Searsport voters will decide next month whether to stabilize lot rents at mobile home parks.
The proposal is an effort to protect residents from excessive rent hikes as parks are increasingly bought by private equity firms and out-of-state investors.
To get the measure before voters, supporters had to collect 140 signatures from registered Searsport voters by February 13. They submitted 160 valid signatures, town manager James Gillway said.
Searsport’s town meeting is on March 7.
Stan Desjardins, a resident of the Searsport Mobile Home Park, collected signatures for the measure. He said many of his neighbors are already struggling to get by on social security and can’t afford higher rents.
“I would hope the people of Searsport understand their plight,” he said.
Mobile home parks provide critical affordable housing. But many have been bought up by private equity firms in recent years, leading to concerns about rent hikes and lack of accountability.
The Searsport Mobile Home Park where Desjardins lives is owned by MCI Searsport MHP LLC, whose principal investor is Connecticut-based Red Sky Capital Partners.
He said he’s not opposed to rent increases “as long as they’re reasonable and not exorbitant.”
In many mobile home parks, residents own or rent their mobile home but pay lot rents and other fees to the park owners.
The rent stabilization measure will apply to all three of the town’s mobile home parks. Parks that are owned by a cooperative or have passed a stricter agreement restricting rent increases are exempt.
Under the proposed ordinance, park owners could raise rents only once each year. In general, the ordinance limits rent increases to the most recently posted annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index plus 2 percent. But owners may be able to charge a higher increase in rents or fees if they petition the town’s affordable housing committee and can demonstrate that the increased revenues will go to cover increased operating costs, capital improvements, or emergencies.
When raising lot rents or fees, owners would have to give residents at least 90 days notice and provide residents with their contact information including their name, address, telephone number and email address.
The Searsport rent control effort is part of a broader push in Maine to protect residents of mobile home communities from rent hikes.
Cities including Waterville and Sanford have passed moratoriums temporarily freezing lot fee increases. Voters in Jay will consider a similar measure at their town meeting in April. Old Orchard Beach enacted a mobile home park rent stabilization measure in 2024 that limits rent increases on lots to 5% per year. And in Bangor, residents of the Cedar Falls Mobile Home park outbid a corporate investor to purchase their park last year, becoming the second group in the state to do so.
In June, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed legislation aiming to protect the affordability and stability of manufactured home parks. The law directed the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future to draft a model rent stabilization ordinance for municipalities. Searsport’s proposed ordinance is based on this model.
