It's a decision she now questions because any other housing option is so expensive. Ms. NEWQUIST: I just feel like crying. There's nothing out there, you know, and I start thinking maybe I should've just kept it. Got into a park and hoped for the best, you now, that someone else wouldn't knock on your door and say, okay, we want to build, so you get to move. JENKINS: Newquist is far from alone. Across the country developers are gobbling up mobile home parks, evicting the residents and building homes, condominiums or businesses in their place. While there's no hard national data, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence in states like Florida, Maryland and Nevada.
In Washington State alone, 18 parks were closed this year, displacing more than 800 families. David Toyer is with Barclays North, a Seattle area development company that bought a mobile home park last year. He says urban growth and the hot real estate market are driving the trend. Mr. DAVID TOYER (Barclays North): Many of the parks in this area are now starting to be galvanized steel coil by, you know, compact urban growth. So, the focus to find land that's re-developable is such that these are now kind of looked at as being very financially feasible for redevelopment.
Dickens says despite negative stereotypes, this form of home ownership is worth preserving. Ms. DICKENS: They're gated communities for low-income households. You know your neighbors, folks look out for you, they'll walk you dog if you break your hip, they'll get your mail for you if you're sick and can't go to the mailboxes. JENKINS: This opportunity for developers is a crisis for park residents says Ishbel Dickens, a Seattle attorney, who represents low-income homeowners.
Ms. ISHBEL DICKENS: Mobile home park living is the largest source of unsubsidized housing for low-income seniors, people on fixed incomes. When these people are no longer living in their own home in a mobile home park, they become part of the large group of people that need government support to live. JENKINS: Dickens has teamed with affordable housing advocates in Oregon, Iowa and Minnesota. Together they're part of a burgeoning preservation movement that aims to keep mobile home parks open.
In Washington State alone, 18 parks were closed this year, displacing more than 800 families. David Toyer is with Barclays North, a Seattle area development company that bought a mobile home park last year. He says urban growth and the hot real estate market are driving the trend. Mr. DAVID TOYER (Barclays North): Many of the parks in this area are now starting to be galvanized steel coil by, you know, compact urban growth. So, the focus to find land that's re-developable is such that these are now kind of looked at as being very financially feasible for redevelopment.
Dickens says despite negative stereotypes, this form of home ownership is worth preserving. Ms. DICKENS: They're gated communities for low-income households. You know your neighbors, folks look out for you, they'll walk you dog if you break your hip, they'll get your mail for you if you're sick and can't go to the mailboxes. JENKINS: This opportunity for developers is a crisis for park residents says Ishbel Dickens, a Seattle attorney, who represents low-income homeowners.
Ms. ISHBEL DICKENS: Mobile home park living is the largest source of unsubsidized housing for low-income seniors, people on fixed incomes. When these people are no longer living in their own home in a mobile home park, they become part of the large group of people that need government support to live. JENKINS: Dickens has teamed with affordable housing advocates in Oregon, Iowa and Minnesota. Together they're part of a burgeoning preservation movement that aims to keep mobile home parks open.