Bills Could Add Protections for Mobile Home Residents

A bipartisan package of bills moving through Lansing could change the rules for Michigan residents who own their homes but rent the land beneath them.

Senate Bills 934-939 would update Michigan’s manufactured housing laws for the first time in decades. Supporters say the changes would strengthen protections while preserving one of the state’s more attainable paths to homeownership.

Manufactured housing communities, often called mobile home parks, can offer a lower-cost way to own a home. But people living there may face challenges around lot rent, utility charges, water quality and what happens when a community is sold.

State Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, said the bills are aimed at “poor conditions, unlicensed parks operating without oversight, and mobile home owners losing their equity when evicted for unpaid lot rent.”

He said Washtenaw residents would see “increased consumer protections and better enforcement of water quality and other rules that park owners are supposed to follow.”

Lead sponsor state Sen. John Cherry described the legislation as the most significant overhaul of Michigan’s manufactured housing laws since 1987.

John Lindley, president and CEO of the Michigan Manufactured Housing Association, said the association worked with Cherry and resident advocates to develop the reforms.

“There’s no question that Michigan has a housing affordability and supply crisis,” Lindley said. “Home ownership opportunities are a significant factor in addressing these needs.”

In many manufactured housing communities, residents own the home but rent the lot where it sits. Lindley said that model can make homeownership attainable, but he also said “there is room for reform within the laws and rules that regulate the manufactured housing industry.”

The bills would require more ownership information, create a searchable public database, require annual inspections, limit utility markups, require one-year leases and require 12 months’ notice before a community owner could use the land for something else.

Other pieces would preserve just-cause eviction protections, give homeowners clearer options after an eviction case and give them a chance to make an offer if their community is put up for sale.

Irwin said he also has a bill that would close what he described as a gap in drinking water rules for manufactured housing communities.

In April, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges against a Brighton-based private water services provider, alleging falsified water safety and discharge tests for mobile home communities. The Attorney General’s Office said state testing found the public was not harmed. Criminal charges are allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The legislation would increase licensing fees for the first time in decades and create a hardship fund for situations such as eviction, home relocation and emergency infrastructure repairs.

The bills still need to pass the House and be signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer before becoming law.

For homeowners, the changes could affect whether a community is licensed, whether water rules are enforced, whether fees and utilities are clear and what protections exist when they own the home but not the land underneath it.