COVID-19 Update: Help for manufactured home park residents!

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S economy has suffered major disruptions. Businesses across the U.S. have faced closures, reduced operations, and increased demand for sick leave and the ability to work from home. People are subject to quarantines and shelter-in-place orders and are struggling with the supply for key consumer goods, which has led to panic buying sprees. Students have seen schools and campuses closed and their school years shortened or changed to at-home online instruction. Medical personnel and health care systems face critically low inventories of key protective equipment and medical devices as requests for health services rise.

Organization Background. APAC is the statewide organization representing Minnesota’s 180,000 manufactured (mobile) home park residents. APAC provides a vehicle for manufactured home owners to express their needs and concerns in their parks and in the larger community, through a mix of community organizing, leadership training, and state legislative advocacy.

Our priorities for the 2020 Minnesota Legislative Session are:

• Resident Opportunity to Purchase – Require park owners to provide residents with 60-days notice of any intended sale and the opportunity to submit an offer to buy their parks.
  

Right of First Refusal

On May 24, 2019, the Minnesota Legislature passed proposals backed by All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC), and endorsed by the Homes for All MN coalition, to close loopholes in the state Right of First Refusal law. Flaws in the existing law doomed a 2017 attempt by residents of the Lowry Grove manufactured (mobile) home park to buy their community and prevent it from being closed by a developer. A newly strengthened and streamlined process passed today as part of the Omnibus Agriculture Department, Rural Development, and Housing Finance Bill.

Eliminate Barriers to Manufactured Home Owners Buying Their Own Park Communities