Michigan lawmakers are biting back. A package of bipartisan bills related to manufactured mobile home parks will give local municipalities and the state more teeth, when confronting predatory owners taking advantage of vulnerable people in need of affordable housing. Among the advocates supporting the legislation on behalf of her neighbors is Holly Hook.
When she moved into Swartz Creek Estates it was a mobile home park operated by small business owners. The roads and sidewalks were nothing to brag about but it was a nice place to live. “I bought my home because it was affordable and I knew I could pay it off in five years,” said Hook, who has been working with the Manufactured Housing Action (MHAction), a nonprofit group representing the interest of manufactured home residents that’s been spearheading the legislation.
Then the community was sold and she received a faceless declaration from the owners. “They just said, ‘We’re raising your rent.’ There was no warning; there was no explanation,” Hook said.
That was in 2018. Since then her rent has not only doubled but she has received notice of other fee increases on services that were once included in her rent but had become amenities. It took its toll on her financially and emotionally.
. ”I became overwhelmed, and I started having health issues,” said Hook. As with many residents put in this situation she began to feel trapped: She couldn’t afford to move and with the prices rising monthly couldn’t afford to stay.
It was at this point, when all hope was lost, that she decided to fight back and has been an advocate for MHAction and the package of bills ever since. Clinton Township and Sterling Heights are two communities that have managed to maintain a good working relationship with the owners of their mobile home parks. “We don’t get many complaints,” said Clinton Township Deputy Supervisor Dan O’ Leary, referring to calls from Clinton Township residents living in most of the area’s mobile home park communities.
That’s not to say there haven’t been problems. “Water leaks are strictly the responsibility of the mobile home park,” O’Leary said. However, last winter when they had a leak at River’s Edge Mobile Home Community, the township provided the help parks needed to fix the problem as a loan and for the sake of their residents.
“It works out well this way as it resolves the problem immediately,” O’Leary said of the working relationship they have with those who manage the park. The same is true of Sterling Heights. “We have two parks in our community,”said Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool, referring to Rudgate Manor and Sterling Estates, which have both been around for more than 40 years.
“So in that respect there’s been a level of stability.” Sterling Estates was established in 1968 and has had the same owner for decades and while Rudgate Manor is owned by real estate investment company Sun Communities, the relationship between the city and management has remained cooperative. One example is security.
A few years ago, residents in one of the communities were concerned about property theft and vandalism. When the city came up with a plan for a community-oriented policing unit, property owners agreed it was a good idea. So, they shared the cost of having Sterling Heights Police Department establish more patrols in the area.
“The company was very interested in working with us,” Vanderpool said. “That agreement continued for a number of years.” The city of Sterling Heights also worked with the park in order to display a library van in the community, which gave residents access to books and other reading materials provided by the program, and it has measures in place to ensure that the city’s animal control office stays abreast of any situations in the both communities.
“This is more of a collaborative process that we’ve worked to achieve but there’s always a need for more improvements and hands-on efforts,”said Vanderpool. Harrison Court is among the oldest mobile home parks in the county. When the property located between Gratiot Avenue and Interstate-94 in Harrison Township went up for sale, it was the residents who benefitted.
Since 1962, it has operated as a co-operative mobile home park licensed by the state of Michigan. “I don’t know anyone there personally, but I’ve stopped by a couple of times to talk to folks out on their porches, and they have all sung its praises,” said Paul Terranova, midwest community organizer for MHAction. Among those who praise the co-op concept is Jennifer Gordon.
“My parents told me it was a nice little community,” Gordon said, and after dealing with nine different landlords embraced the idea of a park owned by its residents. She moved into the park in 1978 and has been there ever since. Now, like her father before her, Gordon serves on the park’s seven-member elected board, overseeing operations of the park.
“We’re very unique here at Harrison Court,” said Gordon, who is also the park’s historian. Gordon said at one time the property was owned by two brothers. In 1962 it was sold to a developer who turned it into a co-op licensed by the state of Michigan as a nonprofit mobile home park.
Everyone who lives in the park has a deed to their lot. However, residents can only own one lot, similar to a shared stock, which keeps the members equal. Those looking to become members of the co-op (aka residents) go through a background check and pay a non-refundable fee of $2,500 to join.
After that, monthly fees for lot rent are $120 and are due the ninth of every month. The co-op fee covers summer/winter taxes, school taxes, water and sewer, sanitation, snow plowing, road repairs and general maintenance of the park. “I love it here,” said Gordon, who worked as a quality inspector for Lionel Trains.
“We’re like a big family.” Gordon said all of the rent money and down payments go into a fund that just builds up over time. They had to dip into recently for park improvements, including $200,000 to redo roads but because they don’t touch it for anything else, it builds back up.
