Brunswick extends mobile home rent freeze, advances stabilization plan

Brunswick residents in mobile home parks kept six more months of protection from lot-rent increases Monday night, when the Town Council voted 8-1 to extend its freeze and give staff time to write a permanent stabilization ordinance.

The 180-day extension matters in plain dollars: it holds current lot rents in place across more than 1,200 Brunswick mobile home park lots, including Bay Bridge Estates, where the study reported monthly lot rent at $835, and other parks where rents were closer to $600. Town officials have said those lots house thousands of residents, many of them at or below the area median income.

The moratorium covers parks where residents own their homes and rent the land beneath them, but it does not apply to two parks where residents rent only the homes. That distinction leaves many households still exposed to the larger market around them, even as the town keeps lot-rent increases on hold.

Brunswick first approved the temporary freeze in November 2025 after residents described rising rents, hidden fees, poor maintenance and other pressures that were making it harder to stay in place. The town had already put $32,000 toward a rent-stabilization study in September, then mailed 1,200 notices to park residents in October as part of that process.

The town’s market study surveyed 204 residents in Bay Bridge Estates, Maplewood Manor and Blueberry Fields Cooperative. Bay Bridge Estates showed the sharpest financial strain: 78% of respondents said they had trouble paying bills, 86% worried about rent increases and 89% said they were cutting back on other expenses. The study also said moving a mobile home can cost between $5,000 and $25,000, underscoring why many owners cannot simply leave when rents rise.

That concern has been central to the council debate as Brunswick weighs affordability against the arguments from park owners, including Legacy Communities and Sun Communities, which own Bay Bridge Estates and Maplewood Manor/Merrymeeting Park. At an April listening session, the companies urged the town to rethink the draft ordinance, saying any cap should account for inflation and that the study overstated problems in the parks.

Residents pressed the opposite case, pointing to water-supply problems, falling trees, neglected roads and long-running uncertainty over lot-rent hikes. Bay Bridge resident Lorri Centineo told officials that new tenants were paying $800 to $865 a month for lots, while tenants who had been paying about $350 in 2018 were now paying roughly $600.

The town’s economic and community development director said the housing committee plans to bring a stabilization ordinance to council in June, which makes the next round of debate the one likely to decide how much protection Brunswick’s most affordable homeownership model will get. The local fight also echoes a broader Maine trend: a January 2026 state report said roughly 45,000 residents live in mobile home parks and warned that outside investors have been pushing lot rents sharply higher in some cases.