Residents of mobile home parks and manufactured home communities in the county have been asking for help from their municipalities due to rapidly rising lot rents that some say will cost them their homes. Most recently it is the residents of the Osprey Cove Mobile Home Park in Upper Township. But the problem is not a new one.

One could cite instances in Upper and Lower townships where residents of mobile home communities have requested that the municipalities entertain instituting rent control boards. In Middle Township, where rent control in these communities already exists, there was a need to tweak the township’s ordinance to make it more effective.

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“They own their homes – but not the ground

beneath them. When rents rise, everything is at risk.”

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According to a 2024 report to the Federal Reserve Board of Philadelphia on New Jersey’s manufactured housing communities, the largest number of such communities are in coastal counties. The report sets the count for Cape May County at 28. Numbers vary based on sources, but that is a good enough estimate for our discussion.

To make things simpler let us agree with the convention that uses mobile home parks and manufactured home communities interchangeably. The acronym MHCs is most often used in official reports and serves our purpose.

Rapidly rising land values in our county is what makes it important to pay attention to the plight of these communities. In an environment where real estate values are rising so significantly, areas of affordable housing, frequently used by retired senior citizens, are few. MHCs provide the only affordable housing options for many lower-income residents. The model for these communities is one in which the residents often own their homes but not the land underneath them.

In the exploding housing market that has characterized the county since the pandemic, the land under these modest homes is potentially valuable for other projects. Rising values have also brought with them a spate of corporate buying of MHCs, leading to higher lot rents. The communities that form the last haven for many seeking affordable home ownership are in trouble.

Andrew Rumbach, a professor at Texas A&M University, speaks of “the invisibility of mobile home parks.” MHC landowners are frequently among the top filers of eviction notices in many states.

In many cases these communities are at a disadvantage by omission. States seldom have statutes that directly address the rights of residents in MHCs and the corresponding responsibilities of park owners.

The added problem for residents is that if they can no longer afford the rent on the land under their homes, they often cannot relocate the home. Everything is at risk.

There is legislation, co-sponsored by our 1st Legislative District 1 assemblymen, Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan, that would place some limits on rent increases for manufactured homes. The bill has passed both houses but has yet to be signed by Governor Murphy. If signed it represents a beginning for bringing attention to this important area of state housing.

There are many who argue for a resident-owner co-op model for such communities, which gives residents more control over the land their homes sit on. Opportunity to purchase laws are another mechanism push ed by advocates. These laws allow the residents of a community to match a third party buyer’s offer to buy the community. Rent stabilization is yet another option, with rent control boards involved in attempts to raise rents in these communities.

The potential options are varied and require thoughtful consideration and discussion. What is not good policy is to do nothing and see the withering away of one the last enclaves of affordable housing in the county disappear in a flurry of corporate buyouts and rising lot rents.

We need to shine a bright light on the invisible communities, and our elected officials must pay attention.

Quotes From the Bible

“If any of your kin fall into difficulty and become dependent on you, you shall support them … so that they may continue to live beside you.” Leviticus 25:35