Tag Archives: Maine

The AMerican Dream Under Assault

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Private Equity Buying Up Affordable Housing Mobile Home Parks. Is There a Solution?

May 19, 2025 A More Perfect Union and the Portland Press Herald, Maine 3

Institutional investors snapped up mobile home and trailer parks during COVID, and from 2020 to 2021, they bought almost a quarter of the parks that were sold. 12 private equity firms own at least 1,200 parks nationwide. 22 million Americans live in mobile home and trailer parks and are often the last line before homelessness. Residents own their homes and pay rent on the lot; they are captives because it costs too much to leave. 

Some tenants band together to get financing to buy their park. A few states are considering legislation to limit rent increases and other measures that can hurt the landlords trying to sell the parks. A critic noted that if legislators are concerned about losing affordable housing, they could work with state housing authorities to provide funding for park owners looking to expand.

Randall Smith is the founder of Alden Global Capital; Homes of America is an affiliate company that, since 2021, has spent $300 million to acquire a 138 parks across 17 states. maintenance can be deferred because the tenants have nowhere else to go.

In Michigan, a bill requiring park owners to justify rent increases above rate of inflation and limit fees landlords can charge was not passed, despite its popularity, after the Michigan Manufactured Housing Association pulled its support and it died in the Michigan State Senate. At the same time, Robbie Pratt and Anthony Antonelli, members of the Michigan Manufactured Housing Association political action committee, received large donations totalling $358,889.

Maine lawmakers consider bill to stop mobile home park sales for 3 months

State lawmakers are considering a three-month moratorium on the sale of mobile home parks, a move that could disrupt at least two pending sales in Maine.

Supporters say a pause on mobile home sales would allow lawmakers to evaluate a handful of mobile home-related bills, while also giving the residents of Friendly Village in Gorham a fair shot at purchasing their park.

But opponents argue the stoppage would infringe on the rights of private property owners, and one would-be seller said it could sink a sale that is critical to both him and his tenants.

Proposed by Sen. Chip Curry, D-Belfast, the bill would bar the sale of any mobile home park in Maine until Oct. 31. Because the bill is proposed as an emergency bill, it would go into effect immediately after passage, although it would require two-thirds majorities in both chambers.

Some supporters suggested adding an exemption for residents trying to purchase their parks, as well as an extension of the moratorium through the end of the year.

Curry told the Housing and Economic Development Committee that he updated the bill’s language after hearing for months that the state is losing affordable housing to private equity investors looking to profit “and I would argue exploitatively” from low-income Mainers.

Curry proposed the moratorium “to give us time to catch up on the regulatory environment so we can best protect our most vulnerable members of the community,” he said.

BILLS ON THE TABLE

Mobile home parks in Maine and across the country are increasingly being purchased by out-of-state investors who then raise the monthly lot rents, in some cases by two or three times, according to national data. An estimated one-fifth of Maine’s 468 licensed parks are now owned by out-of-state investors.

Following the passage of a 2023 “opportunity to purchase law,” several communities, including those in Brunswick, Bangor and Monmouth, have formed cooperatives to purchase their parks. But more than twice as many have failed, even with offers just above those of the competition.

Lawmakers are currently considering several bills to protect mobile homeowners, including one that would give residents the “right of first refusal” to purchase their park when it goes up for sale.

Another would attach a hefty per-lot fee to the purchase of a community (on top of the purchase price) to be paid to MaineHousing to replenish a statewide program designed to help residents buy their parks. Resident-owned co-ops and affordable housing groups would be exempt from the fee.

Another bill would eliminate the real estate transfer tax on sales of mobile home parks to resident buyers.

The committee tabled two similar bills Tuesday that aim to prevent sudden and dramatic lot-rent increases.

Rep. Cheryl Golek, D-Harpswell, who proposed one of the rent control bills, asked that committee members consider a freeze on mobile home rents if they decide to push her bill to next session.

“These are people’s lives that we’re talking about,” she said. “This is not a political divided issue. We have hundreds and hundreds of people begging us … to do something to protect them.”

A TALE OF TWO PARKS

Dawn Beaulieu, a resident of Friendly Village for almost 30 years, said residents plan to submit an offer Monday — one that is higher than the $22 million offer from Crown Communities, the prospective buyer.

But many sellers don’t want to give up a sure sale in favor of an offer from residents who may struggle to pull the money together.

“(The moratorium) would give us the amount of time we need to put a good faith motion forward with financing, to show them that they’re still going to get what they’re looking for,” Beaulieu said.

Nora Gosselin, director of resident acquisitions at the Cooperative Development Institute, said she’s watched the Legislature this session approach the “complicated issue of mobile home park preservation with huge creativity and thoughtfulness.” The institute assists residents who are trying to buy their parks.

The bill, she said, would weave together the committee’s work with Friendly Village’s “Herculean” organizing efforts to buy the park.

“A moratorium on large park transactions will allow the protections crafted by this committee … to kick into effect in time to benefit the almost 300 households at Friendly Village,” she said.

