Maine Housing Committee Advances Bills to Ease Financing for Tiny, Manufactured Homes

Maine's Committee on Housing and Economic Development cleared two bills last week that could fundamentally change how manufactured and tiny home owners in the state borrow money, sending both measures to the full Legislature for a vote.

The root problem the legislation targets is stark: under current Maine law, a manufactured or tiny home sitting on rented land, such as a lot in a mobile home park, is not considered real estate. It is treated as personal property, like a vehicle. That classification has real financial consequences for the people living in those homes. Rep. Traci Gere (D-Kennebunkport), who sponsored LD 2231 and co-chairs the housing committee, explained during a public hearing earlier this month that the classification "can limit homeowners' ability to finance the purchase at interest rates available to real estate purchasers." Being locked out of the mortgage market matters: Jennifer Corbett, with Norway Savings Bank, testified that "this often results in a higher cost and shorter loan terms and fewer consumer protection for homeowners."

LD 2231 would create a path for those homeowners to convert the house to real property and open access to better financing options. Corbett added that "recording the manufactured home similar to real estate, will create a more stable and transparent ownership structure."

The committee voted Tuesday to recommend passage of LD 2230, which targets industrialized housing, the term for structures assembled off-site and then moved to a property; that bill would create an incentive program to offer grants for housing units and establish a construction extension partnership program to support training for the industry and provide technical support. Phoenix McLaughlin, director of strategy implementation at the Department of Economic and Community Development, backed the approach. "Industrialized construction methods — meaning greater use of factory built components, modules and homes — can reduce construction costs in the right conditions," he said, adding that "incentivizing the use of industrialized construction in Maine can help reach that needed scale."

The scale of Maine's housing shortage gives both bills urgency. A 2023 study found that Maine needs an additional 38,500 housing units of varying price points and sizes to meet current demand, and at least 84,000 homes by 2030; the MaineHousing Housing Outlook Report, released in January, found that affordability remains a central and worsening issue in the state.

Both bills are headed to the full Legislature after winning committee support, and both follow recommendations from housing working groups. The committee deliberations were not entirely smooth: Republicans including Rep. Collamore of Pittsfield pushed to strip one of the bills down to a single provision, a ban on nondisclosure agreements, arguing that portion represented the most meaningful reform worth keeping. The full Legislature will now decide whether the broader package survives intact.

Rep. Traci Gere, serving her third term in the Maine House and representing Kennebunkport and parts of Kennebunk and Biddeford, chairs the newly formed Housing and Economic Development Committee and has made manufactured home financing a central piece of her legislative agenda this session. If LD 2231 clears the full chamber, owners in mobile home parks across Maine could gain access to the same mortgage market protections and interest rates that owners of site-built homes on owned land have long taken for granted.