Minnesota-produced video documentary highlights threat to mobile home park residents locally and nationwide
St. Paul, Minn., April 22, 2006 – This video documentary is about Minnesota, Iowa, Washington, Florida, Ohio, Vermont and virtually every state in our nation. American Dream Under Fire: Mobile Home Park Residents Fight to Hold Ground examines the urgent issue of preserving manufactured home park communities in the face of skyrocketing land values and development pressures. It follows the fight to save a manufactured home community in Bloomington, Minnesota. Other stories, challenges and solutions are woven into the half-hour program. It is a new production of the Northwest Area Foundation and Twin Cities Public Television in collaboration with Housing Preservation Project and All Parks Alliance for Change.
“Lack of affordable housing is very often a key factor in communities with persistent poverty,” said Karl Stauber, president and CEO of the Northwest Area Foundation. “What most people don’t know is that manufactured home parks offer unsubsidized affordable housing that needs to be appreciated as a community asset.”
According to the Housing Preservation Project and All Parks Alliance for Change, there are over 900 mobile home parks – or manufactured home communities – in Minnesota, and about 55,000 communities nationwide that are home to roughly 10 million residents. They are coming under threat of closure as cities and suburbs expand and that property becomes increasingly valuable for development. Although community residents own their homes, they do not own the land upon which their homes rest, making them vulnerable to displacement.
“It’s a misnomer: mobile homes really aren’t easily moved and most residents are long-term members of their communities,” said Ann Norton, president of the Housing Preservation Project (HPP). “When a park owner decides to sell, the residents usually find themselves faced with eviction and few alternatives. At HPP, we work with residents, owners, local officials and often banking institutions to develop and negotiate solutions that will allow residents to gain the stability they and their families need.”
American Dream Under Fire: Mobile Home Park Residents Fight to Hold Ground airs for the first time Sunday, April 23, 2006, 7:30-8:00 on tpt Channel 17. To view a clip, visit http://www.tpt.org/mnchannel.new/.
The Housing Preservation Project (HPP) is a nonprofit public interest advocacy and legal organization whose primary mission is to preserve and expand affordable housing for low income individuals and families. HPP seeks to prevent the loss of affordable rental housing by conversion to market rate, demolition, foreclosure, and other causes. It also seeks to foster expanded affordable housing opportunities. The organization uses a variety of innovative strategies, to provide technical assistance and services to local attorneys and tenant advocacy organizations, owners, housing funders, and policy makers. HPP attorneys work with tenant and advocacy organizations, public and private housing funders, owners, developers, and policy makers in their efforts to protect and expand affordable housing. Founded in 1999, and based in Minnesota, HPP works nationwide. For additional information, visit www.hppinc.org, or call 651-642-0102.
All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC), with offices in St. Paul, is a tenants union of manufactured home park residents. The only organization of its kind in Minnesota, APAC addresses the concerns and needs of these low- and moderate-income home owners through tenant advocacy, community organizing, park housing co-op conversion, and public policy work. For additional information, contact at 651-644-5525 or apac@mtn.org.
The Northwest Area Foundation is dedicated to helping communities reduce poverty for the long term. The Foundation works on strategic efforts with a small number of rural, urban, and American Indian reservation communities, and the organizations supporting these efforts, in its eight-state region: Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. These states were served by the Great Northern Railway, founded by James J. Hill. In 1934, Hill’s son, Louis W. Hill established the foundation.
Since 1999, the Foundation has invested approximately $150 million in community-based poverty-reduction programs. It expects to invest at least an additional $50 million within the next three years. The Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant requests. For additional information, visit www.nwaf.org, or call 651-224-9635.
-End-
|
Pressroom - Home