But Michael Oneglia, the owner of two parks in Belfast, said the bill could kill a deal that he has spent tens of thousands of dollars and more than 10 months trying to close.

Oneglia is under contract to sell Seacoast Village, a 22-lot park, and Hyland Estates, a 68-lot park, and is set to close in the coming weeks. Residents were not interested in purchasing the parks, he said, so he proceeded with a private sale.

But if the moratorium goes into effect, “I will absolutely lose my buyer,” he told the committee. “I have a personal situation where I need to sell and this will really screw things up for me and my tenants.”

If the deal falls through, Oneglia said, he would have to cut back the parks’ services to just the essentials, dramatically lowering the standard of living for his tenants, who will pay the same amount of money while he recovers from the financial hit.

“I just can’t believe we’re even at a point where we’re talking about a moratorium of the sale of a private piece of property,” he said. “It seems un-American and it’s completely inappropriate.”

‘MORE HARM THAN GOOD’

Others who opposed the moratorium bill, including many park owners like Oneglia, said a moratorium could devalue their properties and risks being an unconstitutional taking of property.

Tina Marie Smith, vice president of State Manufactured Homes in Scarborough, said the bill was “created with unsubstantiated hysteria” and that it and the provisions being considered in the other bills threaten the future of their industry.

She asked that legislators not paint all park owners with the same brush and consider families like hers who have owned the same park for generations.

Read full article here…

from:    https://needtoknow.news/2025/05/private-equity-buying-up-affordable-housing-mobile-home-parks-is-there-a-solution/

What is Happening to our Young?

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Democrats Shut Down Investigation into Maine’s Surging Excess Deaths

Frank Bergman

Democrats in Maine have stepped in and shut down an investigation by Republican lawmakers into the state’s spike in excess deaths.

Republican State Rep. Heidi Sampson (R-Alfred) is raising the alarm over Maine’s surging excess deaths.

Sampson warns that the state has suffered an alarming “silent epidemic.”

She revealed that data shows that excess deaths are now 18% higher than they were in 2020.

Specifically, the state has seen a surge in sudden deaths among young and middle-aged adults with no known previous illness.

However, Sampson revealed that the state’s Democrat lawmakers “shrugged their shoulders” when she proposed investigating the deaths.

Alarmingly, she warns that Democrats have stymied her effort to investigate the issue.

After growing increasingly concerned about the soaring excess since the pandemic, Sampson tried to bring the issue to the Maine House of Representatives in March.

Sampson compiled Maine’s all-cause mortality data for 2015-2022.

The data was analyzed by a statistician.

The lawmaker warned her colleagues that Maine has suffered an 18% increase in excess deaths among 25- to 64-year-olds since 2020.

She also cited the CEO of the One America insurance company, J. Scott Davison.

Sampson said Davison “publicly disclosed that during the third and fourth quarter of 2021, death in people of working age 18 to 64 was 40% higher than it was before the pandemic.”

She went on to describe the recent emergence of the now-common phenomenon of “sudden death syndrome.”

Examples of sudden deaths include death by heart attack, stroke, meningitis, brain aneurysm, pulmonary embolism, anaphylaxis, and asthma.

“You will find hundreds, even thousands, of examples,” she told her colleagues in the state House.

“A few years ago, this was unheard of.

“Sudden death syndrome (SDS)” is a “silent epidemic” that demands immediate attention and investigation, she asserted.

“SDS is an umbrella term. It includes biologically based scenarios describing [the] quick onset of unexpected mortality without prior signs of illness. I’ll repeat: without prior signs of illness,” Sampson said.

“Autopsies may be non-conclusive due to the lack of obvious abnormalities. They may also be non-conclusive because we may not be asking the right questions.”

“If there is even a chance this data is correct, we have the moral obligation to our children to investigate,” she said.

“This data represents a flashing red light.”

WATCH:

In a new interview, Sampson described the surge in excess deaths as “earthshaking.”

“This data was compiled by actuaries who are the mathematical experts insurance companies rely upon,” she told the Defender.

“A 40% increase in deaths is literally earthshaking.

“Even a 10% increase in excess deaths would have been a 1-in-200-year event.”

Sampson presented her findings to her colleagues at the state House and urged Maine lawmakers to back investigations into the issue.

However, she said Democrats moved to block Sampson’s efforts to investigate the deaths.

“The Democrats could not reject this order fast enough,” she added.

She said two Democrats, both doctors, approached her after her speech demanding to know where she got the data.

They then proceeded to insist that the increased deaths were due to suicides.

“They just shrugged their shoulders,” Sampson said.

“We shut the whole damn state down for 6%,” she said of the lockdowns during the Covid pandemic.

“What are we doing with almost 18%?

“As a mother and a grandmother, this entire issue deeply concerns me.

“I want my children and their children to have long, healthy lives.

“We need to get to the bottom of this.”

Sampson has also raised critical questions about the safety of Covid mRNA shots which were misleadingly pushed onto the public as “vaccines.”

She also warned against the growing influence of unelected international organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO).

“The data are in — it is not safe and effective,” she said.

