A very well written post on Affordable Housing Institute asks the question:  Does a mobile home really give the owner any homeownership benefit?

I'd love to rip the whole post, but I guess those of you interested will head there and read it.

I'm torn on this issue truthfully.  I really, really, really want to support any type of development that offers affordable housing to families in the United States.  But ... does a mobile home really do that?  

• "Judy Lawrence likes blues music and dancing.  But the retired bartender and waitress isn't doing much of either these days.  She can't afford it. 

   

  In fact, she can't afford much of anything these days.  She can't fix her air conditioning, and she leaves the computer and television off to save electricity. 

   

  "I'm just at the point that I can't pay my rent this month," said Lawrence, 65.  "I've put off bills and put off bills.  This is the month I either pay my bills or I pay my rent."

   

  Rent?  But she's a home owner."

Or is she?  She doesn't own the real estate?  She owns a 1979 mobile home that would cost $10,000 just to move it elsewhere.  She's stuck.  Would she have been better off renting?  I hate to think so, I really do.