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\t\t\tBreens Mobile Court residents William Cochran, 75, left, and his partner, Linda Bemis, 71, are shown at their home in Oakland on Thursday. The town of Oakland is not pursuing an ordinance to stabilize lot rent increases while mobile home owners are being priced out of their parks. Bemis and Cochran bought their single-wide trailer in 19 years ago. (Rich Abrahamson\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Citing a new state law that gives mobile home residents the ability to enter mediation with park owners, Oakland officials are abandoning an effort to restrict lot rent increases at the town\u2019s mobile home parks.<\/p>\n
But LD 2231, which goes into effect in July, won\u2019t do what some residents of Oakland\u2019s mobile home park are seeking \u2014 rent stabilization. <\/p>\n
Now those residents are circulating a petition to put a rent-stabilization ordinance before town voters in November. In the meantime, the temporary ban on rent increases has been extended to Aug. 1.<\/p>\n
Town Manager Kelly Pinney-Michaud said LD 2231 restricts lot rent increases to be a maximum of 1% higher than the Consumer Price Index, but Lorri Nandrea, an organizer with the Maine Labor Climate Council, said this is a misunderstanding of the law.<\/p>\n
LD 2231 requires mobile home park owners increase rent only once a year and provide notice of the increases. If 51% or more of a park\u2019s households disagree with a proposed rent increase, and the increase is over the CPI threshold, they can request mediation, which is nonbinding. So, mobile home park owners would not be legally bound to any increase amount agreed on in mediation.<\/p>\n
The Maine Labor Climate Council is working to address Maine\u2019s affordability crisis, and Nandrea said mediation has proved ineffective in the parks that have tried it, and she doesn\u2019t know where confusion around the law is coming from.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there has just been a total misunderstanding,\u201d Nandrea said. \u201cI know a lot of people have tried to correct this misunderstanding, myself included, but it seems to have persisted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oakland is believed to be the only town in Maine where officials haven\u2019t pursued an ordinance following a moratorium. Biddeford tabled a similar ordinance last week, which Nandrea attributed to confusion around LD 2231.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to reverse things in Biddeford, where the ordinance was only tabled,\u201d Nandrea said. \u201cIn Oakland, there does seem to have been reluctance from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Purchase this image<\/a><\/p>\n Now, Breens Mobile Home Park resident Rhonda West, 63, is starting a citizen\u2019s initiative with the support of other residents to get lot rent stabilization on the ballot in November. <\/p>\n West and her neighbor William Cochran, 76, are both on fixed incomes and own their homes. Rent at Breens is currently $600 per lot, $215 higher than it was in November 2024. <\/p>\n \u201cIt should never have been allowed for a company to gouge people like that,\u201d West said. \u201cThey\u2019re literally raping us of our money every month.\u201d<\/p>\n DISBANDING THE MOBILE HOME COMMITTEE<\/p>\n When Oakland placed a 90-day moratorium on rent increases in March, it also created a committee to identify challenges in mobile home parks, improve communication with lot owners and find solutions.<\/p>\n Many residents complained their parks were unclean, one lacked a dumpster, and that getting maintenance requests filled was difficult. Pinney-Michaud served as a point of contact between residents and property managers.<\/p>\n The committee made some progress with those concerns. Hidden Meadows Mobile Home Park had paving done, and Breens is scheduled to get a dumpster and road work soon.<\/p>\n But the council disbanded the committee on May 27 after four meetings, following Pinney-Michaud\u2019s recommendation.<\/p>\n In that recommendation, she cited the May 18 committee meeting, when emotions were running high and some committee members started yelling. She also cited a Morning Sentinel story in which residents criticized the committee. <\/p>\n \u201cThey were pissed off because we went to the news,\u201d West said last week.<\/p>\n Multiple sources said Pinney-Michaud told residents that speaking to the Morning Sentinel made the situation worse and that the content of the story was an embarrassment to the town, which Pinney-Michaud confirmed.<\/p>\n Pinney-Michaud said in an email that she was not upset with residents but was disappointed they felt frustrated while she felt the town was making progress, and had invested time and money on the problem.<\/p>\n Pinney-Michaud recommended the town council disband the committee at the next meeting, as it was not a good use of time, and she would be more productive working one-on-one with residents. At that meeting, she expressed her \u201cextreme disappointment\u201d in the article again.<\/p>\n Nandrea said this is consistent with a \u201cpaternalistic\u201d attitude the Oakland Town Council has toward the mobile home residents. She said she\u2019s heard council members describe residents as \u201cchildish,\u201d and Pinney-Michaud repeatedly said residents were not completing their \u201chomework\u201d for the committee.