From: Subject: Chicago Tribune news: Aid urged for those losing site for trailer Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 12:24:06 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01C59F38.BBF1D420"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C59F38.BBF1D420 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0508120219aug12,1,5355530,print.story Chicago Tribune news: Aid urged for those losing site = for trailer

Aid urged for those losing site for trailer

Other housing not affordable for many living in Harvard

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By Kayce T. Ataiyero, Tribune staff = reporter.=20 Freelance reporter Tim Kane contributed to this report

August 12, = 2005

Weeks after residents of a Harvard trailer park learned that = they=20 will be forced to move, a mobile-home owners group is pushing for = legislation to=20 protect the 300,000 people statewide who live in the = parks.

Advocates say=20 mobile homes are a source of affordable housing, especially in = fast-growing=20 areas such as McHenry County where trailer parks are being replaced by = strip=20 malls and subdivisions.

The Mobile Home Owners Association of = Illinois is=20 lobbying for laws that would require landlords to give residents first = right of=20 refusal to buy the trailer parks when they are up for sale. If the = residents=20 can't buy the land, the owners would have to pay to relocate them or = offer=20 residents fair market value for mobile homes that cannot be = moved.

Terry=20 Nelson, the group's president, said the association also wants to = require=20 municipalities that approve the rezoning of trailer parks to assist = displaced=20 residents. Among the lawmakers she spoke to was Sen. Dale Risinger = (R-Peoria),=20 who said he plans to introduce legislation in the spring to protect = mobile home=20 owners.

A year and a half ago, a mobile home park closed near = Risinger's=20 home in Peoria, bringing to his attention the residents' need for = relocation=20 assistance.

"There's got to be some protection for the people who = moved=20 in there in good faith," Risinger said. "There are some cases where = mobile home=20 parks should be moved. In those cases, you need to be able to help the = people=20 with some kind of dollar amount and put them in suitable housing they = can=20 afford."

Risinger said his staff is examining whether mobile home = owners=20 and landlords could share the responsibility for relocation costs. One = idea is=20 to have residents place a portion of their rent in a fund that could be = tapped=20 if they have to relocate.

There are about 2,000 mobile home = communities=20 statewide, according to the association. Exact figures on how many close = each=20 year are hard to come by. But Nelson said she usually hears of two = trailer park=20 closings a year. Parks have closed in recent years in Robbins, Beecher = and=20 Peoria, Nelson said.

Last month, residents of the Harvard trailer = park=20 were told that the owner plans to convert the park into a strip = mall.

Bob=20 Palmer, policy director with Housing Action Illinois, an = affordable-housing=20 advocacy group, said growth in the Chicago area over the last 30 years = has=20 caused development in the rural areas where trailer parks once=20 sat.

"There is a significant presence of mobile and manufactured = housing=20 that is at risk because of the growth that is happening," he = said.

A=20 similar scenario plays out each time. A trailer park is sold for = commercial use=20 and, under state law, residents are given a year to move. But in that = time,=20 Nelson said, they find they have few relocation options for their mobile = homes.=20 Most of the trailers are too old to move. For those that can be moved, = there are=20 too few parcels of land zoned for mobile homes.

With few = relocation=20 options and virtually no chance of selling their homes, the residents = usually=20 leave their trailers at the park, where they are demolished when the = land is=20 redeveloped. Many are left paying off loans on trailers they no longer = have,=20 Nelson said.

The need for new laws is most acute in Harvard, she = said,=20 where trailer park residents are finding it difficult to = relocate.

Most=20 of the people who live in the 56 mobile homes at the trailer park, on a = 4.7-acre=20 site along U.S. Highway 14 northwest of Airport Road, are Mexican = immigrants.=20 Some have limited education and English skills. Some are migrant farm = workers,=20 seasonal employees who earn minimum wage.

The residents pay $215 = a month=20 to owner Carl Roppolo to rent a space in the trailer park, in addition = to=20 repaying the loans most of them took out to buy their mobile homes. At = an=20 information session held recently by the Harvard Human Relations = Commission, one=20 man said he earned just $250 a week and wondered, if he were made to = move, how=20 he would acquire enough money to put a down payment on a house. The = Human=20 Relations Commission is helping the residents relocate.

The = commission=20 also has been calling on city officials to assist the residents, = something Ald.=20 Brian Leyden (1st) said the city cannot do. If municipalities were = forced to=20 help displaced residents relocate, there would be no end in sight to = such=20 requests, he said.

"I think you know what you are getting into = when you=20 are [buying the trailer]. If you didn't buy the land when you bought = that, I=20 don't think it is unfair what's happening," Leyden said.

Fair or = not, the=20 clock is ticking for trailer park residents like Fabiola Esquivel. = Though the=20 one-year time limit doesn't begin until Roppolo notifies her in writing, = she and=20 her mother, Maria, heard last month that they will be forced to move = from their=20 home of the last four years.

Esquivel, 19, said she doesn't know = how much=20 they owe on a $22,000 loan for their mobile home. Like her neighbors, = she=20 wonders if it makes sense to keep paying on a home they are sure to = lose, money=20 that will "go to the garbage," she=20 said.

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kataiyero@tribune.com

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