NORWAY — The Norway Select Board declined Thursday to act on residents’ request for a moratorium on lot rents at Norway Commons, opting instead to schedule a workshop later this month.
At a news conference Thursday at Christ Episcopal Church at 35 Paris St. in Norway, residents of the mobile home park urged members of the Select Board to enact a moratorium, citing increases imposed by Sun Communities, the Michigan‑based company that bought the park in 2016.
While residents of Norway Commons were calling Thursday for an immediate moratorium to freeze lot rents until an ordinance can be drafted, the Select Board declined to act and instead voted to hold a Feb. 19 workshop on the issue.
“The Norway Select Board is empathetic to the issue regarding lot rent increases raised by members of Norway Commons and the Maine Labor Climate Council,” Select Board Vice Chair Sarah Carter-Hill wrote Friday in an emailed statement. “We are reviewing moratoriums and ordinances proposed and passed in other Maine towns and will be hosting a workshop to discuss next steps.
“As elected officials, we have a responsibility to act on behalf of all of our citizens and want to make sure we are looking at all possible outcomes before moving forward.”
Sharon LeBlond, a 13‑year resident of the park, said the fee increases have made it “unlivable” for seniors on fixed incomes, and she felt the board was being “less than supportive” given its inaction Thursday night.
“I don’t understand the reluctance to help senior citizens living in their community,” LeBlond wrote in an email Friday to Monitor Local. “We have provided enough information to them so that writing a moratorium/ordinance should be a very easy task.
“As far as legal costs, an hour of a lawyer’s time to review documents seems well worth the expense to me. I am hopeful that during the working session the board will fully support us.”
At the press conference, LeBlond said her monthly rent is scheduled to increase from $407 to $439.50 on April 1.
“In the last four years, we have gone from being an affordable mobile home park to a place where many seniors on fixed incomes just can’t afford to live anymore,” LeBlond said. “During this time, Sun (Communities) has increased the lot rent for new people moving into the park from $350 a month to $632 a month. That is almost a 100 percent increase.”
According to previous reporting by Monitor Local, a letter sent to LeBlond by Sun Communities, which could not be reached by telephone or email before publication, outlined a formula for calculating yearly increases by using the “average lot rent for a manufactured housing community with equivalent services and amenities in the area,” which it said was $741.
The company then applied an increase equal to 1 percent above the consumer price index, or CPI, to that figure, bringing the new rate to $32.01 more per month.
Lee May, who has lived in the park for six years and spoke at the news conference, said basing the consumer price index on “equivalent services and amenities in the area” creates a major loophole. More expensive coastal parks can be used to inflate the index in ways that are untenable for seniors in Oxford County.
“Sun Communities, I’ve been told, used coastal communities for their computations, seeking out those with higher fees,” May said. “We are, apparently, sadly, viewed as an easy revenue stream — locked in place, unable to move. In essence, they (Sun Communities) have a monopoly.”
LeBlond said many of the park’s residents feel trapped by rising lot rents. She said she knows of at least two residents who are actively choosing between paying lot rent and purchasing prescriptions. But even if the rent is too expensive, residents cannot just move.
“With lot rent being that high for new people moving into the park, residents who want to sell their home are finding it very difficult to sell it,” LeBlond said. “And even if they are able to sell it, where are they going to go? Where are they going to live? There just isn’t any affordable housing available.”
That financial pressure, residents said, has created a deeper sense of powerlessness.
“It’s not like I’ll go somewhere else and buy a car — I don’t like your number,” May said. “So we are asking for help. We’re not viewing them as affordable housing, but they’re money. We are a trapped revenue stream, and here we sit.”
LeBlond said Sun Communities has not acknowledged or responded to the residents’ concerns.
“I was told that Sun Communities’ vice president was trying to reach out to me. However, I have found that is not the case,” LeBlond said. “If they do reach out to us, certainly we would talk to them. But at this point in time, that has not happened.”
LeBlond said what first drew her and her late husband to what was then Town & Country Mobile Home Village was the service the previous owners provided. She said park workers looked after residents, many of them retirees and widows.
“During the fall park maintenance, people would come around and make sure our heat tapes were hooked up and installed,” LeBlond said. “Now, 70‑ and 80‑year‑old women are expected to go out, take off the siding from their mobile home and do that themselves. In the past, if you had a problem, you could call and help would be provided. That is not the case now.”
Residents said they are also concerned about water, power and other incidental fees. Pet fees are $10 a month, and every added cost becomes a challenge for residents budgeting on fixed incomes.
At the news conference, Tom Hoffelder, a park resident, read a statement from SeniorPlus, a local organization for older adults.
“For many living on fixed incomes, rising housing costs, along with increasing prices for food, utilities and health care, create serious risks to independence,” he said. “Older adults are one of Maine’s most valuable assets and the reason for the growth of our resilient and vibrant communities across the state.”
LeBlond said that while the situation at the park is making residents feel overwhelmed at the hands of Sun Communities, a moratorium on lot rents would provide some relief moving forward.
“Putting it mildly, we are very vulnerable and powerless against this billion‑dollar corporation,” LeBlond said. “We’re asking the town of Norway to help us by enacting a moratorium to freeze lot rents until they are able to write an ordinance that would follow the state guidelines.”
Cheyenne Gallivan, director of communications and member engagement at the Maine Labor Climate Council, released a statement from the organization following the Select Board meeting.
“Norway’s local leaders have a responsibility to act now and protect residents from the exploitation and retaliatory threats they have already experienced from the park’s corporate ownership,” the statement read.
