Unreliable Water Access in U.S. Mobile Homes: Evidence From the American Housing Survey

Abstract

Unreliable water access significantly impairs household health and welfare. While press and policy reports suggest that residents of mobile home communities in the United States experience unreliable water access, scholarly examination of this issue has been lacking. Using data from the 2011 American Housing Survey, we first present descriptive evidence of disparities in water service reliability and then construct a binary logit regression model assessing the correlates of reliable provision. We find that living in a mobile home unit, and especially in a mobile home park, is significantly and negatively correlated with water service reliability. Our findings demonstrate the need for future research to assess the mechanisms of water service reliability within mobile home parks, as well as the relationship between living in a mobile home and other dimensions of household water security.