The short answer to that question, of course, is Yes. But the issue goes deeper than that.

Twenty-two million Americans live in manufactured home communities, a great many of which are here in Florida. Most of those, it seems, are privately-owned and use an HOA as the governing body. Fewer manufactured home communities—such as our Americana Cove—are owned by the residents and therefore far less open to eviction.

Those communities are known as manufactured housing resident-owned communities, or MHROCs. Freddie Mac has identified only about a thousand MHROCs nationwide. The Federal Finance Housing Agency has conducted studies that point to four key aspects of MHROCs:

1. MHROCs are one of the few sources of unsubsidized naturally occurring affordable housing in the country not subject to market-based rent increases
2. Out of the approximately 45,600 MHCs in the United States, we found that only 1,065, or 2.4%, are resident-owned, representing an estimated 0.09% of households in the country
3. More than three quarters of the resident-owned communities in the country are in three states: Florida, California and New Hampshire
4. Converting from an investor-owned community to a resident-owned manufactured housing community is difficult and often requires advanced planning, expert assistance and a favorable alignment of circumstances

Residents of manufactured home communities in Florida typically face eviction threats when community ownership changes and the new owner hikes lot rents. The vast majority of ownership changes occur in HOAs rather than MHROCs. In this state most evictions occur in the Jacksonville and Gainesville areas. (See map right.) In the months following an ownership change evictions tend to rise as much as 40 percent.

Florida statues offer residents in manufactured home communities a few protections, but not many. For instance the Florida Mobile Home Act provides for longer notice periods before an eviction and limits the number of reasons a resident can be forced out of their home. In practice, though, the act can fall short, especially in cases where ownership changes.

Florida offers a relocation assistance program, but access can be difficult, funding is limited, and whatever assistance is given rarely covers the full cost of moving a home.

MHROCs, however, tend to offer greater protections against evictions than HOAs. Here at Americana Cove residents have been evicted occasionally over the years for nonpayment, egregious behaviors, and other reasons. Our board, however, prefers to work with residents to find ways to solve issues, leaving eviction as a last resort.

Although evictions from the Cove or any other MHROC can and do occur, they seem to occur far less often in MHROCs than in HOA organizations. That’s one reason why many residents here in the Cove remain grateful for the residents back in the mid-1990s, when the community became self-owned and operated.