. And, by law, they can do that, so they don鈥檛 have to have a reason. They just say, 鈥楽orry,鈥欌�� Patterson said. 鈥淎nd to be fair, they were generous with me on how much time they鈥檝e given me because they know I come with lawyers.鈥�
Indian Creek declined to comment when asked about its decision not to renew tenant leases and said tenants should refer back to their leases.
According to the Texas Manufactured Home Tenancies Act, landlords do not have to provide a reason for a lease nonrenewal. All that is required is a 60-day notice to the tenant.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 care at all about the people who live here. It鈥檚 all about the money,鈥� Patterson said.
Unlike brick-and-mortar homes, mobile homes do not accumulate value over time and create wealth for the owner. The owner is not building equity, Lebovits said. It鈥檚 the opposite.
鈥淭he second you purchase that home, you are diminishing the value of the home. The second you begin to live in the home, you鈥檙e diminishing the value of the home, which is, again, that economic exploitation,鈥� she said.
Mobile home parks on the edges
The majority of Fort Worth鈥檚 dozen mobile home parks are located on the edge of the city limits. prohibits mobile homes from being located within city limits unless they are in a designated mobile home park or subdivision zoned for this use.
That means that, even if mobile homeowners buy a vacant lot inside a city neighborhood, they cannot place their structure there unless the property is zoned for manufactured homes.
LaShondra Stringfellow, assistant director for the city鈥檚 development office, said a lot of mobile home developers and owners tend to congregate on the outskirts of the city because the land is cheaper there.
Other cities in the state, such as the , have also implemented zoning restrictions that prohibit mobile homes from being placed in single-family neighborhoods or on lots not designated for manufactured homes.
Living on the edge of city limits means these manufactured housing communities are often forgotten, Lebovits said. They鈥檙e not as deeply integrated into the city鈥檚 core and therefore their civic power and access to support services are limited.
鈥�(There are) a lot of conversations that have been had about gentrification in different areas of Fort Worth. And those conversations give power to civic power, at least to people who live in low-rent apartment buildings, but manufactured home communities typically aren鈥檛 in the same,鈥� Lebovits said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not in the same physical space and they don鈥檛 get the same legislative, civic, political attention, and that limits the advocacy power of tenants within those spaces.鈥�
Because there is so little property zoned for mobile homes, the choices for places to place one are limited. Patterson, who is seeking a new lot for her home, needs at least 1 acre. She also needs a lot that can be hooked up to sewers.
Based on estimates, she expects to spend $150,000 to keep, move and set up her house elsewhere.
Patterson considers herself lucky. She owns a second property which will help her offset some of those costs, along with some financial assistance from friends. Most people in the park don鈥檛 have those resources, she said.
鈥淚鈥檓 probably the only one in the last year that鈥檚 going to actually be able to save their house,鈥� Patterson said. 鈥淚鈥檓 the outlier, and it鈥檚 still going to be a nightmare.鈥�
A solution to affordable housing?
Despite the policy loopholes that affect mobile homeowners, some cities are exploring whether creating more manufactured housing can ease the affordable housing shortage. Manufactured home in places like Petersburg, Virginia, Hagerstown, Maryland and Jackson, Mississippi.
Empower Communities announced last year it鈥檚 developing a community in San Antonio. Similar projects are coming online in , and .
In late February, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a new to preserve and revitalize manufactured housing and manufactured housing communities.
Former HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge called manufactured homes 鈥渁 proven solution to America鈥檚 affordable housing supply crisis.鈥�
However, mobile homeowners like Patterson are not entirely convinced these programs will lead to long-term homeownership.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 happening is we鈥檙e now at a crux where low-income housing is more important than it鈥檚 ever been, and people are looking to mobile homes to fill that need,鈥� Patterson said. 鈥淎nd yet, they鈥檙e not actually getting housing. They鈥檙e now renting an apartment again after owning a house for years.鈥�
Lebovits said if cities want to invest in this model as a solution to the current housing crisis, there first must be major policy reform to reduce issues for tenants and mobile homeowners.
鈥淲e still need to be thinking about a sustainable housing model, and manufactured homes have not yet been proven to be that solution,鈥� Lebovits said. 鈥淲e might be able to get there, but right now, there are too many gaps that can create too many opportunities for economic exploitation and not enough opportunities for true economic growth and housing security.鈥�
Leyva and her husband are now in an apartment and paying rent that is triple what the couple was spending at the mobile home park.
鈥淚f I knew all this, I never would have bought a mobile home,鈥� Leyva said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 explain anything when you sign the contract. They don鈥檛 tell you the reality.鈥�
As Patterson prepares to move her mobile home to a new site, she continues to work on a book about her experiences living in a mobile home park for over two decades.
She plans to title it 鈥淭railer Trash.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how it was going to end,鈥� Patterson said. 鈥淏ut now I know how it ends.鈥�
Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org or .
This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