“And until the federal government removes the liability shield from the vaccine manufacturers, the COVID-19 shot must be removed from the Maine market.”

But she told the Defender that “she once again faced resistance from her colleagues.”

She described the response from Democrats as “tense and uncomfortable.”

Her Democrat colleagues also shot down her order to nullify WHO’s now-failed pandemic treaty authority that surrenders state’s rights to the United Nations “health” agency in the event of a future pandemic or “climate emergency.”

“It was heart-sickening to watch my colleagues on the other side of the aisle rapidly stand, object, and vote against this motion,” Sampson wrote in April.

“All I can say is now they are responsible for the information they have heard,” she said.

“It is on the record.”

from:    https://slaynews.com/news/democrats-shut-down-investigation-maines-surging-excess-deaths/

Free Rent and Housing for Illegals in Maine!!!!

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Maine Builds New Apartment Buildings for Illegal Immigrants With Free Rent for TWO YEARS (VIDEO)

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The taxpayers of Maine have just funded the construction of several brand new apartment buildings for people who illegally crossed our border.

People who were lucky enough to get these homes will live there RENT FREE for two years while they apply for work permits.

This raises many questions, but here’s a big one. Why can’t this be done for homeless Americans? Why do we even have homeless veterans if this can be done for non-Americans?

Do our leaders have any idea how insulting this is to millions of American citizens?

News Center Maine reports:

Town of Brunswick celebrates new apartments for unhoused asylum seekers

For years, the former naval air station base in Brunswick has been undergoing renovations. Businesses have slowly moved in, and housing developments are continuing to pop up on once-barren streets. That includes new apartments that, for the next couple of years, will be serving asylum seekers.

On Monday, dozens of people gathered at Brunswick Landing to celebrate 60 new apartment units going up in five buildings. Twenty-four of them are already complete. These units are designed to house asylum seekers, as they wait to receive work permits. That process can often take a while, since asylum seekers can’t even file for a permit until at least six months after filing their initial asylum applications.

This program is happening through the Maine State Housing Authority. MaineHousing will essentially pay the rent for these asylum seekers for up to two years. After that, they will be converted to a mix of market-rate and affordable housing, unless the state says the program needs to be extended.

Here’s a video report:

There are 60 units here.

 

Maine has plenty of American citizens who are poor and disadvantaged. Imagine being one of them and seeing this. It’s outrageous.

from:    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/maine-builds-new-apartment-buildings-illegal-immigrants-free/

Background of Maine Earthquake

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The Facts Behind the Maine Earthquake

Douglas Main, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer
Date: 17 October 2012
A USGS map showing, in blue, where people reported feeling the Maine earthquake (on Oct. 16, 2012).
A USGS map showing, in blue, where people reported feeling the Maine earthquake (on Oct. 16, 2012).
CREDIT: USGS

How unusual was the magnitude-4.0 earthquake that struck southern Maine yesterday (Oct. 16)?

U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Julie Dutton said it was larger than most but not too out of the ordinary for New England, where one or two minor earthquakes can be felt somewhere every year.

It’s unclear what exactly caused the quake, Dutton told OurAmazingPlanet. “To pinpoint which fault it was — we don’t have that information and we may never have that information,” she said. The area lacks the extensive network of seismometers present in more tectonically active areas. There are many faults in the area, and the fault that was active yesterday was probably small and may never be active again, Dutton said.

The East Coast is riddled with old faults, buried miles deep in the ancient crust of the North American plate, the tectonic plate that underlies the United States and Canada. But most of these fissures haven’t been active in a long time, and very few of them are well-studied or understood.

Stress naturally builds up within tectonic plates and is periodically released in earthquakes like this one, Dutton said.

As in other East Coast quakes, the vibrations Tuesday could be felt over a wide area – as far south as Long Island, N.Y., and as far north as southeastern Ontario, she said.

In North America, feeling shaking over such a larger area is unique to the East Coast. The crust of the eastern part of continent isn’t as fractured as elsewhere, which allows vibrations to travel long distances. That explains how last year’s 5.8-magnitude earthquake, centered in Virginia Aug. 23, was felt by nearly a third of the United States.

Last night’s temblor came from a rupture 4 miles (6 km) underground and struck at 7:12 p.m. local time (23:12 UTC), the USGS reported. The epicenter was about 21 miles west of Portland, Maine.

The earthquake shook houses in Boston and Connecticut, but it apparently did not cause any injuries or damage, according to news reports.  “A magnitude-4 can knock stuff off shelves and that kind of thing, but isn’t likely to cause major structural damage,” Dutton said.

The last earthquake to cause moderate damage in New England was a magnitude-5.6 temblor in New Hampshire in 1940, she said. The largest earthquake in recorded history in New England struck New Hampshire in 1638 and had an estimated magnitude of 6.5, according to the USGS.

Many parts of the country, including California and much of the Southeast, will be holding an earthquake drill tomorrow morning as part of the Great American Shakeout.

from:    http://www.livescience.com/24058-maine-earthquake-facts.html