Click here to read highlights from the story
- A pair of Democrats are proposing legislation to limit rent increases in Wisconsin’s manufactured home communities, require inspections and make it easier for residents to purchase communities through cooperatives.
- It’s a response to gaps in state oversight that leave residents vulnerable to deteriorating conditions and dramatic rent hikes.
- Private equity companies are increasingly purchasing manufactured housing communities, spurring concerns.
Democratic lawmakers are proposing to limit rent increases in Wisconsin’s manufactured home communities as residents voice concerns over steep rent hikes and the growing influence of large, out-of-state owners.
The proposal is part of broader legislation to protect residents of communities often called mobile home parks. Proposed by Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, and Rep. Jodi Emerson, D-Eau Claire, the bill would also require annual state inspections and make it easier for residents to purchase communities through cooperatives.
The lawmakers say they aim “to preserve one of Wisconsin’s last remaining sources of truly affordable housing.”
Without Republican support, the bill is unlikely to advance during the current legislative session. The Legislature will wrap up most action by the end of March. The sponsors hope the proposal will build momentum for future action.
“We got to start somewhere,” Smith said. “We got to protect people.”
Priced out of traditional homes during an affordability crisis, thousands in Wisconsin have turned to manufactured housing as a more achievable path to ownership. Most own their home but pay a monthly fee for the land it sits on, and they are responsible for maintenance of their homes. While that model brings promise, gaps in state oversight leave residents vulnerable to deteriorating conditions and dramatic rent hikes, a previous WPR and Wisconsin Watch investigation found.
In announcing the bill, Smith’s office highlighted how private equity firms are increasingly purchasing manufactured home communities — often leading to higher rent and less responsive park management.
The bill would cap rent increases at 2% or 4% annually, depending on federal Consumer Price Index data.
Such a change would benefit people like Troy Wadina, who lives in Harbor Heights, a Racine County manufactured home community. His rent increased by roughly 18% this year alone.
“I had planned on staying here forever, and now I’m completely out of luck,” Wadina said. “I don’t want to leave.”
He bought his manufactured home in 2020. His parents lived across the street.
“We love being in this community. I know all my neighbors by name. Where do you get that?” Wadina asked.
But in 2024 the community sold to Illinois-based Ravinia Communities, which owns manufactured home communities across 10 states. It increased Wadina’s monthly rent by $95 last year and will add another $95 beginning in March.
Wadina didn’t learn of the sale until it was finalized.
Under the proposed legislation, he and his neighbors would have received a notice of a potential sale and 60 days to submit their own offer to buy the community. The bill would also offer a tax incentive to owners who sell to a resident-owned cooperative or nonprofit approved by the majority of residents.
Wadina isn’t sure he can handle any further increases. On top of his day job as a sales representative, he’s now selling items online to keep up.
Ravinia defended its rent increases in an email to Wisconsin Watch. Rents under the previous owner failed to keep pace with the market, the company wrote, adding that rents at Harbor Heights remain lower than comparable communities.
Ravinia said it encouraged residents to contact management for information about potential hardship assistance but no one has done so.
The legislation would have limited Wadina’s monthly increase to around $20 unless Ravinia detailed to residents why growing operating expenses necessitated a greater increase.
Amy Bliss, executive director of the Wisconsin Housing Alliance, a manufactured housing trade association, opposes the bill as written.
Capping rent would hurt owners’ ability to maintain their properties and cause investors and developers to put their money elsewhere, she wrote in a statement to Wisconsin Watch.
“Wisconsin Housing Alliance is happy to work with legislators to make meaningful reforms to keep rents in Wisconsin lower,” the statement said. “We do not agree that this bill will accomplish any of that.”
Additionally, Bliss added, residents can already offer to purchase their communities through cooperatives, an ownership model that doesn’t always keep costs down or succeed in the long term. Requiring owners to notify residents during a potential sale could be a “restraint of free trade,” she said.
Limiting property tax increases and loosening municipal restrictions on manufactured housing development would more effectively bring down prices, Bliss added.
Smith and Emerson said they are open to feedback and potential changes to their legislation, particularly if it brings bipartisan support.
“Some affordability and some safety is better than having no guardrails on it at all,” Emerson said.
The bill will need Republican support to draw a public hearing. Smith doubts that will happen during his competitive reelection campaign.
A similar bill has received bipartisan support in Pennsylvania, said Steve Carlson, co-founder and board president of the Wisconsin Manufactured Home Owners Alliance, a nonprofit organization pushing for stronger resident protections that helped draft the legislation.
“Affordable housing is not a partisan issue,” Carlson said.
Wadina and his neighbors formed a resident association last year. But with no other mechanism to prevent further rent increases, association members are urging their elected representatives to support the legislation.
The campaign has already yielded some intangible benefits.
“We’re a lot closer now as a community than we were before,” Wadina said. “We’re doing the best we can to support each other.”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
