Bill offering more protections to residents of manufactured home parks heads to House Floor

A bill offering manufactured home park residents additional protections is headed to the House Floor.

The House Commerce Committee approved HF1571, as amended, Friday.

The bill is intended to help protect Minnesota’s roughly 1,000 manufactured home parks as a source of affordable housing needed during the current housing crisis, according to the bill sponsor, Rep. Michael Howard (DFL-Richfield).

With around 50,000 manufactured homes in the state, they represent the largest source of affordable home ownership.

“Over the past many years we have seen more and more manufactured home parks closed for redevelopment,” Howard said. “When those are lost, not only are Minnesotans displaced, we lose that affordable housing forever.”

Loopholes in the state’s right of first refusal laws have left residents at risk, Howard said. The bill seeks to amend language currently requiring residents match offer terms – even when the terms require park closure.

Additionally, the bill seeks to streamline the process to make it easier for residents and homeowners to navigate, and would increase the tenant notice period from 45 to 60 days.

The companion SF615, sponsored by Sen. Carolyn Laine (DFL-Columbia Heights) awaits action by the Senate Agriculture, Rural Development, and Housing Policy Committee.