Mobile Home Park News Briefing

NORRIDGEWOCK –– The Maine Attorney General’s office is suing the owner of a mobile home park in Norridgewock, alleging the company raised rents for its tenants without proper notice.

The suit, filed on Aug. 4 in Kennebec County Superior Court, also accused Brown Stone MHP, which owns Tempesta Way Mobile Home Park, of refusing to fully cooperate with an investigation into the rent claims by the AG’s office.

“This is an action seeking relief for Defendant’s unlawful acts or practices relating to rent and fees charged to residents of the Tempesta Way Mobile Home Park,” the AG’s office wrote in the suit.

According to court documents, Brown...

AUBURN — City councilors gave final approval Monday to an ordinance limiting mobile home park lot rent increases despite opposition from the state’s manufactured housing industry.

The council voted 6-1 to adopt the ordinance with Ward 5 Councilor Leroy Walker Sr. voting against.

The ordinance caps annual lot rent increases at 5% or the annual consumer price index, whichever is lower. Increases can only happen once a year and park owners must provide 90 days notice to tenants. The ordinance does not apply to lots that become vacant.

Mobile home park residents advocated earlier this year for the city to intervene after rent increases....

A Boulder church announced Friday that it’s committing $40,000 to support the residents of the San Lazaro Mobile Home Park in their effort to purchase the park.

San Lazaro, in unincorporated Boulder County just outside Boulder limits at 5505 Valmont Road, is home to 213 households totaling nearly 800 residents. So far, more than 80% of the community has organized in support of forming a resident-ow...

The Maine Office of Community Affairs has released a cache of data about the state’s mobile home parks that advocates say will be crucial in ongoing efforts to protect residents against the out-of-state private equity firms that have been snapping up parks and dramatically raising lot rents.

Historically, data surrounding mobile homes has been almost nonexistent. 

The Maine Manufactured Housing Board, which oversaw mobile home licensing and inspections until this year, tracked the number of licensed parks (475), but that’s about it. 

Legislators, regulators, state officials and park residents have been kept in the dark about the number of...

Belmont manufactured housing residents suffered a legal defeat this week when a New Hampshire judge tossed out their lawsuit accusing an out-of-state investor of dissuading them from buying their park with his false promises of stable rent increases.

In 2021, Bradley Pereira, manager of Oakshire Capital, purchased the 5.8-acre Great Brook Village, a manufactured housing community in Belmont for residents aged 55 and older.

Before the sale, the park’s previous owner notified residents of his intent to sell the property, allowing them to organize and purchase the community themselves.

Residents began pursuing a purchase of the park but...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Brookfield Asset Management has disclosed that it deployed its first investment for its Breva H housing strategy into YES! Communities, one of the nation’s largest owners of manufactured housing communities with almost 300 parks and over 80,000 home sites in 23 states.

The investment significantly expands Brookfield’s presence in one of America’s most important sources of affordable housing while raising new questions about protections for manufactured housing residents. 

Brookfield’s acquisition comes at a time when Congress has taken its first major step toward addressing corporate ownership of housing through the...

Yountville's town council spent part of yesterday's meeting weighing whether to cap rent increases at the town's two mobile home parks, ultimately sending the question back to staff instead of approving any ordinance. Residents of Bella Vista Mobile Home Park and Rancho de Napa, many of them fixed-income seniors, pressed the council to act before rising space rents force them out of homes they already own outright. No formal rent rules were adopted at the meeting, though the debate exposed a sharp divide between residents and at least one park representative.

According to the Napa Valley Register, the council directed town staff to gather...

WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Ansley Park mobile home park opened decades ago on Dupree Road and 681 Stonebridge Parkway in Cherokee County.

Thursday night, the Woodstock Planning Commission voted to recommend the annexation and rezoning of the 31-acre property.

The owner has retired and wants to sell the land to a developer who plans to build 220 single-family homes.

“We are in the middle of an affordability crisis, a housing crisis, and an employment crisis,” neighbor Axel Vera said to Channel 2’s Tom Regan.

Vera knows family and friends who live in the mobile home park and will struggle to find affordable rent in the area.

“People have...

WOODSTOCK, Ga. — A proposed redevelopment that could result in the displacement of roughly 130 families from their homes in Woodstock is heading to a final vote before the Woodstock City Council on August 24.

The Woodstock Planning Commission voted Thursday to recommend annexation and rezoning of the Ansley Park mobile home park at 200 Dupree Road and 681 Stonebridge Parkway, moving the project one step closer to approval. The commission did reject the developer's request for several zoning variances tied to the project's design.

The park's owner is retiring and plans to close the property, opening the door for redevelopment. Weekley...

Residents of the Hidden Circle Mobile Home Park in Jay purchased its manufactured home community last week for $1 million, ensuring the land beneath 31 homes in Jay can remain locally owned and affordable for years to come.

“It hasn’t been an easy process, but we never gave up,” said Travis, a resident of Hidden Circle Mobile Home Park and president of the cooperative’s volunteer board. “We had to purchase the park because the alternative could be worse. Someone could come in here and hike up the rents and eventually push people out of their homes. Now, people can feel financially safe and safe in their homes.”

