Residents of two Hopkinton manufactured housing communities say an out-of-state investor’s takeover is undermining their financial security, with plummeting home values and steep lot rent increases upending the futures they had carefully planned.
The issue extends well beyond New Hampshire’s borders.
After sitting down on Wednesday with a group of residents of Meadows of Hopkinton — a manufactured housing park with 70 lots and a six-unit apartment building — Sen. Maggie Hassan said she’s heard similar accounts from manufactured housing communities across the country.
“These private equity companies come in and they try to extract as much return as they can in the short term, and then they sell it or don’t,” she said. “But at the end of the day, it hurts real people who have figured out the math to live here under a system that they thought they understood and that they thought would remain relatively stable.”
In December, Hassan launched an investigation asking six corporate owners of manufactured housing communities in New England to turn over internal documents and materials to examine how their business practices have affected residents.
Among the companies Hassan’s probe is evaluating is Sun Communities, a major player in New Hampshire’s manufactured housing landscape. The firm owns and manages several parks across the state, including Crestwood, located in Concord.
In manufactured housing communities, residents own their homes but lease the land beneath them. In Hopkinton, residents of both Meadows of Hopkinton and Deer Meadow Park pay rent to and must abide by terms set by Sado Parks, a Michigan-based investment firm that purchased the parks last December.
Residents are also responsible for paying property taxes to the local municipality, making monthly lot rent a critical factor in affordability.
Rep. David Luneau, who represents Hopkinton, said he is considering introducing legislation next year to ensure that residents of manufactured housing parks across the state do not face similar issues.
He added that, in New Hampshire, oversight is limited and in some cases nonexistent.
“This is really a consumer protection issue here,” he said. “People’s life savings are being sucked dry, particularly by new owners of manufactured housing parks.”
When Hopkinton’s two parks went up for sale last year, residents tried to band together to buy them through a resident-owned cooperative, an option available to them under state law. But their efforts were unsuccessful.
A resident-owned cooperative operates as a nonprofit; by covering the park’s costs without turning a profit, this model generally helps keep fees more affordable for residents even when expenses rise.
George Langwasser moved to Meadows of Hopkinton 30 years ago expecting it to be his retirement home.
Since Sado Parks took over, that plan has unraveled, he said.
His rent is $680 per month. But if he sells his house, the new homeowner will have to pay $1,285 in rent each month.
Around him, sellers are being forced to cut their asking prices just to attract buyers who can absorb that cost on top of a mortgage and property taxes, and often while living on a fixed income.
“For someone who has lived here for a great amount of time in their home, their basic asset for the rest of their lives, that is being taken away from them, because they can’t sell it for what it’s worth,” said Langwasser. “This is the way the corporation is taking away the assets of the people who live in the park.”
Hassan also launched a survey for people living in manufactured housing communities in New Hampshire to gather firsthand accounts of rent increases, living conditions and treatment by park owners, inviting them to speak directly about their experiences.
This is one piece of the investigation into corporation-owned manufactured housing parks.
For those currently selling their homes in manufactured housing parks, the investigation may have little immediate impact, as it is still in its early stages.
But Hassan hopes it can still help park residents in some way.
“I’d like to think that if corporate owners are aware that members of Congress are watching, they may change some behavior, but I’m not holding my breath,” Hassan said.
