Ordinary Mainers, bipartisan lawmakers call for rent gouging protections in mobile home communities

May 2, 2025

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LD 1723 would help protect one of the most significant sources of naturally-occurring affordable housing in the state

More than 40 people testified on Friday before the legislature’s joint Committee on Housing and Economic Development in favor of a bill that will help to preserve Manufactured Housing Communities (MHCs) – often called “mobile home parks” – as a source of affordable housing in our state, and protect residents from losing the homes they own in the communities.

Among other things, LD 1723, “An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Manufactured Housing Communities to Prevent Excessive Rent and Fees Increases”, limits the amount that the owner of an MHC can raise the rent over four years to 10%.

MHCs have for decades been a naturally-occurring and reliably affordable source of housing in Maine, and make up eight percent of our housing. But in the last decade, out-of-state corporate investors (including California-based FolletMHC, Michigan-based Sun Communities, and New York-based C37 Capital and Philips International) have been quietly buying up MHCs at a rapid pace and now own one in five MHCs in Maine.

Rep. Cheryl Golek (D-Harpswell), who introduced LD 1723, told the committee that while the previous owners of parks tended to raise rents and fees at a reasonable and consistent rate, for these investors, MHCs have become “trendy cash cows.”

Golek continued, “In addition to significant rent increases, for-profit owners often charge exorbitant fees for additional storage, additional vehicles, pets, park maintenance fees, and more. Parks often diligently enforce violations, which come with escalating fees for issues such as the length of the grass on a resident lot or having visitors who stay for multiple days at a time. These monthly fees and violations can add hundreds of additional dollars of charges per month.”  

Residents, who own their homes but not the very small piece of land beneath them, can end up having to sign over their major life investment to the corporation that owns the park.

Numerous MHC residents from around the state testified in favor of the bill.

These included Gary Brunelle, of Sanford, who has lived in one of the three MHCs now owned by Phillips, International, in Sanford. “I have been living in a mobile home park in Maine,” he said in his testimony. “I moved into a trailer park because I can’t afford to buy a house [and] the price of renting an apartment is outrageous.”

As the owner of his home, Brunelle must make his own repairs and he says “with the excessive park rent it’s making it totally impossible to do any repairs…I am also struggling to put food on my table [and] to survive with the excessive raises in rent.”

In testifying in favor of the bill, Allan Ayotte of Norridgewock described a sudden and dramatic rent increase at the MHC where he owns a home: “Less than probably an hour after they posted the rent increases on the windows, my neighbor…committed suicide.” Ayotte said, “we can’t sell our homes – it’s [too expensive.] What are you going to move it to?”

In his testimony, Bruce Clark (also of Sanford) pointed out that, as indicated in a new report from the Genesis Community Loan Fund, the abrupt increases in rent and fees came not from the long-term previous owners of Country Living Park, where he has lived since 2002, but from the corporate investors who purchased it:

“[Previously], our lot rent was $185.00 and the owners were local people who cared about all of us. For many years the increases were relative[ly] small.” But he says since Phillips International bought the park, “the increases have continued to go higher and higher.”

Like many homeowners at MHCs, Clark is older and unable to work: “We are 86 years old and on a limited income,” he said. “it’s becoming extremely difficult to cope with these increases and be able to pay medical bills, put food on the table and pay the high lot rent. Restrictive rules by the park owners will make it extremely difficult to sell our home whenever the time comes.”

Missy Erving, of Bowdoin, echoed Clark’s comments: “I have lived at Mountain View Estates mobile home park in Bowdoin since November of 2016….From 2016 until 2021 the rent increases had been quite reasonable and affordable but that all changed when Philips International purchased the property.”

Erving continued, “mobile home parks have been a very good, affordable option for me and many others so I would hate to see this affordable option get taken away by a corporation that appears to only be concerned with making a huge profit at the expense of people with mid to low incomes.”

Jerry Highfill, of Bowdoin, described the difficulty of selling a home located in such a community: “It won’t be long before older homes will be unsellable because the rent will be higher than the mortgage people take out.”

Pauline Flannery of Wells has described a similar situation: “We are now at risk of losing our home due to high lot rents. In addition, these large lot rent increases will undoubtedly make it much more difficult to sell our homes if we are ousted because we can no longer afford the lot rent. What happens then? I guess that we then lose our homes, because they will not sell due to the high lot rent.”

This bill is part of an ongoing effort by MHC residents and at the state level to protect both residents and affordable housing in Maine during the ongoing statewide housing shortage.

Nyawal Lia, with Housing Justice Maine/Maine People’s Alliance, said:

“A lot of these communities have had the same owners for a long time – sometimes, for generations. These people take pride in the communities. Residents know them. But then some rich investor comes in and starts just pulling money out of residents’ pockets, and in many cases creating a situation where they lose everything. It’s no way for people to live. We all deserve decent, stable housing – and this law will help make that possible for the tens of thousands of Mainers who live in MHCs.”

LD 1723 now has co-sponsorship from bipartisan lawmakers including Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland), House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford), Reps. Dan Ankeles (D-Brunswick), Traci Gere (D-Kennebunkport), Lori Gramlich (D-Old Orchard Beach), Marc Malon (D-Biddeford), Arthur Mingo (R-Calais), Kilton Webb (D-Durham) and Denise Tepler (D-Sagadahoc).  

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Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) was founded in Lewiston in 1982 and has grown to be the largest community organization in Maine, and one of the largest in the country. MPA is a powerful grassroots network of more than 32,000 members who work together on issues that include but are not limited to climate change, toxics use reduction, health care access, affordable housing, racial justice, and immigrant rights.

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Contact: Nora Flaherty-Stanford, [email protected], (207) 370-8314