Amenities do not include a pool or fancy clubhouse, but there’s a park for kids. Above all, it’s safe, clean and neighbors who look out for each other said Gordon. “It’s sad and shameful how residents are being treated in those other parks,” said Vicki Krause, a resident and board secretary.
“Paying $1,200 and $1,500 to rent a mobile home — that’s crazy. “We raised our rent $5 in the last four years and even then there had to be a reason; we don’t just do it because we can,” she said. Justifying rent increases is one of the items proposed in two sets of bills related to mobile home parks.
State Rep. Donavan McKinny (D-Detroit) said the bills seek to put a process in place and streamline current procedure so that cities can enforce some of the same code and rental ordinances that are applicable to other types of homes. “Right now, the owners and managers of these properties do not have to adhere to too much of anything,” said McKinny, who has more than a dozen mobile home parks in his district, which includes parts of Detroit and Warren.
“It is so egregious the things these companies can do – for instance raising your rent without notice – and they have the upper hand.” Contributing to the problem, McKinny said, is that more and more mobile home parks are being purchased by big investment companies that do not have an interest in the residents’ well being. “These big companies are buying mobile home communities because it is a cash cow and they can make profits out of it,” said McKinny.
“We are trying to figure out how to protect the individual residents who do not necessarily have the means. “Most mobile home parks you can own your mobile home, but you can’t own the land where your mobile home is located.” McKinny said when he was campaigning, he knocked on doors in several mobile home parks and heard horror stories about water issues, rodent infestation, rent being raised without notice, damage caused by fallen tree branches that was never addressed and raw sewage seeping into residents’ property.
He realizes there is a great need for affordable housing and that mobile home communities can be one of the most viable options for many people, but emphasized that low-cost should not equate with low-quality. Many of the horror stories have been connected with Landmark Estates Mobile Home Community, where residents have complained of old trailers being removed, but dangerous rubble left behind. McKinny points to the community in Warren as a park where residents have been disenfranchised.
“The conditions there are just terrible,” McKinney said. “Drive through there and look at the conditions that the people living there have to face; it is worse than some of the neighborhoods in Detroit and we’ve got some bad neighborhoods.” Senator Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) also toured Landmark Estates and Twin Pines mobile home park in Warren and while it appears ownership did some work, she says there is much more to be done before residents have an acceptable standard of living.
“I know that improvements have been made, but that does not dismiss the fact that there are so many things that still need to be done,” said Chang. “The bills moving through the legislature right now would give agencies like LARA (Licensing and Regulatory Affairs) and local municipalities more tools to hold these owners accountable. “There are some mobile home park owners who are doing the right thing, but they are few and far between.
” No matter how much rent residents are paying, they should expect something for their money. “In reality, the cost of living is going up everywhere; but this is probably one of the cheapest options people can have,” McKinney said. “So you are paying $500, $600, $700 to live in these places, but what are you getting in return?” In recent years, many cities and municipalities have focused on replacing aging water infrastructure including lead service lines.
CARES Act funds, state appropriations, and grants have all been used by many cities in order to upgrade that infrastructure. Often, mobile home communities are left behind because that funding can only be used for publicly owned infrastructure. “A lot of mobile home parks are off the grid in terms of water,” McKinney said.
“They have their own, private water infrastructure that needs to be improved, but they are the areas that get left behind and left out so it is up to the owners, the management companies to do those improvements. “The city just does not have the capability or the law behind them to say ‘hey, you must do this’ “ McKinney said many mobile home park residents don’t have the means to fix something on their own, which the management company has opted not to upgrade. Some people just move while others have no choice but to stay and manage as best they can in what are sometimes unsafe or unsanitary conditions.
One city in Macomb County chose to fight back for its residents. Warren City Council President Angela Rogensues has been working to hold the owners and management companies of mobile home communities accountable including Landmark Estates, As McKinney and Chang learned during their tours, residents have put up with raw sewage on grassy areas, low water pressure, poor road conditions, disregard for the trash area and slow response to issues such as fallen tree branches. Landmark Estates was bought by an investment company a couple of years ago.
Since then residents of the small mobile home park bordering Shaw Park have complained to management but nothing was resolved. Blaer Roberts said sewage issues and lack of water pressure were two of the major issues he and other residents had, as well as the crumbling road that snakes through the middle of the park. He acknowledges that after pressure from the city, management removed old, abandoned homes but the empty lots, he said, were left with pipes sticking up from the ground, holes, broken glass and other unsafe conditions.
“The sewer problem caused me to be sick numerous times and also caused my children not to be able to come and visit me because their mother is concerned about them getting sick as well,” said Roberts. “We barely have water to shower and wash clothes and have been told our water is not safe to drink.” Landmark Estates never offered its residents luxury living.
