Minnesota mobile home park residents organize in search of rent relief and 'bill of rights'

Tami Fry was chatting with a neighbor in her Blaine mobile home park last fall when she realized it was time to do something about the rent increases, a new lawn care fee, and the change in ownership of the park that left her feeling vulnerable.

Fry and the neighbor began door-knocking in their neighborhood to see if others felt the same way.

"We're trying to get people power built ... because we can't beat them with money," Fry said.

That push, combined with efforts at other mobile home parks across the state, has taken the activists to the Capitol in St. Paul, where a hearing last week for a "Manufactured Home Park Resident Bill of Rights" drew 60 residents to testify and lobby their representatives.

A petition calling for law changes has more than 2,000 signatures. Some parks have formed resident associations to more effectively represent their concerns.

Their advocacy comes amid a wave of institutional investors who have swept in, bought up park sites and squeezed them for profits. The new owners typically raise rents, cut back on services and impose new fees while pushing residents — many living on fixed incomes — to their financial limits, residents say.

"It has become about parks uniting together more than it has in years past to take this on structurally," said Lilly Sasse, a community organizer with Isaiah, a St. Paul-based nonprofit that's helping residents across the state organize.

Dave Czech, owner of the Restwood Terrace Mobile Home Park in Blaine, told legislators that a 3% cap on rent increases proposed by the Bill of Rights wouldn't work. Expenses are rising faster, he said, and to suggest that "the rent is different from the entire universe we live in, I'm kind of baffled by that."

State Rep. Matt Norris, DFL-Blaine, who introduced the Bill of Rights legislation in the House, said he's proud to represent the district with the most manufactured home parks in the state.

"I've heard from my residents how out of control this is getting," he said.

When he attended a town hall at Blaine International Village mobile home park last summer, the overflow crowd meant 100 people had to stand outside the meeting room in 90-degree heat. Among the complaints, the park charges a $200 monthly lawn care fee to residents who have moved in since 2022.

In addition to the 3% rent cap, the legislation would limit late fees to 8% of rent, grant tenants the opportunity to buy the land beneath their mobile homes when their communities are up for sale, and strengthen existing protections for homeowners. The bill has had one hearing, but it doesn't yet have a Republican co-sponsor.

The state still has locally owned manufactured home parks — a few are even owned by residents — but most parks sold in Minnesota last year were sold to institutional investors, according to data gathered by Isaiah.

George Zuccolotto, a resident of the Viking Terrace manufactured home park in Northfield, said he joined a grassroots effort in his neighborhood soon after an out-of-state operator bought the park.

Viking Terrace was purchased in 2022 by Lakeshore Management of Illinois. Rents there have risen $180 in the past three years.

"This year they told us there would be no rent increase, then turned around and told us there would be separate fees for things like water and trash," Zuccolotto said.

He said he and his neighbors met Monday night to talk about next steps. "Some people are just scared and worried," he said.

He's also gone door-knocking in Faribault, home to Evergreen Estates, a park that was purchased in 2022 by RHP Properties, a corporation with $7 billion in assets and 80,000 home sites scattered across 30 states.

Neither of the parks' owners could immediately be reached for comment.

"The road still feels long ahead to get things right," Zuccolotto said.