Iowa Rep. Miller-Meeks balks at concerns of mobile home residents

With housing costs climbing and interest rates still high, more Americans are turning to mobile homes as an affordable alternative. But there’s a catch: many mobile home parks are owned by private equity firms that hike rents and neglect maintenance with little oversight.

Last June, when mobile home residents in Johnson County, IA urged lawmakers to support federal legislation cracking down on these practices, Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks effectively told them to pound sand.

“It sounds like this is a local issue that is impacting people, so I’m sure that our state legislators and senators are working on that,” MIller-Meeks told Iowa News Now. “But on a federal level, let’s look at legislation before we comment on a hypothetical. So, I’d like to see what it is, what it does, and what are the intended consequences, but more importantly, what are the unintended consequences? Could the unintended consequence be that you make housing less affordable and less available?”

Miller-Meeks’ response had two flaws: the issue isn’t purely local, and she had supported legislation that makes housing less affordable.

Most properties referred to as “mobile homes” today are actually manufactured homes, meaning they were built after 1976 and adhere to HUD construction standards. Residents typically own their home but pay rent for the land it sits on.

Private equity firms have been snapping up this land in recent years, drawn to the profits that can be made from steadily raising rents. Housing advocates say government-backed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have contributed to this trend by giving investors loans with few conditions.

In Johnson County and other parts of Iowa, many mobile home parks have been bought up by Havenpark Communities, a private equity firm based in Utah. Residents in these parks have seen their rents soar by as much as 70% as services like snow removal, tree trimming, and even clean drinking water have diminished.

“When you go to run bath water and it’s brown, you don’t want to get into it, and ice cubes have been yellow,” Linda Hickson, a resident of the Lake Ridge Estates in Iowa City, told Iowa Public Radio. 

There actually was a bill in the state house in 2022 to limit rent increases in mobile home parks, as Miller-Meeks suggested, but it died amid intense lobbying from the Iowa Manufactured Housing Association.

More broadly, Iowa has seen some of the steepest rent increases in the country. In 2023 alone, average rents in the state rose by 2.6%.

That same year, Miller-Meeks backed the Republican-led Limit, Save, Grow Act, which aimed to roll back federal spending to 2022 levels and threatened funding for government programs that provide rental assistance. The bill did not pass—but if it did, more than 5,000 Iowans would’ve likely faced higher rents.

In September 2023, she supported another Republican spending bill that would’ve imperiled rental assistance for 850,000 low-income households across the country. 

Miller-Meeks is seeking a fourth term in Congress next year. Democratic State Rep. Christina Bohannan, who grew up in a mobile home, is challenging Miller-Meeks and has made housing affordability a centerpiece of her campaign.

“Mariannette Miller-Meeks has had three terms in Congress – three chances to do right by the people of Iowa,” Bohannan said in June when she launched her campaign. “Instead, she has taken over $4 million from corporate special interests and done nothing but vote their way.”

Bohannan previously challenged Miller-Meeks in 2024. She lost by fewer than 800 votes.