However, Roberts and other residents say the previous owners were willing to work with the residents to handle repairs, even offering to provide residents with an option to rent tools and lawn equipment for free in order to maintain their property. Roberts has testified in Lansing with regard to the problems at Landmark Estates and why new laws are needed to ensure conditions at mobile home parks are livable. Open Door has managed the property for more than two years.
Michelle Oppelt, who is the vice-president of property management, said her company has invested more than $500,000 on making improvements to the park and that complaints from residents are unfounded. Oppelt said the majority of the residents are happy with what Open Door has done and that the vocal complainers represent a minority. “Open Door has tried to intimidate the city council to keep us from going forward with litigation,” Rogensues said.
“They say if we proceed they will be forced to close down and all of the residents will be homeless; that is the rhetoric they keep repeating.” In the end, rather than invest more in the park it was sold off. After the sale, Rogensues said she and city department heads attended a meeting where they were told they would have the opportunity to meet the new owners but when she arrived, only Oppelt and representatives from Open Door were present.
“It was disappointing and not really productive,” said Rogensues. “They were just beating the same drum; their whole mentality is that they are the victim because these problems were present when they purchased the community,” Rogensues said many of the homes in Landmark Estates are not modern manufactured homes but trailers with a hitch that can be attached to a vehicle and moved. “Open Door said their intention was to be able to move new mobile homes into the park but it was not able to happen because of the city council, because we have been working to hold them accountable,” said Rogensues.
“They’ve taken down a lot of units, but never replaced them.” Rogensues said she wonders if the two bills making their way through the Michigan legislature affected Open Door’s decision to sell the property. Among those fighting to get the bills passed is Paul Terranova, midwest community organizer for MHAction.
“The industry has been taken over by Wall Street,” said Terranova. “Predatory companies, primarily hedge funds and real estate investment firms, are sucking money out of people who don’t have much to begin with.” Terranova said the steam in this package will put up some guard rails to protect people with disabilities, seniors and low-income families or veterans.
He too acknowledged that a lot of mobile home parks are wonderful communities where people take care of each other. The owners of these parks are not likely to have a problem with any of the protections outlined in Senate Bills (486-492) and House Bills (5157-5163). Some of the key protections in the legislation include: • Owners with a history of unjustifiable rent increases can’t renew licenses.
• Manufactured Housing Community (MHC) owners cannot charge fees or penalties not associated with the cost of occupancy. • MHC owners can’t change more than they are paying for utilities and they must disclose the rates they pay. • Local governments can require an owner to post a surety bond for covering expenses of addressing health and safety issues.
• MHC owners must follow a process for homes to be declared abandoned and titles issued to the MHC owner and they must pay the former owner fair market value minus funds owed. • MHC must offer a 1-year lease, provide new/renewal lease 30 days prior to end of old lease, include notice that unlicensed MHC’s can’t collect rent or evict, and comply with truth in renting act. Residents can sue for violations of this section.
• LARA informs unlicensed park owners and gives them 30 days to apply. Potential fine of up to $100,0000. • Unlicensed MHC’s can’t collect rent or evict.
Residents can take them to court to recover rent paid while unlicensed and to get a receiver appointed. • MHC owners must notify residents that the property is being sold so residents can make an offer (as in the case of Harrison Court). • LARA will create a publicly searchable database, owners who don’t keep it updated are fined and repeat offenses will impact license renewal.
Other revisions by LARA, which must be revised by July 1, 2025 include addressing: parameters on dealer financing practices, and terms, claims and conditions, annual renewal of license and owners must disclose all investors who own 5% or more. The Macomb Daily reached out to the Manufacturing Industry Association (MIA) for comments on the proposed bills, but did not get a response. Terranova said back in 2021, the MIA was actively involved in the process including the negotiations on licensing and clarifying of definitions in the package.
“They even lobbied for it,” Terranova said. “But in April 2022 the industry pulled out.” Why is a matter of speculation, although some believe their change of heart has something to do with an influx of donations to their Political Action Committee (PAC) from out-of-state private equity executives.
Those who oppose the legislation say it’s unfair because it puts a cap on rental fees, which Terranova insists is not the case. “It’s really important to recognize that there’s no cap on how high the rent can go,” he said. “If you raise the rent you just need to justify the hike.
” Terranova said MHC owners have to show that the increase will be going toward improvements and services rather than investors in Utah or Singapore. Critics also oppose proposed changes in the mobile home commission, which is currently dominated by industry representatives that rarely meet or cancel meetings at will. The new legislation calls for a commission that is balanced to represent both residents and park owners, who must meet quarterly and the appointments by the governor would include: four people from the industry, four consumer advocates and three neutral members.
“We have over 248,000 households living in mobile home parks. When you have that many vulnerable people living in a community, you don’t leave their welfare up to the industry,” Terranova said..
