美国国家公共电台 NPR--Mobile home residents buy their park, protecting themselves from eviction

Mobile home residents buy their park, protecting themselves from eviction¹

Transcript²

Mobile home park residents often face eviction when parks are sold. Some states give residents first rights to buy them, and a nonprofit helps with financing. (Story aired on ATC on Dec. 12, 2022.)

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Private investors⁵ are buying up mobile home parks across the country, threatening to raise fees or close the parks altogether. From member station WBUR in Boston, Simon Rios takes us to a community near Cape⁶ Code where residents decided⁸ to fight back.

SIMON RIOS, BYLINE⁹: Bob Costa is like an unofficial mayor of Royal Crest¹⁰ Mobile Home Park in Wareham. On a recent afternoon, he walked through the park, saluting¹¹ everyone he saw with a big smile.

BOB COSTA: You behaving?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Yeah, always.

COSTA: (Laughter).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I'm too old to get in trouble.

RIOS: The park is like a small village, the kind of place where there are no fences and you know your neighbors. Costa moved here seven years ago after selling a five-bedroom house on Cape Cod⁷. It cut his monthly housing costs in half.

COSTA: I just turned 78 years old. And my wife and I found this place. We loved it. We loved the location. And our intent was to finish out our lives here.

RIOS: Then one day in March, the former cop got a disturbing letter. It said a firm in Arizona planned to buy the park for $12.1 million.

COSTA: Having that fear really was unsettling. I mean, some people said, well, don't be fearful. They can't force you to leave. Yes, they can.

RIOS: It's a concern facing park residents across the country as large investors take over from the mom-and-pop owners residents know. People who own mobile homes rent the land underneath¹², meaning what's often their most valuable asset - their home - is vulnerable to the whims¹³ of park owners.

MEGAN HAGGERTY: It's a fad³ right now. It's sexy real estate.

RIOS: That's Megan Haggerty, a New York real estate investor⁴ and broker¹⁴. She says the parks offer stability even during down economies.

HAGGERTY: The one sure thing is that there will still be a demand for affordable¹⁵ housing. I'm on the phone every day with family offices, investment firms who are looking to break into the industry.

RIOS: But residents say investors often raise rents, skimp¹⁶ on maintenance and even clear out parks for new development. Sandy Overlock heads the Manufactured Home Federation¹⁷ of Massachusetts.

SANDY OVERLOCK: Their whole thing is just for an investment to earn money. And once they've earned enough of what they want and they've paid their investors or if their investors want more, they try to sell them.

RIOS: But in Massachusetts and a handful of other states, there are laws that give residents the first shot at buying a park before it's sold. At Royal Crest, that meant the residents needed to come up with nearly $80,000 per household. It seemed impossible, but they knew they had to try. They discovered ROC USA, a national nonprofit that helps tenants¹⁸ buy their parks. The residents would also have to take on the extra work of managing a coop. And there was a local nonprofit called the Cooperative Development Institute to help with that. Nine in 10 residents approved the plan to purchase. And earlier this fall, they celebrated¹⁹ their closing.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: On behalf of the Royal Crest Association, we call this our official opening.

RIOS: The people of Royal Crest packed into their community center, hugging and helping²⁰ themselves to big platters of food.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: My question is, how does it feel to beat a billion-dollar industry?

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.

RIOS: Rachel L'Heureux was at the party with her 90-year-old mother, who's lived here since the mid-1970s. L'Heureux says the purchase means her family will never have to worry about being forced to move.

RACHEL L'HEUREUX: I get teary-eyed. I'm so excited that this happened for us, you know? Everything fell into place.

RIOS: In recent years, nearly a quarter of mobile home park sales across the country have been to institutional investors. And it's forcing residents to decide whether to let that happen or band together and buy the land under their homes.

For NPR News, I'm Simon Rios in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF TREYON DUBS' "MEEKS")

1 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

4 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

5 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

6 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

7 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

10 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

11 saluting   

v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• 'Thank you kindly, sir,' replied Long John, again saluting. “万分感谢，先生。”高个子约翰说着又行了个礼。 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• He approached the young woman and, without saluting, began at once to converse with her. 他走近那年青女郎，马上就和她攀谈起来了，连招呼都不打。 来自辞典例句

12 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

13 WHIMS   

虚妄，禅病

参考例句：

• The mate observed regretfully that he could not account for that young fellow's whims. 那位伙伴很遗憾地说他不能说出那年轻人产生怪念头的原因。
• The rest she had for food and her own whims. 剩下的钱她用来吃饭和买一些自己喜欢的东西。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

14 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

15 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

16 skimp   

v.节省花费，吝啬

参考例句：

• She had to skimp to send her son to college.她必须节俭来供她儿子上大学。
• Older people shouldn't skimp on food or heating.老年人不应过分吝惜食物或取暖方面的开销。

17 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

18 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

19 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

20 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。