Protections for Iowa mobile homeowners passes, but not nearly enough, advocates say

DES MOINES — Mobile homeowners leasing the land on which they live would get an extra month’s notice of a rent increase or when a landlord cancels their agreement under a proposal that received final approval Tuesday by state lawmakers.

But advocates say the proposal does not go nearly far enough in increasing protections for mobile homeowners, and thus does little to address the recent proliferation of out-of-state companies that have purchased mobile home lots and parks and increased rent and fees on tenants.

In 2019, nearly half of mobile home lots in Iowa — 45.6 percent of the lots identified by the state’s nonpartisan legal and fiscal analysis agency — were owned by out-of-state companies, according to an analysis by The Gazette.

“(The proposal) surely does do some good things for homeowners,” Zach Wahls, leader of the Iowa Senate Democrats from Coralville, said during debate Tuesday. “But those improvements are so common-sense that to try to sell them to this body as a material improvement is an insult to the people who need more protection.”

In 2019, an out-of-state owner of several parks in Iowa increased rents 24 to 69 percent, and tenants reached out to elected officials — including Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who at the time was running for president — for help.

Wahls has worked on legislative proposals designed to give more protections to mobile home residents since that time. He at one point became emotional during debate, closing by saying, “We can do better than this.”

Speaking to reporters, Wahls said in passing the bill, Senate Republicans sided with the manufactured housing industry and landowners over the mobile homeowners.

Among lobbying groups, the proposal was supported only by the Iowa Manufactured Housing Association, which represents the state’s manufactured housing builders and retailers, according to state lobbying records. No other group is registered in support of the bill.

“The problem here is Republican leadership is listening more to the manufactured housing association, the landlords, than they are to the residents who are crying out for our support,” Wahls said.

Sen. Amy Sinclair, a Republican from Allerton, said the legislation attempts to strike a balance between the rights of mobile homeowners and landowners of mobile home lots and parks.

“We’re striking the balance between those two classes of property owners,” Sinclair said during debate. “I understand that it might not be everything that everybody wants, but sometimes striking that balance means not everybody gets everything they want.”

Two groups are registered in opposition to the proposal: the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, a federation of more than 500 unions representing more than 50,000 Iowa workers.

The state Attorney General’s Office opposes the proposal because it does not limit the amount or number of rent increases allowed, does not constrain a landlord’s ability to charge extra fees, and does not require a landlord to provide a legitimate reason for terminating a tenancy, according to a memo from the office.

The office also had requested legislators give the attorney general enforcement authority under state consumer fraud law.

Democrats in the minority introduced amendments that would have put those into the proposal; they were rebuffed by majority Republicans. Wahls noted that many Senate Republicans had approved legislation in 2019 and 2020 that contained some of those provisions.

The proposal, House File 2562, is headed to Gov. Kim Reynolds for her consideration after it passed out of the Senate on a party-line, 32-16 vote Tuesday, with all Republicans supporting and all Democrats opposing. Previously, it passed the House, 60-37, with Democratic Reps. Lindsay James, of Dubuque, and Kenan Judge, of Waukee, joining Republicans in support.

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