Mobile homes (also known colloquially as “trailers”) were first introduced in 1956 as a new form of affordable housing. Since then, trailers have become a significant portion of the affordable housing stock across America. According to the 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) of the US Census Bureau, 6.4% of housing units across America are trailers. In Green River, this percentage is an astonishing 27.9% (source: 2012 Green River Housing Plan; the 2014 ACS has the percentage at 26.0%).
After completing a town-wide housing assessment in 2012 that pointed out the significant use of trailers in Green River, Epicenter staff members followed up in 2014 with a survey of trailers only, going door-to-door to thirty-five homes. We performed the study with the following goals: 1. to understand the unique circumstances and home repair needs of residents living in trailers, 2. to create a list of clients to refer to Fix It First and Habitat for Humanity’s A Brush With Kindness home repair programs, and 3. to gauge the desire for multi-family housing options in Green River.
In early 2016, Epicenter updated and formatted this internal report for publishing. It can be found here.
Since this survey was completed, both Epicenter’s Fix It First and Habitat for Humanity’s A Brush With Kindness home repair programs have begun performing critical repairs on trailers. These housing units were otherwise ineligible for virtually all housing repair programs offered by other agencies.
The collected survey information has also been used in Epicenter’s efforts to develop new multi-family housing units in Green River.