Sen. Bailey introduces bill to protect residents of mobile home parks

AUGUSTA — On Wednesday, April 30, Sen. Donna Bailey, D-Saco, introduced a bill to amend the real estate transfer tax and protect residents of mobile home parks. The Legislature’s Taxation Committee conducted a public hearing for LD 1768, “An Act to Protect Residents of Mobile Home Parks by Amending the Real Estate Transfer Tax.”

“I used to live in a mobile home park, so I know the value of preserving the affordability of this housing,” said Sen. Bailey. “If it had not been available, then I might not have been able to start a family and go to law school. While I have since moved on, many others are just starting out like I did many years ago. We will not be able to attract workers and young families or help older Mainers age in the homes they know and love unless we take action to protect mobile home parks.”

LD 1768 offers another possible solution to the ongoing, growing crisis of out-of-state corporations and firms buying mobile home parks and imposing steep rent increases on the residents.

LD 1768 would eliminate the real estate transfer tax on sales of mobile home parks for sales in which the residents of the parks are the buyers.

In other cases, LD 1768 would allocate the real estate transfer tax on sales of mobile home parks to buyers who are not residents of the parks entirely to the Housing Opportunities for Maine (HOME) Fund.

As drafted, the funds from sales would be allocated to the HOME Fund. Sen. Bailey plans to ask the committee to amend the bill so funds would go to the Mobile Home Community Preservation Fund instead.

In 2024, Gov. Janet T. Mills and the Legislature allocated $5 million in one-time funds for MaineHousing to establish the Mobile Home Community Preservation Fund. It supports the purchase of mobile home parks by their residents.

In the coming weeks, LD 1768 will face further action in the committee.

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