Courts to Communities

The story of landlease communities is the story of the manufactured housing industry. They came from humble beginnings. Starting as trailer courts in the 1940s, they were places for weary travelers to rest in the "trailer-coaches" towed behind their cars. The lots were small and had no amenities as their tenants rarely stayed for more than a few days!

As the 1950s approached, Americans were really coming and going. The post-war economy was booming, and WWII veterans returning from the war needed housing - a demand ably met by the burgeoning mobile home industry. Relatively inexpensive and simple to construct, these early mobile homes were easily moved from site to site on the new highway system created by the Interstate Highway Act of 1957. As a result, the trailer courts of our great grandparents became early mobile home parks. Lots were larger, with permanent fixtures and better maintenance. Tenants started to stay in one place for longer periods, although the emphasis was still on mobility.

By the 1960s, families and retirees of all kinds were choosing mobile homes more and more often. It was a decade of growth and acceptance. And by the 1970s, the National Manufactured Housing Construction & Safety Standards Act helped the industry expand by assuring the customers that their mobile homes were safer and by creating a bedrock construction standard that allowed mobile homes to move across state lines more easily. Mobile home parks sprang up almost everywhere there was a need for quality, affordable housing, and they received the bulk of the mobile homes made each year.

In the 1980s, production standards and construction quality both increased so much that mobile home parks became manufactured home communities. Lots featured spacious single- and double-section homes assembled at the factory but built to last on-site. The days of the old trailer courts were long gone as people sought permanent residence on leased land, and communities continued their dramatic increase in quality.

Today's landlease communities feature modern, large manufactured homes that are about half the cost of comparable traditional site-built homes and are a far cry from their trailer court ancestors. Because of their large size and all their features, manufactured homes in the 1990s are rarely moved once they are placed out of the factory. Quality and living standards in landlease communities are higher than ever and are expected to increase even more in the new millenium.