County to Consider Mobile Home Initiative

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Trailer parks are the brunt of many a joke, but mobile homes - or manufactured homes as they are now called - are a vital part of Utah's housing mix. That's according to low-income housing advocate Tim Funk:

"This is true low income housing," says Funk. "On average a manufactured home can be sometimes a third of what it costs to live in a stick-built home."

Funk says about five percent of Utahns live in mobile homes. A new initiative led by the Salt Lake County Housing Authority and a coalition of nonprofits hopes to improve the plight of those trailer-dwellers. Funk says it will give mobile park residents like those at the Meadows and White Manor more recourse and legal representation when developers move in to seize the land. The initiative will also try to buy mobile home parks around the state to be run by the residents as co-ops and ensure a place for their trailers in perpetuity.

The Salt Lake County Council will consider backing the initiative during their regular meeting today.

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