Shaheen: Mobile home tenants rights law will help NH housing crisis

DERRY, NH – Federal legislation that would protect tenants and owners of mobile homes has been reintroduced by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who said the enhanced rules would help address the state’s housing crisis.

The Manufactured Housing Tenants Bill of Rights would provide tenants and owners of manufactured housing (mobile homes) with protections against predatory landowners, including more transparency about rights related to rent hikes and evictions, if the owner has received federal financing through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the Federal Housing Administration.

The bill also calls for tenants to get 60-days notice of a sale of the property, giving them time to explore a resident purchase.

New Hampshire has 151 communities, representing 9,139 homes, where the residence have done just that, going back to the mid-1980s, according to ROC-NH, which supports residents who are forming a purchase cooperative. The state was the first in which tenants bought their mobile home park – the 14-lot Meredith Center Cooperative in 1984. Pleasant Pond Cooperative, in Warner, becoming the most recent, in August.

Shaheen, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and John Fetterman, D-Penn., reintroduced the legislation Thursday. The bill has been introduced in the past, most recently in 2023, but has stalled in Congress without becoming law.

There are more than 250 manufactured home parks in New Hampshire at which the tenants don’t own the land under their home, Steve Saltzman, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, said. The fund helps tenants buy their mobile home parks, and loaned the Pleasant Pond owners $2.3 million for their purchase in August.

“Manufactured housing is an essential part of solving the affordable housing crisis in New Hampshire and across the country and yet, all too often, residents of investor-owned parks are left vulnerable to rent hikes and eviction,” Saltzman said.

Tenants are “entitled to common-sense protections,” and the bill of rights is an important first step toward that, Saltzman said in the release.

The ownership structure of manufactured homes, with the land leased to residents, makes the property ripe for investors. An increasing trend, not only in New Hampshire, but Maine and other New England states, is investors, many from out of state, buying the property and raising rents beyond what the homeowners can afford, or flipping the property to a developer.

Traditionally, manufactured housing has been an affordable option for lower-income people who want to own a home and build wealth, but development trends are squeezing owners and potential owners, industry experts say.

About 30% of manufactured housing sites across the country since 2015 have changed hands to investors looking to turn a profit, NHPR reported last year.

“Manufactured housing communities are considered to be the best-performing reach in the real estate investment trust sector,” George McCarthy, president and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, told NHPR. “So there’s been a lot of capital flowing in that direction, unfortunately for people who live in manufactured housing parks.”

Manufactured housing community cooperatives are not eligible for New Market Tax Credits or Low-income Housing Tax Credits, and the NH Community Loan Foundation last year sought the PRICE grant to fund low-cost financing that would allow residents to compete for park ownership. The money would have created a revolving loan fund to help low income homeowners cooperatively purchase and preserve their parks. (The grant was not one of 17 funded by the program)

In the proposed legislation, the 60-day notice provision will help residents have the time to find a way to compete financially with deep-pocketed potential developers.

Other provisions will keep owners and developers from pricing homeowners out of their property.

“Owning a manufactured home in a resident-owned community is now the most affordable housing option in the state, more affordable than renting similarly sized apartment,” the NH Community Loan fund said in an application for a federal Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement grant last year.

Shaheen said Thursday that while manufactured housing is typically one of the most affordable options for families, they often face rent hikes and evictions because of predatory practices.

“By ensuring mobile home tenants have the same legal protections as homeowners and other renters, the Manufactured Housing Tenant’s Bill of Rights is a critical part of our work to preserve affordable housing in the Granite State,” Shaheen said.

Protections in the bill include:

• The right to a one-year renewable lease absent good cause for nonrenewal.
• A 5-day grace period for late rent payments.
• A minimum 60-day written notice of rent increases or new added charges like water or sewer of up to 5% of the prior rent, with longer notice for larger rent increases (an additional 30 days required for each 2.5% rent increase above 5%).

The bill also incudes tenants rights, such as:

• To sell their home without having to relocate it;
• Sublet the home or assign the lease to a buyer of the home provided the buyer meets the MHC’s rules and regulations;
• Post “for sale” signs on the home.
• Sell the manufactured home in place within 45 days after eviction, to prevent the homeowner from losing their equity.
• Receive at least 60 days advanced notice of the MHC’s planned sale or closure, giving tenants the opportunity to purchase the community in the event of a sale.

The bill also requires public disclosure when a mobile home park has federal backing, so that tenants are aware of their rights. The Federal Housing Finance Agency would also be required to create a standard lease agreement that allows tenants to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family mortgage payments to buy manufactured home leases, which could significantly lower interest rates.

The Manufactured Housing Tenant’s Bill of Rights is endorsed by the National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), ROC USA, the National Manufactured Home Owners Association, the Housing Assistance Council, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and the National Housing Law Project, according to the release.

Last summer, Shaheen reintroduced the Manufactured Housing Community Sustainability Act, which would encourage manufactured home park owners interested in selling the community to sell the land to their residents, rather than another landlord or a developer.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched the PRICE program, which provides grant funding to communities to maintain, protect, and stabilize manufactured housing. Shaheen helped introduce legislation to make the PRICE program permanent and continued to be funded in the fiscal year 2025 appropriations process.