Commentary: Michiganders in manufactured housing deserve protection from corporate exploitation

This past summer, a Canadian private equity firm became Michigan’s third-largest landlord to little fanfare. On an earnings call, Brookfield Asset Management disclosed that it had deployed its first investment to purchase YES! Communities, one of the largest manufactured housing owners in the country, with over 80,000 home sites in 23 states, including 21,574 home sites in Michigan.

This acquisition shows just how quickly a single investment firm can expand its control over Michigan’s housing market with little to no input from the thousands of Michiganders now paying rent to a new landlord. While the recently-passed federal ROAD to Housing Act attempts to rein in corporate landlords in the single-family housing market, residents of manufactured housing were largely overlooked. That leaves Michigan lawmakers with an important opportunity to establish protections before further consolidation puts even more residents at risk.

As a Michigander who works to uncover the impacts of private equity on our state and beyond, I have seen firsthand the pressing need for protections for manufactured housing residents against mistreatment by corporate landlords like Brookfield, especially in Michigan. Michigan has one of the highest concentrations of private equity-owned manufactured housing in the country, with more than one in four manufactured homes owned by PE firms as of January 2026. Given the gap in federal protections for manufactured housing residents, the Michigan legislature should take action to protect the tens of thousands of Michiganders living in private equity-owned manufactured housing.

In recent years, Brookfield has come under scrutiny for their profits-at-all-costs approach to property management, with reports of tenants enduring neglected maintenance and exorbitant junk fees at Brookfield properties. Residents of a Brookfield-owned apartment building in Washington, DC, accused the private equity firm of overbilling for utilities and charging variable fees for trash for different tenants. In Spain, where an affordable housing crisis has triggered an early election, members of the Sindicatos de Inquilinos de Madrid tenant union have organized protests against Brookfield’s attempts to sell off their apartments, potentially displacing residents.

Renters at a Brookfield-owned luxury apartment building in New York City complained of recurring flooding and other water issues in their building. And in San Francisco, tenants at a Brookfield and Ballast Investments-owned building received notices of eviction following a rent strike over habitability issues including a rodent infestation and a broken elevator.

Corporate-owned manufactured housing communities have experienced similar issues – and residents are even more vulnerable to such profit-maximizing tactics as a result of the unique business model of manufactured housing. Despite commonly being referred to as mobile homes, manufactured homes are almost never moved once placed in a park. In most cases, residents own their home but not the land beneath it, and must pay lot rent to the owners of the park. As a result, when lot rent and fees go up, or other maintenance issues arise in a manufactured housing community, homeowners are typically forced to endure it.

Manufactured housing residents across Michigan are already experiencing the worst impacts of corporate ownership of their communities. In early 2025, residents of TIR Equities-owned Kristana Estates in Dewitt Township were told they had only three days to move out so its owner could overhaul the park, with water being shut off just days later. In 2022, residents of Open Door Capital’s Landmark Estates in Warren reported that management did not respond to complaints of raw sewage spills, severe rat infestations, and unsafe electrical boxes.

At Kingsley Management-owned Oakland Estates in Auburn Hills, residents were hit with a $10,000 collective water bill, which residents claimed was due to a neglected leak. And in Thetford Township, Alden Global Capital affiliate Homes of America was the first-ever operator to be criminally convicted of operating a mobile home community without a license under Michigan’s nearly 40 year-old Mobile Home Commission Act. Residents of the community had endured foul, brown water coming from their taps and severely neglected maintenance under private equity ownership.

Even before YES! Communities was acquired by Brookfield, residents across the country reported extreme rent hikes, mold and mildew issues, and wastewater issues. Karen Anderson, a homeowner at Avon on the Lake in Rochester Hills, told Pennsylvania pension officials in August that her lot rent had increased nearly one-third since 2021. She described additional fees, restrictions on window A/C units, and difficulty selling her home despite investing more than $12,000 in improvements. Residents and advocates are eager to learn what Brookfield plans to do to address these longstanding issues at YES! Communities in Michigan and beyond.

Currently, the Michigan House is considering a set of bipartisan bills that would provide essential protections for manufactured housing residents and promote transparency and accountability among corporate owners of manufactured housing like Brookfield. These bills would limit excessive fees and utility billing; create a database of ownership information for manufactured housing communities; enforce licensing regulations more stringently; and create more opportunities for residents to purchase their parks if they go up for sale.

Michiganders living in YES! Communities can’t wait any longer for Brookfield to decide to make the changes they need. As our state endures punishing fuel prices, skyrocketing groceries, and unsustainable healthcare costs, it is essential that manufactured housing be protected as a key source of unsubsidized affordable housing. Michiganders living in manufactured homes deserve clean water, affordable lot rent, and well-maintained communities. If corporations can’t be counted on to be responsible stewards of manufactured housing, our lawmakers must act.