The city of Saco could pass a moratorium on mobile home rent increases in order to help local mobile home residents.

Over the past year, many residents of mobile home lots throughout Maine have seen a significant increase in rent.

A new law, LD 1723, “An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Manufactured Housing Communities to Prevent Excessive Rent and Fees Increases,” went into effect in September, and requires owners to give a 90-day notice of a rent increase.

The law also grants mobile home park residents the right to request mediation to negotiate their rent.

LD 1723 is just one of several laws intended to protect mobile home park residents from excessive rent increases.

But so far, the laws have not had the desired effect, and residents at one mobile home park in Saco are struggling to get by.

“When this rent goes up, we’re going to lose neighbors,” Dan Richards, a resident of Saco’s Blue Haven Community mobile home park, said at a recent City Council meeting.

According to Richards, about 40% of the park’s residents live on fixed incomes, and the increase in rent is difficult for them to afford.

This is true for Sarah Belanger and her husband, who are both on retirement income. This month, Belanger’s rent is increasing by $45.

“I understand that prices go up, but the degree that they’re raising our rent is concerning to me,” Belanger said. “I don’t feel that we’ll be able to live out our retirement there as we planned to.”

The rent increases at Blue Haven Community don’t just affect those living on retirement incomes.

Gary Gardiner, another resident at Blue Haven, said that he and his wife live on Social Security and disability income.

“The prices go up a lot,” Gardiner said. “It’s very hard to keep up.”

The drastic increase in rent prices is fairly new to Blue Haven, one resident said.

Resident Hope Lambert said rent increases were modest before the park was sold in 2020, with some years even seeing no rent increase at all.

But after the park was sold, residents have seen increases in the cost of rent every year, and have started having to pay for services like water, which was previously included in the cost of rent.

Lambert said she will pay 37.5% more in rent this year alone.

“There are less services, there are more fees and fines, and nothing to justify these increases,” Lambert said.

In order to combat excessive rent increases for Blue Haven residents, the city of Saco is looking for a temporary stay on mobile home lot rent increases until the state laws have the desired effect.

Passing a moratorium on rent increases would give residents an opportunity to work with park owners to negotiate rent prices, Saco Mayor Jodi MacPhail said.

“It will give everybody an opportunity to get on board with the new laws,” she said.

The owner of Blue Haven Community, Blue Haven, MHP LLC, also owns a mobile home park in Arundel, where similar issues are taking place, MacPhail said.

Saco city councilors, including Nathan Johnston, were in support of the moratorium.

However, no action was taken at the Oct. 6 meeting, and although the council suggested including the item in the agenda for the Oct. 20 meeting, the item was not discussed.