All Parks Alliance for Change

Families lost their manufactured homes and their park communities when the closure of Lowry Grove in St. Anthony, Southgate in Bloomington, Tri-County in Waite Park, and many other parks around the state tore apart tight-knit communities that had existed for decades. On the other hand, residents in a small number of communities, such as Park Plaza in Fridley, were able to buy their parks and save their homes. Lowry Grove in St. Anthony closed despite offer by residents to buy the park

The loss of these Park Plaza in Fridley becomes resident owned park cooperativecommunities highlighted problems APAC and park residents are fighting to solve. We made important progress in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 Minnesota Legislative Sessions; fixing the "right of first refusal law" law, increasing the money in the Manufactured Home Relocation Trust Fund, making those who rent lots in manufactured home parks eligible for the first time for rental assistance, and extending the closure process for parks from 9 to 12 months, and funding a dedicated park infrastructure grant program.

Help us to fight for park residents, including passing our priorities for the 2021 legislative session: 

• Resident Opportunity to Purchase - Minnesota is one of 19 states with laws that require or encourage park owners to sell their parks to the home owners.  However, the state’s current law (a “right of first refusal”) only applies when a park is being sold for redevelopment. Other states with an "opportunity to purchase" require park owners to provide notice of any intended sale and consider a resident offer.
• Rent Stabilization - Residents are "captive" tenants. Unlike other renters, they cannot simply move if rents become too high because of the high cost and difficulty in moving a manufactured home. Since 1982, state law has attempted to limit rent increases by requiring that rent increases be "reasonable." However, this standard has proven to be too vague to be useful. In addition, park owners are allowed to raise rents twice a year. Instead, rent increases should be limited to once a year, a five-year rent history should be disclosed to applicants, and rent increases should be limited to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) unless they can be justified by increased costs.

Your contribution on Give to the Max Day on between now and midnight on Thursday, November 17 , will, hopefully, make us strong enough to combat the superior financial power of the park owners’ association.

Your support will allow us:

• Outreach to park communities around the state to increase awareness of these issues Bring together residents at the grassroots level to generate calls, letters, and emails Organize groups of residents to meet with Legislators at the State Capitol Maintain an ongoing presence at the State Capitol to fight back against park owner attacks and push for a powerful resident agenda.

• Our goal is to raise $1000 during the Give to the Max Day period. Just $1000 will help to ensure resident’s rights to purchase their parks, so that they will not have their lives torn apart because their park is closed. Just $1000 can help ensure that residents are fairly compensated and can afford to move to another park.

Please help us continue the fight!