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Legislative Limbo For Displaced Trailer Park Residents

Posted by: Nate Berg

5 April 2007 - 12:00pm

A large loss of mobile home parks in Florida has legislators asking whether the state or the municipalities should take responsibility for the thousands of misplaced low-income residents.

"Mobile home redevelopment has spawned its own housing crisis. A study by the Florida Manufactured Housing Association estimated that between January 2005 and June 2006 about 7,600 mobile-home lots were lost when 58 parks closed."

"As the parks disappear, a nagging question arises: Whose responsibility is it to step in?"

"That question is at the heart of a proposed bill that would shift more of the burden to local governments by requiring cities and counties to help relocate displaced mobile-home residents and provide incentives to keep parks open."

"The House Committee on Infrastructure voted 7-1 in favor of the bill late last month. And it continues to move through the Florida Legislature."

"Local governments have questioned plans to shift responsibility to them the same year the state wants to cut property taxes and limit local spending. But as legislators argue, it's local governments that benefit from higher tax revenue every time a mobile-home park becomes a high-rise or subdivision."

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However, the political reality since the Ronald Reagan/Margaret Thatcher years has promoted the individual pursuit of happiness while systematically clamping down on planning—even if it means that one’s single-minded pursuit of happiness might contribute to unhappiness for themselves and others around.
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