Rep. Jonathan Karlen speaks at Travois Village during a meeting with residents about a recent hike to their rent.
After public outcry, a Texas-based company called Oak Wood Management, LLC has decided to reduce the size of the lot rent increase it is implementing on the residents of the large Travois Village trailer park in Missoula.
A few days after it sent rent increase letters to the residents of 282 trailers in the mobile home park notifying them they would need to pay $150 more per month, the company sent an updated letter to all residents last Friday. The new letter said they will be paying $50 more per month. (The new letter came a couple days after the publication of a Missoulian article describing residents’ outrage over the $150 price hike.)
“We would like to take a moment to thank you for your continued residency and for the feedback many of you have shared with us regarding the recent rent increase notices,” the most recent letter from Oak Wood stated. “After careful consideration and conducting an updated market analysis for the Missoula area, we have made the decision to adjust the upcoming rent increase.”
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At Travois Village, residents will be paying $645 per month to rent the lots underneath their trailers. They are now also paying $25 per month for garbage service, and residents of older trailers have to pay a $25 per month property damage waiver fee. Oak Wood also manages and owns Harvey’s Trailer Park in Bonner West-Riverside, and residents there will be paying $615 a month.
“The revised rates will still go into effect on Aug. 1, and will remain below current market rates for comparable housing in the Missoula area,” the letter states. “We understand that finding the right place to call home is important, which is why we strive to offer some of the most competitive rents in the region.”
The Missoulian spoke with several residents who are still unhappy about the rent increase, because it comes on top of a big price hike the company initiated shortly after it bought Travois Village in late 2023.
Dave and Cathy Kaudy said the new price hike is still unaffordable for them, so they’re planning on moving out this summer to go to Alaska.
Jessica McDaid, a resident, said they’re still going to be paying $100 more per month this year than they were last year because of extra fees the company is charging for internet, garbage and property damage waivers.
Meeting
Last Wednesday, over 150 residents gathered at the Travois Village community park for a meeting with Missoula-area elected officials and a representative of the Missoula Tenant’s Union.
Keenan Hagen-Ridgway, a resident of Travois Village for 10 years, said most residents are on a fixed income and can’t pay $645 just for a spot to park a trailer, because many are also still paying mortgages on their trailer (which is a separate cost.)
“This is a private equity firm that’s coming in under the auspice of caring for a community or improving a community, and in reality they’re just trying to wring this place for all it’s worth,” he said. “I think that this company purchasing this community has eroded our security, so much so that one of the residents took his own life just last week. It’s eroded all of our confidence.”
(Earlier in the meeting, a woman in the crowd who said she was a resident said her neighbor had taken his own life because of the rent increase. The Missoulian was unable to confirm that.)
Montana Sen. Willis Curdy, a Democrat from Missoula, said he disputes Oak Wood Management’s claim that the rent Travois Village residents pay is “in line” with similar trailer park rents in Missoula.
He said he spoke with the Montana Department of Commerce and the Montana Board of Housing to find out what other mobile home parks charge for rent.
“And you are correct,” he told the residents. “This is way beyond the pale. This is way beyond the norm. So, again, you are being singled out by this company. And obviously, we have to address the rent issue. That’s a big deal.”
(Curdy’s comments came Wednesday, before the Friday letter notifying residents of the $50 per month reduction in the rent price increase.)
Curdy said drastic rent increases at mobile home parks are a problem statewide in Montana.
“Great Falls, Billings, Bozeman,” he said. “Out-of-state private equity firms are moving in. It’s a big issue.”
A representative from the Missoula Tenant’s Union noted that Montana’s Republican-controlled Legislature enacted a law in 2023 that prohibits rent price control in the state.
Rep. Jonathan Karlen, a Democrat from Missoula, also noted that other parks in Missoula have been bought by private equity firms, which then raise rents.
“It’s happened in my district, it’s happened in all our districts,” he said, referring to other Missoula-area lawmakers.
He said he and other lawmakers have tried to pass legislation that would alleviate the problem, but they’ve been blocked by other state lawmakers.
“We’re fighting partisan interests,” he said.
Karlen said he and other lawmakers, including conservative Republicans, have introduced legislation that would have created an oversight program for mobile home parks for residents to get concerns about maintenance addressed. That bill was vetoed by Gov. Greg Gianforte in 2023. Karlen said he also worked on a bill that would have given mobile home residents the first right of refusal to purchase their park if it was up for sale, but that bill couldn’t make it out of committee.
“It was killed by the landlord lobby,” Karlen said.
Letter
On Monday, 14 state lawmakers, 10 Missoula city council members and Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis sent a letter to Oak Wood Properties urging them to prioritize the affordability for residents of Travois Village and Harvey’s mobile home park.
“While we appreciate that Oak Wood has walked back the proposed $150 rent hike, we remain deeply concerned about long-term affordability in light of the substantial rent increase last year, the rent increase this year, and fees imposed on residents — especially as several maintenance requests and quality-of-life improvements have gone unaddressed,” the letter states. “After your company recently announced that lot rents would nearly double in the two years since you purchased Travois, we met with over 100 of our constituents who live in the park. These are hardworking Montanans and seniors, many of whom have called the park home for decades. What we heard from them was heartbreaking. Your decision to dramatically increase lot rent was forcing families to make impossible choices: Between rent and heart medication, between staying housed or sleeping in their cars through a Montana winter, between caring for loved ones or taking on extra shifts just to make ends meet.”
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The letter noted that many residents of manufactured home communities have invested their life savings into their homes and face prohibitive costs to relocate.
“Your recent lot rent hikes far exceed inflation and property tax growth, without a commensurate improvement of critical services,” the letter said. “In fact, many residents are now charged a fee to pay their rent, as check payments are no longer accepted — on top of other charges previously included in the lot rent. Large lot rent hikes not only jeopardize their financial stability, but also puts them at risk of losing their homes altogether. Higher lot rent also depresses the resale value of their homes, further limiting their housing options in an expensive market.”
(The first story the Missoulian reported on the Travois Village rent increase misspelled the last name of Dave and Cathy Kaudy.)
David Erickson is the business reporter for the Missoulian.
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