Residents Unite to Buy Their Mobile Home Park, Creating Maine’s Largest Resident-Owned Community

Photo byNYTIMES

Manufactured homes, often called mobile homes, offer one of the most affordable paths to homeownership in the United States. However, these homes come with a significant challenge: while homeowners own the structure, they don’t own the land underneath. This has made mobile home parks attractive targets for investors, who purchase the properties and raise lot rents to maximize profits. In fact, manufactured homes make up about 10% of all new single-family homes in the U.S., according to a 2023 report by the Manufactured Housing Institute.

In response to growing concerns about investor-driven rent hikes, the state of Maine passed a law last year that requires mobile home park owners to notify residents before putting their communities up for sale, giving them the chance to buy the property themselves. On October 10, the residents of Linnhaven Mobile Home Center, a community of nearly 300 homes in Brunswick, became the first to take advantage of this legislation. They purchased the park for $26.3 million by pooling together loans and grants from various sources, including the state and the town of Brunswick.

This achievement makes Linnhaven the largest resident-owned mobile home community in Maine, offering hope to other manufactured home residents. States like Connecticut and New York have enacted similar laws aimed at protecting mobile home owners from predatory practices by investors.

Housing advocates argue that government intervention is increasingly necessary to maintain affordable housing options. “The government needs to do more to correct the power imbalance between property owners and tenants, especially in manufactured housing communities where residents are particularly vulnerable to predatory and abusive practices,” said Lisa Sitkin, supervising attorney at the National Housing Law Project. “The recent notice law in Maine and similar laws in other states are good first steps.”

For Linnhaven residents, organization was the key to success. Once they learned of an outside investor’s interest in purchasing the park, they quickly formed a board of directors and began mobilizing. In August, when residents voted on the purchase deal, the outcome was unanimous, with no votes cast against it.

Maranda Chung, a 35-year-old education project manager living in Linnhaven with her husband and 3-year-old daughter, said, “Before starting this process, I didn’t know my neighbors well. Now, the community does feel closer.”

However, some park owners criticize the law, arguing that it complicates the sales process. Industry groups, like the Manufactured Housing Institute, claim that institutional investors can bring positive changes to these communities. “Dedicated investor-owners have the resources and expertise to steadily reinvest in communities, driving improvements and innovation that result in consistent, high-quality management and well-maintained infrastructure, amenities, and services,” said Lesli Gooch, CEO of the Manufactured Housing Institute, in an emailed statement.