Governments shudder at the prospect of a large mobile home park being built in their jurisdiction.
There are good reasons for that fear. In Commerce, for example, the percentage of crime that occurs in the town's mobile home parks is far higher than the percentage of households those trailers represent. And, always a concern, mobile homes provide little to no tax revenue, whereas even the most humble site-built house appreciates in value. To be truthful, if we were to compare statistics from other forms of housing where low-income people live, mobile homes might not stand out. Neighborhoods where the poor live, whether in the housing projects or in other substandard housing in some neighborhoods, are likely statistically similar to mobile home parks in terms of crime and the need for other public services.