The American Internet Society Of Manufactured Home Owners
TAISMHO

Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings
HADD

The Wisconsin Mfd Home Owners Association  discourages you FROM BUYING a manufactured home. The building process, both on-site and in the factories, is about cutting corners—using inferior quality sheathing, cutting boards too short to meet in the center of studs—problems that promote irregular air exchange within a house and which eventually produce growth of mold and excessive heating bills. 

Additional problems:  fraud, misdealing, false statement, improper assembly, illegally based seizure of homes, defective set up, worthless warranties, and suspect consumer protection.  

If you are unfortunate enough to get caught in this malignant Pandora's Box as an unsuspecting consumer, you will find yourself immersed in an endless war that will consume the rest of your life and your life's income. You will get no satisfaction from HUD or even some legislators and state agencies because many have been corrupted by the MH industry—they have been bought off with big money and the heady power of control over millions of victims.

WIMHOA is a nonprofit, statewide, consumer organization (tenants' union validated by Statute 704) not associated in any way with the industry (park owners, community managers, dealers or manufacturers). At least 250,000 consumers live in manufactured housing in this state.

Members of an incorporated entity (i.e., WIMHOA) have no personal liability in a lawsuit.  We exist under the aegis of Wisconsin Administrative Code  ATCP134.09(5)(b) and ATCP 125, prohibiting retaliatory eviction for joining or attempting to organize a tenants' association.  The U.S. Constitution also validates our right to belong to or form a union.

We publish a quarterly newsletter, the WIMHOA Vanguard.   We invite news submissions to our PO Box address or by email, but we reserve the right to edit all submissions for clarity, space, et al.  Contact us if you would like a copy.

Our membership list is confidential and is never sold.  All persons living in mfd. housing within Wisconsin are eligible for membership on an equal basis--except management (owners) and its employees. Our by-laws allow former tenants to remain members of WIMHOA if they wish.

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS
Kristen Zehner, State President/Director
JoAn Hackbarth, Honorary VP
James C. Williams, Treasurer
Kristen Zehner, Secretary
Patricia Dayton, At-Large Board Member
Floyd Hummel, At-Large Board Member
James Degenhardt, At-Large Board Member
Eleanor Shakstad, Organizer

If you haven’t yet read the language in these  bills (duplicate),  be an informed citizen when talking or writing to your state legislators.  BE A VOTING CONSTITUENT!  http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2009/data/SB351hst.html  -     READ THESE 8 PAGES and tell your legislators WHY you want them to vote YES!!   Pls contact them in the 2010-2011 Session, now thru May 2011:   PLS HELP PASS THIS into firm law!

To Find Your State Legislators:   Call 800-362-9696 or   Go to www.legis.state.wi.us  Underneath the picture, click on WHO REPRESENTS ME?   Fill in name and address.   Save or print that page for future use in lobbying (calling, emailing, sending letters) in support of WIMHOA legislation.

By now you probably know about Rep. Leon Young of Milw, Chair of the Housing Committee, who refused to vote SB351/AB527 out of his committee so it could go to the full Legislature for a vote.  This guy has 16 MHPs in his district in downtown Milwaukee and actually sided with the WHA against his own constituents!!  We think there was a “quid pro quo” between him and the WHA.  WHY else would he thumb his nose at his own constituents, i.e., the “common good,” to defend wealthy business interests?

 Sooooo that means you, dear reader (we hope) will commit to bugging your personal state legislators frequently, getting a commitment from them, educating them about the realities of MH homeownership and MHP ghettos over this 2010 summer.  We heard plenty of excuses from legislators:  “none of my constituents contacted me”; “the WHA deserves protection(!)”;  plain lack of interest in our homeowner realities, and most cared not a whit about preserving affordable housing, esp. in this economy.  

TACTICS YOU CAN DO:

Park your fanny in/outside your state legislator’s home offices all hours, for lengthy stays on end, holding a cardboard sign (no stick).  More than one person is best.  Be pleasant but persistent till you get noticed and invited in!  HELP US HELP YOU PRESERVE YOUR HOME FROM THE SCRAP HEAP.  Take shifts with neighbors.  

Do a  weekly writing or phone campaign from your HOME to both your state legislators.  Organize neighbors and take turns— to write, call or visit.  Write a paragraph script for each neighbor to use on assigned days all thru 2010 AND into 2011!!   Make copies for everyone.  [All letters need dates and signatures with addresses.]  HELP YOURSELF GET NEW  MHP LAW!  

The Wisconsin Mfd Homeowners’ Association, Inc., is a statewide, nonprofit organization organized in 1998 in Marshall WI.   We are committed to working for the rights of mfd/mobile homeowners in this state.  WIMHOA’s legal right to exist and its members’ is encoded in Statute 704 and Administrative Code 125-134.   All persons living in mfd/mobile homes are eligible for membership on an equal basis—except MHP Mgt, Owners, and its employees.  We encourage MHP residents to join the State WIMHOA first.  Forming a Chapter may put a target on your back.  Learn how to Stand Up for yourself with our assistance using defensive tactics.  As a member, your personal possessions (house) are protected from legal liability under our incorporated status in the State of Wisconsin.  All donations over membership fee ($15) are deductible on your 1040 as a charity [501©3] deduction. Your news submissions are welcomed at PO Box 254, Marshall WI 53559 We MHP residents can and have lost our homes when we fail to support WIMHOA's efforts to get legislation:  Notification of Closing or Sale of an MHP plus Resident Purchase Opportunity;  Reimbursement for Relocation Expenses will be our next effort!   We have NO bargaining power UNLESS ALL OF US help ourselves.   STAND UP for your  and our civil rights!

YOU are the only neighbors who can help WIMHOA win statewide rights.  WIMHOA can't be any more effective than the 1199 MHP homeowners across Wisconsin.   YOU must contact your State Legislators at the Capitol or at home to get action and to protest state agency indifference, ineffectiveness, and lack of enforcement.   WE must dispense with our OWN indifference.   How much is your house worth to you?

BUY LEGAL PROTECTION AT A GREAT PRICE!

Can you afford to stand up for your tenancy rights without legal protection within WIMHOA membership?   It's more economical AND SAFER per member to join the State Chapter  because WIMHOA is incorporated, and your personal assets are protected from liability; i.e., from being sued.   YOU MUST MAKE THIS FACT KNOWN TO ANYONE WHO DOUBTS IT.   Check with WI Dept of Financial Institutions.   Ask WIMHOA for its constitution and bylaws.   When you write, call, email, or visit your legislators, park owner, newspaper editor, or municipal board or council, you should say you are part of an incorporated entity, WIMHOA.   Remember:   Strength in Numbers = Clout.   Even the smallest animals know there is safety in numbers.  Why don't we humans understand this elementary Rule of Survival????