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there is an attitude on the part of the town council that the mobile home residents are somehow behaving in a way that\u2019s immature, and that the town council\u2019s responsibility is to encourage them to be more responsible,\u201d Nandrea said. \u201cIn my experience with these residents, nothing could be further from the truth.\u201d <\/p>\n Purchase this image<\/a><\/p>\n Town officials weigh in<\/p>\n Town Councilor Bob Nutting said he would not have voted to support a rent stabilization ordinance, and it made sense to him to leave the question to a citizen\u2019s initiative.<\/p>\n Nutting was critical of a rally residents held before a May 13 town council meeting, where they said they were frustrated with the council\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cThey did their rally, they badmouth the council \u2026 (it\u2019s) a poor way to do it, I think,\u201d Nutting said. \u201cBut they\u2019re all gung ho for a cap and they certainly have the ability to press that issue with the ballot box.\u201d<\/p>\n Nutting said while he believes the free market should regulate rent, he sympathizes with residents who can\u2019t afford to leave their mobile home parks, and called it a tough situation. It costs thousands of dollars to move a mobile home, which the residents who are struggling to pay rent can little afford.<\/p>\n Purchase this image<\/a><\/p>\n Councilor Kelly Roderick said she was disappointed the council couldn\u2019t find \u201ca path forward that would provide greater protections for residents of our manufactured housing communities, many of whom are among our town\u2019s most vulnerable citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n Roderick said she remains committed to working with residents and councilors to find solutions.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Pinney-Michaud is still working to bridge the gap between residents and lot owners, and the town is drafting an ordinance to regulate property maintenance and health and safety in the parks.<\/p>\n Pinney-Michaud expects the ordinance, which would regulate both owners and residents, to have its first reading at the end of June, and a second reading in July.<\/p>\n Even with possible maintenance improvements, for West, the next step is obvious. Shehopes she and her fellow residents can collect the necessary 375 signatures from registered voters to get lot rent stabilization on the ballot.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can literally come over here and physically evict me, and I will still fight for the people,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n West and her fellow residents plan to host a gathering for park residents on June 12. They\u2019ll discuss an ordinance to stop extreme lot rent increases, but they\u2019ll also have a barbecue, swimming and music. The event is set for 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Oakland Waterfront Park on Willey Point Road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breens Mobile Court residents William Cochran, 75, left, and his partner, Linda Bemis, 71, are shown at their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-350370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/w2pcms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/06\/43634469_20260604_06park_.jpg\")
<\/a>With Breens Mobile Court as a backdrop, court resident Linda Bemis, 71, checks her mail Thursday in Oakland. The town of Oakland is not pursuing an ordinance to stabilize lot rent increases while mobile home owners say they are being priced out of their parks. Bemis and her partner William Cochran bought their single-wide trailer 19 years ago. (Rich Abrahamson\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dev.mainetodaymedia.com\/smugmug\/upload.php?data=%7B%22src%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.centralmaine.com%5C%2Fwp-content%5C%2Fuploads%5C%2Fsites%5C%2F2%5C%2F2026%5C%2F06%5C%2F43634469_20260604_06park_.jpg%22%2C%22caption%22%3A%22With%20Breens%20Mobile%20Court%20as%20a%20backdrop%2C%20court%20resident%20Linda%20Bemis%2C%2071%2C%20checks%20her%20mail%20Thursday%20in%20Oakland.%20The%20town%20of%20Oakland%20is%20not%20pursuing%20an%20ordinance%20to%20stabilize%20lot%20rent%20increases%20while%20mobile%20home%20owners%20say%20they%20are%20being%20priced%20out%20of%20their%20parks.%20Bemis%20and%20her%20partner%20William%20Cochran%20bought%20their%20single-wide%20trailer%2019%20years%20ago.%20%28Rich%20Abrahamson%5C%2FStaff%20Photographer%29%22%7D\")
<\/a>With Breens Mobile Court as a backdrop, court resident Linda Bemis, 71, checks her mail Thursday in Oakland. The town of Oakland is not pursuing an ordinance to stabilize lot rent increases while mobile home owners say they are being priced out of their parks. Bemis and her partner William Cochran bought their single-wide trailer 19 years ago. (Rich Abrahamson\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n<\/a>A cyclist passes Breens Mobile Court at 54 Fairfield St. in Oakland on Thursday. (Rich Abrahamson\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n