LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate approved Sen. Joseph Bellino’s legislation on Tuesday as part of a bipartisan six-bill package to enhance protections for the state’s 474,000 mobile home park residents.

“This modernization is long overdue, as Michigan’s law regarding mobile home parks and their residents has not been updated in decades,” said Bellino, R-Monroe. “These reforms would strengthen oversight of mobile home parks and increase protections for mobile home residents — while supporting a robust marketplace for these affordable housing options.”

Manufactured homes, often called mobile homes, differ from traditional homes in that they are constructed and assembled in a factory and then transported to a home site. This allows them to be built for significantly less money than a traditional home. While the average cost of a new house in Michigan is over $350,000, the average price of a new manufactured home is less than $150,000. There are over 1,200 mobile home communities throughout Michigan with nearly 250,000 homes.

Bellino’s measure, Senate Bill 935, would require annual mobile home park inspections and create new rules for mobile home installers. It would also update requirements for lease and rental agreements and the list of practices by mobile home park owners that are unfair or deceptive.

SBs 934 and 936-939 would:

• Create a mobile home park owner database.
• Enable the state to enact rules regarding water and wastewater systems within parks.
• Create a more comprehensive licensing application process.
• Create several funds designed to assist park owners and residents.
• Provide more options for mobile home residents who are being evicted from their park.
• Require park owners to notify residents if they intend to sell a park.
• Establish penalties for unlicensed park ownership.
• Create an income tax credit for park owners who sell their park to the park’s residents.
• Outline the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s role in administering a new Resident Ownership Revolving Fund.

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