2 weeks Ago
When I started looking to buy a home a couple of years ago as a single woman, I knew going mobile or manufactured would probably be the only way that I could afford a house in livable condition on my salary. But I also wanted to stay away from mobile home park situations, or any housing situation where I didn’t own the land beneath it (condos were off the list, too). Part of that was personal preference — I didn’t like the idea of living under HOA rules, I’ve got two dogs, etc.
But part of it was because, in my view, owning a home on rented land was kind of the worst of both renting and owning. If something breaks in the house, it’s your responsibility to fix it, but you still have to pay someone else rent and can get kicked out of your home if someone else buys the land and wants to jack up the price. For elderly folks or people with disabilities, however, I can see that it would make sense.
It would be nice to have someone else do all the shoveling and mowing. I was lucky enough to find a 1993 mobile in pretty good shape on just under two soggy acres in Lincoln County. I’m very fond of my house.
It’s cozy, energy-efficient (especially considering it was built 30 years ago — modern models have improved), and, I think, pretty cute. Mobiles and manufactured housing, such as modular, are cheaper because they are mass-produced, a process that harnesses economies of scale to bring down the price. I like that I can sit in my living room and have the whole house within eyesight and earshot (it makes it harder, but not impossible, for my dogs to do crimes).
There are people who look down on mobiles — all the stereotypes around “trailers” — and that’s easy to ignore for me because it’s just basic classism. Sorry, you don’t approve of my house. I can’t hear you over the sound of having a place to live for $1,000/month.
The phrase “mobile” home is a bit of a misnomer. It is not easy to move a 900-square-foot house; we are not talking about RVs or campers. It’s technically possible, but it usually costs around $10,000.
Plus, you have to find somewhere else to put it. I’m not saying homeowners are trapped, but it’s certainly a lot harder to get out of a bad lot rent situation than it is to move to a different apartment. And investors know this.
That is why they’re swooping in from out of state and buying up mobile home parks here in Maine. They know most of the residents don’t have the means to leave and take the house with them, so they can charge whatever they want for lot rent, without any regard for the quality of life of their residents. Mobile home parks are one of the last affordable housing options left in this state, so of course here come investors from away, like vampires to suck us dry.
All we are to them is numbers on a spreadsheet, and numbers must go up at any cost. Profit, profit, profit. I was delighted to see that my senator from Lincoln County, Sen.
Cameron Reny, has introduced two bills in the Legislature that would help residents of mobile home parks purchase their parks and thereby maintain control over their land, finances and destiny. (Yes, I’m being a little dramatic, but this is important, OK?) One bill, LD 554 , would create a tax exemption up to $750,000 to incentivize the sale or transfer of housing developments, housing parks or apartment complexes to resident-owned communities or cooperative affordable housing corporations. This is a pretty market- and business-friendly bill, so hopefully it will get some Republican support in the next legislative session.
The second, LD 1016 , would attach a $50,000-per-lot fee to the purchase of a manufactured housing community on top of the purchase price, to be paid to MaineHousing. Resident-owned co-ops or affordable housing groups would be exempt from the fee. I like this one because if investors from away are going to swoop in and hoover up Maine housing stock, they should have some skin in the game when it comes to ensuring housing remains accessible and affordable.
When residents own their own parks, they can vote on changes to lot rents, decide if it’s truly necessary. This hasn’t been the case with parks bought by out-of-state investor groups. Those investors don’t live here, aren’t part of our communities, and frankly, don’t care about anything except making money.
What does it matter to them if a couple of retirees can’t afford their lot rent? We’re in a housing crisis and there will always be more tenants desperate for shelter who can scrape up the money. Nobody knows for sure how many mobile home parks are owned by out-of-state investors, what share of the communities are owned by out-of-state corporations, though the Bangor Daily News estimates it could be as high as 20%. In 2020 and 2021, institutional investors accounted for 23% of national manufactured home purchases, up from 13% between 2017 and 2019, according to a joint project between the nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project and Manufactured Housing Action, an organization of homeowners.
That increase spells danger for affordability and availability. I hope all our representatives vote for Sen. Reny’s bills.
The housing crisis has many causes and thus will need many solutions. Keeping mobile homes under local control is a vital step. We’re people trying to live our lives with some degree of security.
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