She said often, companies like Havenpark see prices as below market value and increase rates to match other types of housing.įor their part, Havenpark denies any wrongdoing or nefarious intent behind their actions at the Great Falls mobile home park. Peterson said mobile home lot prices are historically about 50% cheaper than apartment rates, as residents aren’t paying for their homes, but for a space to put them and for other amenities like sewer and garbage. Now, Peterson said their work is even more important as more parks are sold to investor firms like Havenpark. “That was just a real call to find an alternative, just recognizing that was such a large source of stable and affordable housing and was really destructive,” Peterson said in an interview. ![]() Peterson said the organization started the program as a way for residents to take the future of their communities into their own hands after a Whitefish mobile home park closed for redevelopment 10 years ago, leaving more than a hundred residents without a place to keep their homes. Executive Director Kaia Peterson said the organization has been around for 20 years, and for the last decade, has been helping residents of mobile home parks in the state come together and finance the purchase of their parks, forming “resident-owned communities.” Hoven and Newman developed SB 269 alongside NeighborWorks Montana, a statewide affordable housing organization. “These people are retired, elderly, low-income, people with disabilities, and these private equity firms are coming in and taking advantage,” Hoven said in an interview. When he looked into Havenpark himself, he said he saw a predatory company seeking to take advantage of a “cash cow.” Hoven, who represents the district Highwoods where is located, says he was struck by Newman’s determination and search for solutions. Newman says she had been looking into Havenpark’s practices in other states and discovered the events in Highwoods were part of a widely-reported trend in mobile home parks across the country that saw large, for-profit firms purchasing the facilities in droves and quickly jacking up rents. Brian Hoven, R-Great Falls, sponsored the bill after Newman contacted him about her situation in the Highwoods. It also requires the Board of Housing to send annual notices to mobile home park owners explaining the capital gains tax exemption and other potential benefits from selling their park to residents, as opposed to other potential buyers. In its final form, the bill seeks to increase incentives for mobile home park owners to sell their park to their residents by completely exempting those sales from capital gains tax. ![]() The House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 269 on April 21, sending the bill to Gov. Three bills introduced in the Montana Legislature this year sought to protect mobile home owners like Newman from the rising tide of housing prices, but only one is still alive - the others stalling in committee during a session that has seen many affordable housing bills struggle to gain traction. ![]() After Havenpark bought the park, she said her monthly bill jumped $80 in a single year, with evidence prices could increase even more. Over the next 20 years, the 68-year-old said rent gradually increased to $283 per month. Back then, Newman said it cost about $166 per month to rent the ground beneath her home. ![]() Newman said she saw moving into Highwoods 21 years ago as an affordable option to live with and care for her ailing mother, who has since passed away. “For the entire winter, I sat here and thought ‘I’m going to lose my home,’ ” Newman said in an interview.
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