Rent spike scares residents

Mobile home residents in and around Moscow are searching for solutions as they face dramatic rent increases they fear could leave them homeless.

The Latah County commissioners met Tuesday with several residents who are living in mobile home communities recently purchased by Hurst & Son LLC, a privately owned investment, property management and construction company. It purchased Abiel Community, Appaloosa Community, Palouse Hills Community and Woodland Heights Community from Gary Lester.

University of Idaho sociology professor Leontina Hormel said residents are facing rent increases from 40% to 55% under the new ownership. Suzy James, a six-year resident of Woodland Heights, said her monthly lot rent will increase from $340 to $525. Breanna Sipley, a four-year-resident of Abiel, said her rent is being raised from $375 to around $550.

Several parents at the meeting, including six-year Appaloosa resident Crystal Henington, said they are worried about finding a place to continue raising their children. Henington said residents chose to live in Appaloosa so they can support their families.

“And these kinds of things are putting hindrances on it that scare me as a mother, to make me wonder about the choice that I’ve made to put my son in a solid place that I know I can afford,” she said.

It may not be “high society,” she said, but it is safe and that is what they bought into.

“So, how can we protect ourselves?” Henington said.

Appaloosa also faces important infrastructure issues as it is waiting for its sewage to be connected to the Moscow municipal system.

Hormel said the lease is about 20 pages long and residents at Tuesday’s meeting, including Sipley, called the addition of numerous new rules in the lease as “predatory.”

Hormel is working with the UI to conduct a needs assessment survey of all the affected residents to figure out how many cannot afford their rent and how many are planning to move.

She advised residents to contact the UI’s legal aid clinic for legal advice, and Sojourners’ Alliance for information on where they can live if they are on the verge of homelessness. Hormel said UI legal aid interns are currently interviewing residents.

James suggested they also call Intermountain Fair Housing Council, a nonprofit based in Boise that advocates for fair housing practices.

Victoria O’Banion of ROC Northwest also attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak to the residents about the concept of resident-owned communities.

She said ROC Northwest works with manufactured housing residents to form a cooperative to purchase their community from its current owner and manage it themselves.

O’Banion said each resident can buy into this cooperative with a $100-$200 lifetime fee. The cooperative takes on a mortgage, adopts bylaws, hires a property manager and creates a board of directors. It can receive direct financing from the nonprofit bank ROC USA Capital.

She said these types of communities typically see smaller increases in their lot rent compared to investor-owned communities.

In the meantime, O’Banion suggested residents of these four local communities come together and potentially hold a meeting under one roof to talk about their options.

“Let’s organize and go from there,” she said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.