Brookfield acquires YES! Communities as housing law leaves gaps

Brookfield closes YES! Communities acquisition amid concerns over manufactured housing protections

Private equity giant now owns one of the nation’s largest manufactured housing portfolios as new federal housing law leaves manufactured housing residents behind

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Brookfield Asset Management has disclosed that it deployed its first investment for its Breva H housing strategy into YES! Communities, one of the nation’s largest owners of manufactured housing communities with almost 300 parks and over 80,000 home sites in 23 states.

The investment significantly expands Brookfield’s presence in one of America’s most important sources of affordable housing while raising new questions about protections for manufactured housing residents. 

Brookfield’s acquisition comes at a time when Congress has taken its first major step toward addressing corporate ownership of housing through the Road to Housing Act. While the law restricts corporate ownership of single-family homes, it largely leaves private equity ownership of manufactured housing communities untouched, even as private equity firms own hundreds of thousands of manufactured housing sites across the country.

Manufactured housing is one of the country’s largest sources of naturally occurring affordable housing. Yet over the past two decades, private equity firms and other large institutional investors have rapidly consolidated the sector. The Private Equity Stakeholder Project and MHAction’s Manufactured Housing Tracker identified that as of 2025, 23 private equity firms collectively own nearly 1,900 manufactured housing communities comprising more than 397,000 home sites nationwide.

Brookfield now owns one of the country’s largest manufactured housing portfolios at a time when residents continue to press for changes at YES! Communities properties. In multiple states, residents have urged the company to end YES! Communities’ policy prohibiting window air conditioners. The policy has left some residents facing lease violations or being forced to remove window A/C units despite dangerous summer heat, prompting concerns from residents, advocates, and elected officials. One of the first questions facing Brookfield is whether it will continue that policy or end it. 

Additionally, recent reporting found that one YES! Communities property accounted for 160 of the 167 eviction filings in its ZIP code in 2025, making it one of Oklahoma City’s highest-volume evictors. Residents have continued facing repeated eviction filings this year, including one resident who has already had two eviction cases filed against him in 2026 after five the previous year. Those are among the unresolved issues Brookfield now inherits. The resident paid the rent and eviction fees each time, sometimes by using his 401(k). The Eviction Lab explained that some landlords “use eviction filings as a way to collect rent and additional fees.” The Eviction Lab estimated that these “serial evictions” result in approximately $180 in fines and fees, raising their monthly housing cost by 20%.

“The job isn’t finished,” said Jordan Ash, Housing Campaign and Research Director at PESP. “The new housing law recognizes that private equity’s growing influence over housing deserves greater scrutiny. But it leaves manufactured housing residents largely on their own, even as Brookfield becomes one of the country’s largest manufactured housing landlords. Families are still dealing with excessive rent increases, serial evictions, maintenance concerns, and even policies restricting window air conditioners during extreme heat. Brookfield now has an opportunity to show residents this acquisition will be different.”

“When a new company buys a mobile home community, we fear increased lot rent and other extra fees,” said Mary Davis, a resident of Yes! Communities’ Avon on the Lakes park in Rochester Hills, Michigan. 

Residents and advocates have also called on Brookfield to address broader concerns at YES! Communities, including infrastructure and maintenance issues. Earlier this year, a Missouri city cited a YES! Communities property over health violations tied to a wastewater lagoon after residents complained of persistent odors and wastewater problems.

Brookfield’s expansion into manufactured housing also comes as the firm faces growing tenant resistance across its broader real estate portfolio. In recent years, tenants in Madrid, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. have organized against Brookfield over concerns including rent increases, housing conditions, and opaque fees, with residents demanding that the company put safe, affordable housing ahead of profits. As Brookfield expands its housing footprint, manufactured housing residents are asking whether the company will take a different approach at YES! Communities.