By Rep. Parnell Terry
This legislative session, making housing more affordable and ensuring that people in our community can better afford to pay their bills are key areas of focus for me. One of the most important ways we can maintain affordable housing is by protecting mobile home park residents from rent increases and eviction. Manufactured housing remains one of our state’s last naturally occurring affordable housing options — costing roughly half as much as a site-built home — and is often a good option for older Mainers on fixed incomes as well as young families.
Unfortunately, many mobile home parks are becoming less affordable because they’re being bought up by out-of-state companies who only care about profit. Many of our neighbors are familiar with this story, because members of our community who live in the Friendly Village in Gorham are being impacted by this right now. Currently, the Friendly Village has received an offer from Crown Communities, a Wyoming-based investment firm, as part of a larger purchase including mobile home parks in Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island for $87.5 million.
To address the importance of preserving this type of affordable housing and help communities like the Friendly Village, this year, the Legislature has passed or is in the process of working on multiple pieces of legislation that will support residents like these by empowering them to purchase their own parks, and creating disincentives for purchase by large, out-of-state corporations.
The most impactful bill to help residents of the Friendly Village is LD 1145, which has passed in both the House and Senate and, as of this writing, is on the desk of Gov. Janet Mills. This legislation would provide a right of first refusal for residents who form a cooperative and make a competitive bid to purchase their mobile home park over private businesses – often large, out-of-state equity corporations looking to jack up lot rent prices. This measure would have helped similar cooperatives throughout our state who attempted to buy their parks and made competitive offers but whose bids were not accepted. Multiple other states have similar right-of-first-refusal laws, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Another measure, LD 1183, was passed in May and ensures that Maine laws governing rent-to-own contracts apply to mobile homes and provide tenants who are working toward ownership the same protections that would be afforded to them if they were purchasing a different kind of property. This provides clarity for all and maintains mobile home park owners’ responsibilities for keeping the park and its associated facilities in livable condition.
We’re also considering other related legislation that could help protect mobile home communities from outrageous rent increases, including LD 1765, LD 1723, LD 1016, LD 255 and LD 1768, which have all received initial support and face further votes. In particular, LD 1723 would amend the Manufactured Housing Act to establish a limit of a 10% increase in lot rent over a four-year period, with some exceptions.
As we wait to hear the outcome of the Friendly Village sale and the Legislature considers these measures, I will continue to advocate for common-sense solutions like this to address the affordability crisis as much as possible at the state level. We need affordable housing to bolster our workforce and economy.
As always, please feel free to contact me at Parnell.Terry@legislature.maine.gov with your questions and concerns. I can best represent our community by hearing your thoughts on legislation and issues both in our district and across the state.
Rep. Terry is serving his first term in the Maine House and represents part of Gorham. Terry is a member of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee and the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee.