Ep 46: Manufactured Housing (aka Mobile Homes) with Esther Sullivan

Manufactured housing is the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the U.S., and one of the only ways that low-income households are able to access homeownership. Due to a mix of public policies and social stigma, these homes are often found in manufactured housing communities, colloquially known as mobile home parks or trailer parks — and in recent years, these communities have increasingly been under threat by predatory investors or by closures, whether for redevelopment or otherwise. Esther Sullivan joins us to discuss her ethnographic research on the closure of mobile home communities in Florida and Texas and how residents experience eviction in both states. She finds that while Florida offers more protections and financial support to mobile home owners compared to Texas, Florida residents are not necessarily better off. Her work highlights the potential downsides to public policies that operate through the private sector, and the need to center the recipients of public services in policy-making and program design.

Show notes:

• Sullivan, E. (2017). Displaced in Place: Manufactured housing, mass eviction, and the paradox of state intervention. American Sociological Review, 82(2), 243-269.
• Sullivan, E. (2018). Manufactured Insecurity: Mobile home parks and Americans’ tenuous right to place. Univ of California Press.
• Schmitz Jr, J. A., Teixeira, A., & Wright, M. L. (2018). How HUD and NAHB Created the US Housing Crisis. Presentation to a Conference to Celebrate Edward C. Prescott.
• Pendall, R., Puentes, R., & Martin, J. (2006). From traditional to reformed: A review of the land use regulations in the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. Brookings Institution.
• UCLA Housing Voice Podcast episode 43 on the origins of redlining with Todd Michney.