The disparity between what people earn and what even modest rental housing costs grows larger each year. This is the housing market in which millions of low wage workers and elderly or disabled people must try to find safe and decent homes. Each community is witnessing the growth of this disparity. Low Cost housing is needed to solve this problem, which some are calling a crisis. Housing is not only a matter of individual shelter, but also of a social web of relations, services, and facilities. Displacement should be minimized and social values as well as economic values taken into consideration in making choices about public projects and compensation. Retaining housig which,for its occupants, is affordable by any standard, has to be in the best interests of the tenant community there, and the community at large. “Low cost”, when used as an adjective, is defined as "inexpensive, something one has the financial means for". But does "low cost" mean - Materials? - Labor? - Shipping expenses? Training? Maintenance? A better definition for low-cost housing would be “affordable housing for poor or low-income individuals and families “. Housing that costs $10,000/unit including land and utilities, which, with a 15 years mortgage, would mean the monthly payment for it would be approximately $180. Add on a space rental of say $300 per month and the total monthly housing bill is $480.You can now calculate what Housing Wage you need to support this payment. calculate now Trailer Parks support mobile homes (or manufactured homes). These are housing units built in factories, rather than on site, which were then taken to the trailer park site. They are usually much less expensive than site-built homes, and are more often associated with rural areas and high-density than with a pleasant neighborhood such as it is. The resulting development is sometimes derogatorily referred to as trailer parks. (In the UK, they are referred to as "mobile home parks" -which is not derogatory). In the USA, "mobile home parks" are places where at least twelve-foot wide "mobile homes" or "manufactured homes" affixed permanently to a foundation are on site. These parks can be anything from low-cost to luxury home sites. Although the name "mobile" implies that these houses will move around, they usually are placed in one location — often the same rented lot — and left there for the life of the structure. However, they do retain the ability to be moved. Most Trailer Park space rents support a true community of low-income and higher-income, young and older, single, married, families with children, and temporarily able-bodied** (see footnote) and currently physically, mentally, or emotionally challenged people. Each renter of space there lives with a manageable housing wage. This is an example of low cost housing at work in the community. It is the seed of a great new nucleus of inspiration about low cost housing and points the way to continued harmony in our community. FOOTNOTE This term is borrowed from the late Gary Bosworth, a distinguished disability consultant and city councilperson in Desert Hot Springs, California. Gary called people who are not physically challenged "Tabs", temporarily able bodied people. The point is that if we live long enough all of us will be physically challenged for some period of time. Thinking this way makes us think differently about access for disabled people. It means access for all of us