Iowa mobile home owners ask lawmakers to pass protections

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Mobile home owners are asking the Iowa legislature to pass a bill that they say would better protect them from some out-of-state park owners.

They are reporting abuses associated with new park owners who come in and increase the rent by 30 to 70%, evict longtime homeowners without a cause, and raise other fees on utilities. The owners want lawmakers to support a bill introduced this year that would allow people who live in manufactured homes to have the same rights as those who rent apartments.

“Now we are here, a third legislative session in a row, 2021. Speaking up for thousands of Iowans who are struggling to get by even before we were hit by the pandemic and then the derecho,” Candy Evans, a resident of Golfview Mobile Home Park in North Liberty, said during the virtual meeting. “We are coming to you from our homes, our neighborhoods across Iowa today via Zoom because we do not have another year to wait for change.”

Golfview was one of the mobile home parks bought out by a group called Havenpark in early 2019. The new ownership announced their intention to raise lot rents by a significant margin, causing outrage among some residents and elected officials.

The bill has passed out of a House judiciary subcommittee, but the full judiciary committee has not considered it yet.

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