More than 40 people testified on Friday before the legislature\u2019s joint Committee on Housing and Economic Development in favor of a bill that will help to preserve Manufactured Housing Communities (MHCs) \u2013 often called \u201cmobile home parks\u201d \u2013 as a source of affordable housing in our state, and protect residents from losing the homes they own in the communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among other things,\u00a0LD 1723<\/a>, \u201cAn Act to Amend the Laws Governing Manufactured Housing Communities to Prevent Excessive Rent and Fees Increases\u201d, limits the amount that the owner of an MHC can raise the rent over four years to 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MHCs have for decades been a naturally-occurring and reliably affordable source of housing in Maine, and make up\u00a0eight percent<\/a>\u00a0of our housing. But in the last decade, out-of-state corporate investors (including California-based FolletMHC, Michigan-based\u00a0Sun Communities<\/a>, and New York-based\u00a0C37 Capital<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Philips Internationa<\/a>l) have been quietly buying up MHCs at a rapid pace and now own\u00a0one in five<\/a>\u00a0MHCs in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u00a0a reasonable and consistent rate<\/a>, for these investors, MHCs have become \u201ctrendy cash cows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Golek continued, \u201cIn 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.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Residents, who own their homes but not the very small piece of land beneath them, can end up having to\u00a0sign over their major life investment\u00a0<\/a>to the corporation that owns the park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numerous<\/a>\u00a0MHC residents from around the state testified in favor of the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These included Gary Brunelle, of Sanford, who has lived in one of the three MHCs now owned by Phillips, International, in Sanford. \u201cI have been living in a mobile home park in Maine,\u201d he said in his\u00a0testimony<\/a>. \u201cI moved into a trailer park because I can’t afford to buy a house [and] the price of renting an apartment is outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the owner of his home, Brunelle must make his own repairs and he says \u201cwith the excessive park rent it’s making it totally impossible to do any repairs\u2026I am also struggling to put food on my table [and] to survive with the excessive raises in rent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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: \u201cLess than probably an hour after they posted the rent increases on the windows, my neighbor\u2026committed suicide.\u201d Ayotte said, \u201cwe can\u2019t sell our homes \u2013 it\u2019s [too expensive.] What are you going to move it to?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his testimony, Bruce Clark (also of Sanford)\u00a0pointed out<\/a>\u00a0that, as indicated in a\u00a0new report<\/a>\u00a0from 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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[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.\u201d But he says since Phillips International bought the park, \u201cthe increases have continued to go higher and higher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like many homeowners at MHCs, Clark is older and unable to work: \u201cWe are 86 years old and on a limited income,\u201d he said. \u201cit\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Missy Erving, of Bowdoin,\u00a0echoed Clark\u2019s comments<\/a>: \u201cI have lived at Mountain View Estates mobile home park in Bowdoin since November of 2016\u2026.From 2016 until 2021 the rent increases had been quite reasonable and affordable but that all changed when Philips International purchased the property.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Erving continued, \u201cmobile 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry Highfill, of Bowdoin,\u00a0described<\/a>\u00a0the difficulty of selling a home located in such a community: \u201cIt won’t be long before older homes will be unsellable because the rent will be higher than the mortgage people take out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pauline Flannery of Wells has\u00a0described a similar situation<\/a>: \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This bill is part of an ongoing effort by\u00a0MHC residents<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0at the state level<\/a>\u00a0to protect both residents and affordable housing in Maine during the ongoing statewide housing shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nyawal Lia, with Housing Justice Maine\/Maine People\u2019s Alliance, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA lot of these communities have had the same owners for a long time \u2013 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\u2019 pockets, and in many cases creating a situation where they lose everything. It\u2019s no way for people to live. We all deserve decent, stable housing \u2013 and this law will help make that possible for the tens of thousands of Mainers who live in MHCs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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). <\/p>\n\n\n\n ####<\/p>\n\n\n\n