Peggy Hoffman is raising her teenage granddaughter and works hard to keep her fed and a roof over her head.
The latter, though, is becoming almost impossible for Hoffman and her neighbors at Red Maple Acres, a manufactured home park in Lower Macungie Township. While she owns her house, she rents the land from Red Maple’s owner, ARX Communities.
Hoffman said when she moved to Red Maple, she was paying $440 a month to then-owner Mayo Homes. Since Chester County-based ARX purchased the land in February 2024 for $10.4 million, rent went up to $635. Another impending increase will raise it to $819, an increase of 86% in nearly two years.
“It’s absolutely a struggle,” said Hoffman, who still is responsible for maintaining her own home and recently was forced to spend $5,000 in repairs. There’s also utilities and property taxes. Simply picking up and moving isn’t an option, as transporting a mobile home can be thousands of dollars.
That’s why Hoffman and more than 50 others representing a half-dozen other manufactured home communities in the Lehigh Valley were at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Upper Macungie Township Wednesday night. Representatives from a homeowner advocacy organization discussed legislation making its way through the state Senate that is designed to put brakes on any future land rental increases.
The rapidly increasing rental fees are a growing problem that manufactured home owners in the Lehigh Valley and beyond have been facing in recent years.
Bob Besecker and Reggie Hockenberry from The Coalition of Manufactured Home Communities of Pennsylvania — which has members in more than 100 communities across the state — were on hand to give a summary of legislation and where it currently stands.
Senate Bill 745, which was introduced by state Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks, would protect manufactured home residents by capping rent increases to the Consumer Price Index while allowing for justified increases to cover operating costs and repairs. It has both Democrats and Republicans as co-sponsors.
Similar legislation, House Bill 1250, already passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan approval.
The Senate bill is currently before the Urban Affairs and Housing Committee, which includes Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh, and Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh.
Coleman told The Morning Call that he is studying the bill.
“I’m trying to understand the concerns my colleagues may have around the bill to see if there is a path for this to advance,” he said in an email. “We are trying to understand the legal ramifications of rent caps in PA. If we don’t get this right, it could negatively impact the very residents who hope to benefit from it.
“There are two big risks,” Coleman said. “One is that the law gets overturned by the courts for constitutional reasons. The other would be if the bill is too restrictive on the landowner, they could simply evict these tenants to develop the land. Both of these outcomes we want to avoid.”
Besecker discussed meeting with legislators in Harrisburg, and asked the audience to be patient.
“This isn’t going to happen in a day, but it doesn’t say it’s not going to happen and we’re not going to give up,” he said. “We’re out there trying to push and create strategies that will bring this to a resolution. The word I would say to you is patience. It’s OK to be ticked off. It’s understandable to be ticked off, but don’t give up.”
One thing that was emphasized was that the bill wouldn’t bring down rents.
While many were disappointed to hear that, they still were glad to hear that some help may be coming.
Like many who spoke in the church’s fellowship hall, Carlene Moyer said she has to decide between paying her rent to ARX’s Mayo’s Mobile Home Park in Upper Macungie Township or eating, or filling a prescription.
“Am I going to be one of these old people that don’t take their medicine because I can’t afford it?” Moyer said. “I am diabetic, I am asthmatic and have high blood pressure, [rising rents are] not helping, but I don’t understand why it has to go up that much.”
The Morning Call reached out to ARX, but did not receive an immediate response.
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.
