The clock is ticking for families at Chatham Estates, a long‑standing mobile‑home park just outside downtown Cary, where residents say a six‑month vacancy notice issued in January has set a mid‑year deadline many simply cannot meet. Seniors and working households who pay about $400 a month for their lots are staring down replacement rents and moving costs that could run to three times that amount, and some expect to walk away from trailers they have called home for decades. Daily construction noise and a fresh crop of “we buy mobile homes” signs have turned what once felt like a distant worry into a near‑constant reminder that time is running out.
According to ABC11, residents received the January notice giving them six months to vacate and have been scrambling ever since to line up new housing. Ann and Steve Curlee, who said they have lived at Chatham Estates since 1988 and currently pay about $400 a month, told ABC11 they expect a comparable apartment to run around $1,200, a jump they say their budget simply cannot handle. Neighbor David Perez warned that if he cannot cover both moving and lot costs, he will “probably just lose the trailer.”
Town and nonprofits mobilize limited relocation aid
The town has carved out a pot of money to soften the blow, with Cary pledging $800,000 in seed funding for relocation assistance that will be managed by local nonprofits as residents prepare to move. That effort is part of the town’s broader displacement response, and officials say NeighborUp (formerly Dorcas Ministries) and partner groups will handle casework and direct reimbursements for eligible households. Counselors have been going door to door inside the park, walking families through applications and paperwork as the deadline draws closer.
Developer plans and residents demand Toll Brothers help
A pre‑application and development plan filed in March 2025 lays out a by‑right proposal for roughly 330 multifamily units and 97 townhomes on the Chatham Estates parcel, according to coverage by The Line. Town staff say the project has been moving through a multi‑stage review, with a sale expected to close in mid‑2026.
At a recent neighborhood gathering, residents pressed the incoming developer to cover most moving and buyout costs, floating a total request of roughly $2 million. ABC11 reports that as of its latest coverage, the developer had not publicly committed any funds.
Why moving a trailer can be more complicated than it sounds
Professional moving and setup for manufactured homes can run into the thousands of dollars, and advocates say many older units at Chatham Estates are simply not in shape to be hauled across town. That leaves residents weighing a grim choice between abandoning their property or paying relocation bills that quickly balloon past what many fixed‑income households can manage…