Taxation Committee gives bipartisan support to Sen. Bailey bill to protect residents of mobile home parks

AUGUSTA — On Tuesday, May 13, the Legislature’s Taxation Committee gave its bipartisan support to a bill from Sen. Donna Bailey, D-Saco. LD 1768, “An Act to Protect Residents of Mobile Home Parks by Amending the Real Estate Transfer Tax,” seeks to amend the real estate transfer tax and protect residents of mobile home parks.

“Just the other day, several residents of Old Orchard Village — many of them older folks on fixed incomes with nowhere else to go — called me and urged me to do all that I can to help them and their neighbors afford their rents and stay in their homes,” said Sen. Bailey. “After I reassured them that I remain committed to helping residents of mobile home parks, a majority of my colleagues on the Taxation Committee voted in favor of my bill. It offers more hope that mobile home park residents can purchase their own parks when they go up for sale and provides more control over their futures.”

LD 1768 offers another possible solution to the ongoing, growing trend of out-of-state corporations and firms buying mobile home parks and imposing steep rent increases on the residents. The bill would support residents by eliminating the real estate transfer tax on sales of mobile home parks when the buyers are the residents themselves.

In other cases where buyers are not residents of the park, LD 1768 would allocate revenue generated by the real estate transfer tax to the Housing Opportunities for Maine (HOME) Fund.

In 1982, the Maine State Legislature created the Housing Opportunities for Maine (HOME) Fund as a flexible source of funds to address affordable housing challenges. Currently, a portion of revenue generated by the transfer tax on real estate sales in Maine is allocated to MaineHousing to address the State’s affordable housing needs.

The key characteristic of this dedicated revenue is its flexibility. The HOME Fund supports down payment assistance for first-time and first-generation homebuyers, home modifications and repairs for low-income households, shelters and supportive housing and the development of new housing units.

Additionally, MaineHousing can use the HOME Fund for a wide variety of housing initiatives that might not otherwise have adequate funding to provide access to clean water, foreclosure avoidance, mobile home replacement and emergency housing needs.

As amended, the bill includes clarifying language that stipulates real estate transfer tax revenue contributed to the HOME Fund would continue to assist residents of mobile home parks — even after the temporary Mobile Home Community Preservation Fund exhausts all of its one-time $5 million balance.

In 2024, Gov. Janet T. Mills and the Legislature — with Sen. Bailey’s support — 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 votes in the Senate and House.

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