Nothing's easy when it comes to producing affordable housing in Maine.  It’s encouraging to see the Maine legislature and government at work – creating programs, regulation and tax policy - to protect or build more housing which Mainers can afford and claim as a place to call home. 

One bill sponsored by Senator Cameron Reny (D-Lincoln County) - LD 1276 An Act to Create and Sustain Jobs and Affordable Housing Through the Development of Cooperatives and Employee-owned Businesses – is promising.  It takes a hard look at the potential for mobile home parks to be part of the solution, especially for Resident Owned Communities (ROCs).  With several already in Maine, the $5 million in funding for these resident-owned and operated cooperatives can cut in half a family's home costs to become a homeowner. 

At 73 percent, Maine prides itself on having one of the highest homeownership rates in the country. LD 1276 will enable more ownership of housing in mobile home parks with tax incentives and other inducements. It also will provide support for employees to purchase a small business or farm. 

The 700 licensed mobile home parks in Maine account for over eight percent of Maine’s 747,000 housing stock, or about 62,000 units.   These parks are homes for as many as 129,000 individuals, children and families.  Many are responsibly managed, with amenities and neighborly gatherings, community gardens, and the like, but others are not so.  And in recent years out-of-state investors have been buying up parks, putting more strain on families. 

Legislative leadership like Senator Reny’s are tackling layers of issues surrounding parks, and the role they can play in affordable housing.  LD 1490 - which recently passed both the Senate and House - places the same rent increase restrictions or application fee limits as landlords must abide by. LD 1931 gives advance notice to tenants if an owner wants so residents have a chance to acquire the park as a ROC.   

Many of us know that Maine is in dire straits for affordable housing – and rents for that matter.  The recent Maine Housing Outlook Report 2023 cited many affecting housing affordability, from interest rates and construction costs to pandemic-driven acquisitions by out-of-staters. Today, a working family in Maine with a median household income of $70,652 can only afford a house under $200,000, according to Maine Housing's Housing Data report.  This amounts to an astonishing 79.1 percent of households unable to afford a single-family home!   

Since 2008 ROC USA headquartered in Concord, New Hampshire has developed over 300 mobile home parks nationwide.  Several ROCs already exist in Maine.  The Cooperative Development Institute based in Northampton, Massachusetts, the Genesis Fund in Brunswick and other Maine nonprofits – along with foundations or banks - are poised to step up.   

With LD 1276, Maine joins other states to advocate for federal programs and policy to make sure we all can have a place to call home. Please support LD 1276. 

Ron Phillips, of Waldoboro, in the founder of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. According to its website, CEI was founded in 1977 by Phillips to help create income, employment and ownership opportunities, especially for people left out of the economic mainstream. 

.