MLive : As private equity buys up mobile home parks, Michigan ranks second highest

PESP and MHAction’s Manufactured Housing Tracker was featured in a story from MLive examining Michigan’s disproportionate share of private equity-owned manufactured housing parks. 

MLive, June 13, 2024: “As private equity buys up mobile home parks, Michigan ranks second highest”

Published last month, the Manufactured Housing Tracker is a first-of-its-kind tool that tracks which manufactured housing parks (MHPs) in the U.S. are owned by private equity. The tracker revealed that 11 private equity firms own 1,114 MHPs across the country, with Michigan ranking second for PE-owned parks. 

Michigan’s ranking represents the state’s disproportionate share of PE-owned parks: one in ten Michigan parks are owned by private equity firms. 

As PESP Housing Director Jordan Ash told MLive, there has been a notable increase in private equity firms buying manufactured housing parks. “They’ve definitely been much more aggressive in terms of acquisition over the last decade,” said Ash. 

Residents of private equity-owned MHPs have reported rent increases of as much as 60% after private equity-owned landlords took over their parks as well as egregious maintenance issues. In multiple corporate-owned manufactured housing communities, residents endure frequent water shutoffs and in at least one case, have had to pay for undrinkable water. 

In Michigan, a set of bills to create more robust protections for residents of manufactured housing parks are currently being considered by the state legislature. 

For more on the Private Equity Manufactured Housing Tracker, click here.