Governor Josh Shapiro visited a manufactured housing community in Douglass Township on Wednesday to highlight proposed housing reforms aimed at protecting residents from steep increases in lot rent.
Speaking at a home in Douglass Village near Douglassville, Shapiro met with residents and advocates who say rising lot rents in manufactured home communities are making it increasingly difficult for people on fixed incomes to remain in their homes.
The governor’s proposed 2026–27 state budget includes a statewide cap on rental application fees and calls for legislation limiting annual lot rent increases in manufactured home communities. Shapiro said the proposal is part of a broader housing reform effort intended to make housing more affordable across Pennsylvania.
Shapiro said the issue affects an estimated 360,000 Pennsylvanians who own their homes but rent the land underneath them, leaving them vulnerable to sharp rent increases.
“In their dream homes, the price of the land that we’re standing on keeps going up and up and up at really, frankly, ridiculous rates,” Shapiro said.
The governor pointed to cases where lot rents have increased dramatically in recent years, particularly after private equity firms purchase manufactured home communities.
“A lot of the land is owned by private equity,” Shapiro said. “Instead of having maybe some reasonable increase each year … what we’re seeing is their costs have gone up, in Christine’s case, 50% in the last just seven years.”
One of the residents who spoke during the event, Douglass Village resident Christine Zimmer, described how rising costs have affected her ability to remain in her home.
“When my husband, Joe, and I moved into Douglass Village in January of 2019, our lot rent at the time was $495 a month,” Zimmer said. “Today, my lot rent is nearly — well, it is — $900 per month.”
Zimmer said many residents in the community live on fixed incomes and are struggling to keep up with the increases.
“The rent keeps going up, and like many of my neighbors, I live on a fixed income,” she said.
Zimmer also shared that her husband, a Navy veteran who served from 1967 to 1972, died in October 2025 after facing significant health challenges.
“Now I’m facing the reality of trying to stay in my home with the one income,” she said.
Zimmer said she began volunteering in 2022 to advocate for reforms affecting manufactured home communities and is involved with the Coalition of Manufactured Home Communities of Pennsylvania.
Bob Besecker, a Douglass Village resident and founder of the coalition, said the organization has grown to include 134 communities across the state. He said representatives from those communities communicate with roughly 20,000 residents.
“We recognized the law needed to be addressed,” Besecker said. “We needed to get bigger, and thus we formed the coalition.”
Shapiro said legislation to cap lot rent increases has already passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with bipartisan support but has not yet been brought to a vote in the state Senate.
“My view is they bring it up for a vote, probably at least 40 of the 50 senators will be prepared to vote for it,” Shapiro said. “So I’m calling on the Senate leadership to bring this bill up, protect wonderful people like Christine, and put the bill on my desk so I can sign it into law.”
Shapiro said the proposal is part of a broader housing action plan that includes efforts to increase housing construction, reform housing laws and improve affordability across the state.
Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-24) issued the following statement in response to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s visit to Berks County:
“It is wrong what is happening to the residents of manufactured housing communities across our state, and I am encouraged by the governor’s words and speaking to the seriousness of this issue. I have been advocating for residents in my district since the day I took office, and I look forward to working in partnership with the governor to move meaningful solutions through the General Assembly. The truth is many of these residents are seniors and families living on fixed incomes who are now being priced out of the neighborhoods they have called home for years. With few alternatives available, they are being squeezed by relentless rent increases, many driven by private equity investors treating these communities like profit centers instead of neighborhoods.”
