Minnesota manufactured home residents say they're increasingly being priced out
For more than 30 years, Joyce Adams has lived at Brandondale Estates, a manufactured home park in Chaska, Minnesota.
"Neighbors are friendly. It's nice and clean," said Adams.
However within the last few years, the property was purchased by an out-of-state company.
Adams has looked on, as other lot rents at Brandondale Estates skyrocketed, nearly 70 percent higher than what she is paying now. She fears a new lease would be a major financial burden.
"I couldn't afford it, and a lot of other elderly people in the park could not afford it either, because we only get so much in social security and that's it," said Adams.
It's why Adams and her son, Scott Adams, her next door neighbor, went to the Minnesota State Capitol Tuesday, joining other manufactured home residents, in a fight against what organizers said are unsustainable costs, due to out-of-state investment groups buying out parks and hiking lot rents.
"Lot rents skyrocketed. Now, three years later, $180 more than it was before," said George Zuccolotto, a manufactured home resident. "Then came the new fees: trash, water, utilities we used to have covered and now we have to take care of that."
DFL Rep. Matt Norris who represents District 32B which covers Blaine and Lexington, says he's stepping in to offer some relief.
"I hear the stories from my district and across the state. Stories about private equity firms buying up parks and jacking up rents," said Norris.
It's why Norris has introduced a bill that caps lot rent increases at 3% annually and gives residents a chance to purchase the park where they live.
"We should not be forcing people out of their homes, that is what this is doing," said Scott Adams.
Joyce Adams and her family hope the legislation helps protect some of Minnesota's most vulerable residents.
"That's whats wrong with big conglomerates, they don't think about the people who they're hurting," said Joyce Adams.