The Hidden Circle residents...

When San Lazaro Mobile Home Park was listed for sale this spring, residents organized an effort to buy it themselves. They feared that a new owner could sharply increase rents, displace families or redevelop the property, dismantling a community that has existed for decades. 

Now, that effort has taken on greater urgency. 

On Aug. 10, residents were notified that an undisclosed buyer had offered the full asking price of $42.5 million, according to members of the residents’ group organizing the purchase. Boulder Reporting Lab was unable to determine who made the offer. David Eisenstein, an attorney for the park’s current owner, said the...

BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. (WWSB) - The future of the Pines Mobile Home Park, a nearly three-acre parcel off the Gulf on Bradenton Beach, is under discussion after the property was closed following damage from Hurricane Helene in 2024.

The landowner is planning the site’s future, and a City Hall meeting is expected to draw significant public comment on the project.

Documents submitted to public record show the vision for the property includes shopping, dining, and recreational space. Some homes on the site remain damaged, a visible reminder of the storms that led to the park’s closure.

Residents of Bradenton Beach have expressed concern about...

BRADENTON BEACH – Representatives of the Pines Park Investors LLC ownership group introduced their proposed conceptual plan to redevelop the Pines Trailer Park property at the east end of Bridge Street. 

The plans also propose redeveloping multiple properties at the west end of Bridge Street, near the Gulf Drive intersection. 

The conceptual plans and renderings were presented to the mayor, city commissioners and the public during the Aug. 6 city commission meeting. The presentation was given for informational purposes only. The commission took no action and the mayor did not open the discussion up for public comment. 

The plans propose...

mobile home park on the city’s south side, owned and operated by a local family for many years, has been sold for $26 million.

Desert Classic Mobile Home Park is a 275-space mobile home community at 5250 S. Campbell Ave.

It was purchased by California-based Pacifica Companies.

“This currently and historically well-occupied property sold for the first time after a long period of multi-generational ownership,” said Dustin B. Wilmer of The Wilmer & Danny Group of Marcus & Millichap, which handled the sale, along with John Sheedy of Park Brokerage and Ryan Sarbinoff with Marcus & Millichap. “The sellers received multiple highly...

Maine is in the process of adjusting how it regulates the manufactured housing industry and helps support residents of mobile home parks. The changes come as a growing number of communities across the state have been purchased by out-of-state investors and follow a report that found deficiencies in the state’s ability to respond to complaints.

The Maine Manufactured Housing Board, which has been responsible for upholding mobile home park community standards and manufacturing quality for almost 50 years, had its last meeting in early June and was dissolved on July 29. Its four-person staff has been moved out of the Department of...

DELMONT, Pa. — Channel 11 received several letters from people who live in a 55-and-over community known as Cloverleaf Estates East in Delmont. Most neighbors are on a fixed income there and told Channel 11 they got a notification that their land rent is increasing by 24%. Now, they are faced with having to move.

“When we moved here, we are told that the increase is minimal each year. Minimal is 4 or 8%…it’s not 24%,” said Joan Stuchul, who lives in Cloverleaf East. “We are senior citizens! We can’t go out and get a job and make up $150, or $170 a month. We can’t do that. We are stuck.”

Cloverleaf Estates sent a letter to residents saying...

A California-based mobile home park investment firm facing lawsuits and government scrutiny in multiple states settled a zoning dispute with the city of Temple by selling a mobile home park to the city for $1.432 million.

The taxpayer-funded purchase will displace residents.

The dispute began after Santa Fe Trails MHP LLC sought permits to place homes on vacant lots within the Santa Fe Trails mobile home park.

City officials argued the additions would unlawfully expand a legal nonconforming use in a light industrial zone. The owner disagreed, sued the city and several officials, and later reached a mediated agreement that included...

AUGUSTA –– Joe Hupperich had a busy day in Augusta Monday. 

He was canvassing residents on behalf of the Maine Labor Climate Council, looking to get the rest of the 2,000 signatures he needs for a citizens’ initiative this fall. He wants to see a new ordinance on the books regulating rents for local mobile home park residents.

Augusta is just one of the latest communities to jump on the bandwagon of enacting local ordinances to help keep rents from going too high, too fast.

“It’s the kind of thing we need to organize around, whether it’s union members, whether it’s community members, or whether it’s society as a whole, we can’t let people...

Mobile home residents say San Jose is shutting them out of discussions regarding a proposed increase on space rent that could affect one of the city’s last affordable housing options.

In January, the San Jose City Council voted to delay a 10% space rent increase whenever a mobile home is sold after it was revealed the housing director was communicating exclusively with a representative of mobile home park owners on the proposed policy before it was publicized. The council directed the Housing Department to engage in community meetings with residents and park owners to develop a mutual agreement, and return back to council in the...

Aberdeen officials have condemned Green Acres mobile home park with demolition to begin in the days to come. That's according...