A bill that would allocate $3 million more to help Maine’s mobile home park residents buy their own communities cleared a key hurdle on Thursday, but the money is not yet guaranteed.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives voted 78-64 for a bill from Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, that would replenish a fund created in 2023 to help residents buy their parks under a first-of-its kind state law that gives residents the ability to make offers on parks being sold by their owners. The fund started with $5 million, but after two sales is down to just $700,000.
“People recognize the excellent bang for our buck that we get,” Baldacci said.
In Bangor, $1.1 million from the state fund and another $500,000 from the city helped the residents of Cedar Falls Mobile Home Park purchase their 129-lot park in January over an out-of-state corporate investor. Residents secured a loan in February from MaineHousing, the state’s housing authority, to build homes on empty lots there.
Baldacci’s bill and the law from two years ago that paved the way for resident purchases was in response to consolidation in the mobile home market. Investors owned one in five mobile home parks in Maine as of fall 2024, according to a Bangor Daily News analysis. Some parks purchased by investors have seen rents rise sharply.
The measure that would provide $3 million more to the state fund got through the Senate on Wednesday, but it faces final votes in both chambers. After that, the Legislature’s appropriations committee must decide whether to include it in an upcoming budget addition. Gov. Janet Mills has earmarked an additional $3 million for the fund in her proposal.
Baldacci was not sure whether he would be able to secure the funding. Lawmakers need to plug a projected $120 million budget hole in the MaineCare program and have roughly $130 million to spend over the next two fiscal years.
In the House, only two Republicans — Caldwell Jackson of Oxford and John Eder of Waterboro — voted with Democrats to back the bill. Other Republicans argued against it, with Rep. Marygrace Cimino of Bridgton saying lawmakers should lower taxes with the money spent to buy mobile homes.
