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BILLINGS — Residents at Golden Meadows Mobile Home Park say a steep increase in monthly lot rent could make it difficult for many of their neighbors, particularly seniors and people living on fixed incomes, to remain in the community.
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Residents recently received letters at the end of June notifying them that monthly lot rent will increase on Aug. 1 from $530 to $705, a $175 monthly increase that amounts to about 33% and an additional $2,100 per year. The increase applies to the park's roughly 520 lots, with some newer renters seeing larger increases.
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"Residents recently received letters at the end of June notifying them that monthly lot rent will increase on Aug. 1 from $530 to $705"
I think the bigger question is not "is $705 lot rent too high?" but rather "how did this park survive at a $530 lot rent?". Here are the actual market housing stats for Billings, Montana:
Since you can stack those $1,560 per month apartments three levels high on the same real estate as one $705 lot rent, it’s a miracle the park still exists even at the new rent.