A great New Year’s resolution for 2026 is to reduce risk in your manufactured home community. With the start of the new year, it’s a great time to look at the conditions of your property and plan your upgrades. Being proactive in 2026 will help to reduce the risk insurance claims, protect your residents, and help improve your business overall. As we head into the new year, consider implementing some or all of these manufactured home community improvements to reduce risk in 2026.

Assess the Community and Property

Before you decide what needs to be upgraded, conduct a risk assessment of your property to see what could be improved. Walk the entire community and take notes of any visible damage or hazards. Some items to look out for include uneven pavement or potholes, damaged stairs or railings, poor drainage systems, aging equipment or utilities, and rotten trees or overgrown vegetation. Look into your past insurance claims and reports or complaints from tenants to see where else there may be room for improvement. Make the plan to make the necessary repairs and create a maintenance schedule and log for the new year if you don’t have one already.

Repair or Repave Roads and Sidewalks 

Slips and falls are one of the most common lawsuits against community owners. Most of these lawsuits and claims can be easily prevented by repairing cracked or uneven sidewalks. If you have an aging or unpaved road, it’s worth looking into surfacing or resurfacing it.  Paved roads not only look nicer and increase your property value but are also safer than unpaved roads. 

Learn more about the benefits of paved roads for your community here. 

Upgrade Security 

When choosing a place to live, families and individuals want to feel secure and protected. Upgrading your community’s security features and protocols can help protect your residents. Plus, community owners have been held liable for crimes and assaults that happened in their community, even though they were not the party to commit the crime. Upgrading your outdoor lighting goes a long way in helping to reduce these risks and preventing vehicle accidents. Make sure you have lights installed along the streets, around the office and/or clubhouse, at the entry and exit gates, and at the playground and other community amenities. Another way to upgrade your security is to install license plate recognition cameras at all entry and exit points. One LPR provider our clients use is Insight LPR  https://insightlpr.com/ 

Post signs at the entrances and gates that let guests and residents know there are cameras.  A few other tips include:  fostering neighborhood watch programs, keeping bushes trimmed, screening all tenants for criminal backgrounds, and alerting management when non-park registered vehicles are regularly present at a particular home site.

Learn more about improving security in your manufactured home community here. 

Assess Your Community’s Amenities for Safety Upgrades

Your community’s amenities are a draw for new tenants, add value for your current residents, and improve retention, but if the proper safety features are not in place, they can quickly become a huge risk. 

Playgrounds: 
  • Replace worn or broken parts 
  • Install mats under the equipment as fall protection 
  • Ensure rules are posted at the playground
Pools:
  • Install proper fencing and ensure it is not damaged
  • Upgrade all gates to self-closing gates and ensure they latch properly
  • Make sure signage and depth markers are visible and legible 
  • Apply a non-slip coating to the concrete around the pool 
Dog Parks:
  • Inspect the gate and fencing around the dog park and repair or upgrade if needed 
  • Ensure signage with rules and hours is posted and easy to read at the entry of the dog park 
  • Add a dog waste station with dog bags and trash cans in the dog park and around the community

For more tips for manufactured home community improvements to reduce risk and managing your business, visit our resources page here and learn more in our blog here.