Manufactured Quality of Life: Planning for Equity, Environment and Community in a Rural Mobile Home Park
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Abstract
Over 20 million Americans reside in a mobile home park. The homes are hardly mobile and calling them a park is an exaggerated compliment. The automobile industry birthed the trailer that is now used as a permanent home. After the industrial revolution and World War II, reaching suburbia quickly became an American dream. Manufacturers took advantage of this movement by rapidly producing homes that have resulted in the permanent communities of today. Banks view mobile homes as personal property, which depreciates at the same rate as an automobile. Since a mobile home is not valued as real property, it makes it more challenging to obtain financial equity. These neighborhoods lack in programming and maintenance, keeping this lower income population within the cycle of poverty. However, mobile homes still provide housing to over 20 million Americans which is why certain aspects of this built environment need to be preserved. This type of housing mends the gap between needing government assisted housing and financially obtaining real property in the form of a home. This thesis will show how we can measure the quality of mobile home communities to promote sustainable and equitable justice.