Fidelina Arellano moved into her home at Mobile Towne Mobile Home Park off Old Midlothian Turnpike 13 years ago. Her home is now decades old and in need of repairs.
“We are suffering. My husband fixed one thing and another but [the roof] needs to be covered and the porch roof needs to be fixed, and protection added, so mosquitos and flies don’t come in,” Arellano told VPM News in Spanish.
Her ceiling leaks and her floors are deteriorating. Arellano's family has made sacrifices in order to afford repairs here and there.
“Like us Mexicans say, ‘We tightened our stomachs a little,’ so that we could put the flooring,” Arellano said.
Arellano added that her neighbors, who have formed a tight-knit community, are also struggling to pay for home repairs. She said many are still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, having lost their jobs.
“We don’t have enough money to restore our trailers,” Arellano said.
Arellano’s community isn’t alone. Other media reports have detailed poor living conditions throughout the city’s mobile home parks.
Councilmember Andreas Addison said the group Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities has brought housing quality concerns to council on several occasions in recent years.
“I think one of the biggest challenges that I've been hearing throughout the last couple years has been the maintenance of roofs and ceilings, and some of the decay over the years,” Addison said. “These are not meant to be permanent housing.”
Addison, who is running for Richmond mayor this November, said poor living conditions also expose that landlords might not be taking care of infrastructure around the home.
The Dressler Corporation, the Florida-based company that owns Mobile Towne, told VPM News via email: “We replaced all the water lines, sewer lines, roads, mailboxes and most of the electrical hookups. Cost over $1.? [sic] Million.”
When asked if mobile home repairs are included in their responsibilities as landlords, the company said: “We do not own the mobile homes, and have never owned any of the mobile homes. The tenants own their own homes and are solely responsible for their upkeep as well as their yard and driveway.”
Addison said a barrier to funding is that the city doesn’t own the land the mobile homes sit on — private landlords do. That’s why Richmond turned to housing nonprofit project:HOMES to legally provide funding for repairs in 2022 and establish the Manufactured Home Initiative.
Nicole Storm, director of fund development and mission advancement at project:HOMES, told VPM News that the organization completed repairs at 20 homes in fiscal year 2024. On average, each home received about $11,000 in repairs.
During the budgeting process for FY 2025, Addison said he introduced an amendment to ensure $800,000 in additional funding for the initiative. The funding is contingent on a study exploring the state of mobile home parks, and sustainable options for maintenance and repairs.
“A lot of our attention is going on affordable housing and new construction. What I think we should also make sure we're focusing [on], at the same time, preservation of existing infrastructure,” Addison said. “A lot of people are hardworking and call [mobile home parks] home.”
The budget also directs the city to “explore the feasibility, within legal limits, of the city purchasing real property for the development of a mobile home park.”
“The Department of Housing and Community Development is tracking the program and can produce a status report to the Council if and when required,” city spokesperson Margaret Ekam wrote in an email to VPM News.
The budget indicates the study must be completed by Nov. 29.
“One of the biggest first steps is understanding the kind of inventory of where our current mobile home parks are,” Addison said. “Beyond that finding, I think maybe a prioritization of which ones would be the good, perfect ones that fit a first purchase or first engagement with.”
Arellano told VPM News that while additional funding for project:HOMES is good news, the city buying an existing mobile home park or land for development would be better for residents.
She said she would like the city to buy the park where she lives.
“If the city were to buy this park, instead of paying the rent to the park owner, we would pay the city,” Arellano said. “The money they invest in us, they would get back.”
For now, Arellano said she will continue to make improvements to her home, wherever her budget allows.
Mobile home residents in need of repair options must meet four criteria to qualify for the project:HOMES Manufactured Home Initiative:
- live in one of the Richmond city’s manufactured housing parks: Fitzgerald Trailer Park; Luis Pardo Trailer Park; Mobile Towne Mobile Home Park; R Mobile Home Park; Rudd’s Trailer Park; Tom Ford’s Trailer Park; Worsham Mobile Home Park;
- establish identity;
- prove ownership through title or bill or sale;
- and earn 80% of the area median income or below
As of now, project:HOMES has not done any unit replacements within the city of Richmond and does not have set criteria for that type of work.
In other localities, like Chesterfield’s Bermuda Estates, it has prioritized homes in poor condition that were built before the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Department established new standards for manufactured homes.
