Perhaps one day we’ll overhear disparaging remarks such as “Oh, he’s just Land Trust Trash (maybe even ‘Commie Land Trust Trash)”
Why? Well, land trusts are a lot like trailer parks, where the so-called ‘trailer trash’ live. Trailer parks provide land that owners of small mobile homes can rent to park their often very affordable housing.
Land trusts perform a very similar function. But where land trusts provide a guarantee of reasonable rents, trailer parks by and large do not.
Enter the fly.
Capitalism practically worships the fly1 investor. The fly investor can buy anything cheap, sell it dear, and make a profit.
So why not trailer parks? Why not indeed?
Land trusts use ‘anti-capitalist’ methods to control the rents charged for land trust land. Trailer parks, unfortunately, remain firmly within the bounds of the capitalist free land market. They can be bought and sold without any unusual financial restrictions, and if fly investors make money on those kinds of deals, well, good luck to them.
But not so good luck to mobile home owners whose rent suddenly rises.
And that’s just what’s happening in Minnesota, calling strongly into question the notion that mobile homes, without a reliable place to put them, can really offer low cost housing relief from an affordable housing crisis. Read more in an article from Minnesota Public Radio published in the Albert Lea Tribune: Not Enough Affordable Housing? What About Mobile Homes?
