The Wisconsin Mfd Home Owners Association  encourages you NOT to BUY 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.

Brief history and activities

The Wisconsin Manufactured Home Owners Association, Inc., formed in July 1998; incorporated in November 1998, and obtained tax-exempt status in December 1999.  In the year 2001, we mailed a survey to 1800 residents in parks, asking them for information about themselves, about perceived problems and solutions, and if they knew where to find help.  From this survey, WIMHOA gained new members and contacts, and statewide park information in addition to our survey questions.

We provide legislator contact information via our quarterly newsletter and encourage YOU to let your State Senators and Representatives know what problems you encounter in your Stalinist conclave.  99% of them know absolutely nothing about this lifestyle--YOU must educate them.

Because leafleting in 1125 MHPs across the State is physically and financially impossible, we encourage visitors to register for a sample newsletter and/or join WIMHOA via the drop-down Main Menu Contact & Join online, or at other locations throughout these pages.

WIMHOA has initiated meetings with a few park owners; keep the statewide press informed of our issues as a means of educating the public; write to municipalities about their failure to enact Fair Housing law, Administrative Code, and Statutes on behalf of elderly and disabled residents who are illegally harassed and retaliated against by park owners/managers; and we provide legislators with information about our issues via newsletters, letters, pictures, and email.  But we encourage YOU to do likewise, especially when you are a constituent.

The WMHA tail (WI Housing Alliance) wags the dog that is the Department of Commerce--all MHP law now resides there--except landlord-tenant relations, which are housed in DATCP (125 Administrative Code).  That is our "bible" so we encourage MHomeowners to become familiar with it.  The new crew at Consumer Protection in DATCP try their best not to do any work on our behalf and are generally  worthless deadbeats.    If they fail to enforce ATCP 125:  landlord-tenant law on your behalf,  DO THIS IMMEDIATELY:    Contact your State Senator or Representative at 1- 800/362-9472, or 266-9960 in the Madison area  immediately, advising them that a State Agency  refuses to uphold the law, especially if you have filed complaints on their website or via hardcopy with attachments or fax.  

ATCP 125 requires that park owners are responsible for their own capital improvements--streets, trees, grass, water or sewer.   DO NOT maintain the landlord's property beyond mowing your lawn because you don't own the property--you will be putting money in their pockets beyond what you already pay in rent.  Park owners do not exist to benefit you beyond the dirt--their actions are rarely pro-consumer.   Beware an overly friendly MHP manager or owner.

 We have advocated for and assisted  MHP residents in the Village of Randolph, Delavan, Milwaukee, Madison, Evansville, Appleton, northern Wisconsin; WIMHOA has been published in newspapers in Abbotsford, Madison, Marshall, Waterloo, and Portage; we have been appointed to several State ad hoc Commerce and DATCP committees since 1999; we have testified at State hearings on MHP law and rental issues at the Capitol in Madison; we sat on the Governor's Task Force in 2001 and presented our report; WIMHOA networks with other state MHOAs nationally.     

We are all volunteers who try to assist other MHOs to establish Chapters as well as advise them how to stand up to harassment and intimidation.   At times, we must refer tenants to attorneys.   We will help you find affordable legal services.    We recommend using www.findlaw.com as one resource for locating a landlord-tenant attorney in geographical areas.    Sometimes, paying an attorney $50-100 for a letter is much less costly than losing your home, and it lets your landlord know you refuse to be cowed and will fight back.