During their initial hearings on Monday morning, a pair of bills sponsored by Republicans aimed at assisting mobile-home park residents during Montana’s severe housing shortage faced strong opposition from park owners, real estate agents, and the Montana Landlord Association.
House Bill 429, sponsored by Rep. George Nikolakakos, R-Great Falls, would require the owners of mobile-home parks with more than 50 units to give residents 60 days notice if they sell the property. It also requires owners to review counteroffers if a residents’ association uses that time to organize in an effort to purchase the park.
House Bill 428, sponsored by Rep. Mike Yakawich, R-Billings, would strengthen several tenant protections for mobile-home owners. It would require a two-year term for lot rental renewals, limit utility fees to actual utility costs and extend the timelines for eviction proceedings and the disposal of abandoned mobile homes.
Nikolakakos and Yakawich told members of the House Judiciary Committee that mobile-home tenants deserve additional protections because they generally own the homes they live in but not the land beneath them, meaning they’re stuck with their landlords in ways other renters are not. While mobile-home units can in theory be moved to a new location, that’s in practice costly — upwards of $10,000, Nikolakakos said — and in some cases impossible for older homes that aren’t in good enough condition to survive a move intact.
According to Nikolakakos, if you have a dispute with your landlord in an apartment complex, you can simply rent a U-Haul, pack your belongings, and find another place. However, he acknowledges that this may not be as simple in the current rental market. On the other hand, relocating from a mobile-home park is not as straightforward of an option.
According to Steve Skinner, a self-identified long-time owner of mobile-home courts, the Legislature should explore alternative approaches to address housing concerns.
He stated that he is aware that there are instances when things are not fair, and he acknowledged that it is simply a part of life.
Residents and affordable housing advocates across the state have raised alarm in recent years about mobile-home parks being sold for redevelopment or to out-of-state owners who saddle residents with aggressive rent increases. Several residents who testified Monday said lot rents in their parks have been raised by hundreds of dollars a month following sales, causing some of their neighbors to lose their homes.
Carla Hill, a homeowner at the Cherry Creek mobile-home park in Billings, revealed that she used to pay $285 per month to rent a lot before the park was bought by a corporation in 2020. However, due to subsequent rent hikes and the inclusion of water, sewer, and garbage fees, her lot payment has now increased to an average of $595. This amounts to more than double the original amount she paid.
Hill expressed concerns about large corporations entering the scene, acquiring mobile home parks, and driving up the costs that were once within reach for many.
Nikolakakos said cooperative land ownership, which is often aided by housing nonprofits such as NeighborWorks Montana, can provide an alternative that keeps mobile-home ownership affordable in the long run. His bill, he said, is modeled after a law that has been on the books for decades in New Hampshire.
Nikolakakos argued that if property taxpayers had experienced the same challenges as mobile-home residents in recent years, there would be a strong public outcry. Therefore, it is unjustifiable to ignore the situation and turn a blind eye.
The owners of mobile-home parks argued that they perceive the sale notice bill as an infringement on their property rights, as it would create obstacles in selling their properties. They voiced their apprehension about the bill’s potential requirement of disclosing details such as the sale price, buyer’s identity, and other contractual terms to the residents.
Sharon Lodge, the owner of a small park near Belgrade, stated that she preferred to keep her business private and did not want tenants to be aware of it.
Several park owners expressed skepticism regarding the idea that mobile-home park tenant associations can effectively manage maintenance tasks and enforce resident behavior.
Dylan Osterhout, a real estate brokerage owner and manager of mobile-home parks in Helena, expressed that many tenants often lack the ability to perform necessary repairs and maintain cleanliness due to the presence of problematic tenants.
According to NeighborWorks Montana, the state currently has 17 resident-owned cooperatives, representing 670 homes in total. An existing law, passed by the 2021 Legislature, tries to encourage sales to cooperatives by exempting park owners from paying state capital gains tax if they sell to a resident association, nonprofit or local government housing authority.
The bill aimed at providing tenant protections faced opposition from park owners and landlords as they argued that its provisions would increase the difficulty of evicting tenants causing issues.
John Sinrud, president of the Montana Landlords Association, inquired about the course of action when faced with drug dealers or other undesirable individuals residing in a mobile-home park. He questioned the methods employed to effectively remove such individuals.
According to Nathan Groven, a trailer park owner in Great Falls, he and his wife own three trailer parks. He expressed that the existing laws already make it a lengthy process for landlords to evict mobile-home tenants or obtain consent to remove an abandoned trailer.
Groven emphasized that mobile-home parks should be recognized as private properties, and not confused with low-income government housing.
Opponents of longer lease terms contended that it would become more challenging for them to transfer property tax increases to residents.
Nikolakakos argued that mobile-home evictions should be seen as a form of “quasi-foreclosure,” considering the significant financial investments made by residents, often amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in their trailers.
Nikolakakos questioned the feasibility of a month-to-month lease, urging the committee to reflect on the logic behind investing $50,000, $70,000, or $80,000 into something that requires additional thousands of dollars to be moved, all on a contractual basis of just 30 days. In his opinion, this arrangement seems unreasonable.
The House Judiciary Committee will now conduct initial votes on both bills. For both bills to be enacted into law, they must first be approved by the Montana House and Senate, and then withstand potential veto from the governor.
This story is published by Montana Free Press as part of the Long Streets Project, which explores Montana’s economy with in-depth reporting. This work is supported in part by a grant from the Greater Montana Foundation, which encourages communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans. Discuss MTFP’s Long Streets work with Lead Reporter Eric Dietrich at [email protected].
