Lang
2/15/24
The North Liberty city council has passed a resolution calling for the state legislature to pass laws aimed at protecting mobile home residents.
Residents of both the Golfview Estates and Holiday Lodge manufactured housing communities have complained to city officials in recent years about sudden increases in their lot rent coupled with reductions and deficiencies in park maintenance. They’ve specifically expressed concerns with the company Havenpark, which owns Golfview and has recently purchased other Johnson County mobile home parks including Modern Manor, Lake Ridge, and Sunrise Village in Iowa City and Western Hills Estates in Coralville. Since the takeover, Golfview residents say they’ve seen ten percent or more increases in lot rent every year, with a reduction in services and poor maintenance. Residents of Modern Manor say that after Havenpark took over their community, cable TV and mowing amenities were withdrawn.
Last year the Iowa Manufactured Home Residents Network asked state lawmakers to put an emergency moratorium on rent increases and require Havenpark to restore safety and maintenance levels. Tuesday night’s North Liberty city council resolution calls for mobile home park owners to reduce the amount and frequency of rent increases and restore park maintenance and other services to park residents upon which they previously relied.
The resolution also calls upon state lawmakers to restore the ability of local communities to exercise home rule and remove barriers to the enactment of local ordinances that would address issues being faced by mobile home residents.