Katoonah Lodges: Tenants of another Missoula mobile home park unionize after rent hikes

The residents of yet another mobile home park near Missoula have formed a tenants union after their landlord, an out-of-state private equity firm, raised rents twice in the last year.

The Katoonah Lodges Mobile Home Park, located off Mullan Road a couple miles west of Reserve Street, was purchased by a company called Axia Realty Partners, based in Dallas, Texas, last year. The court has 103 mobile home lots, mostly double-wide trailers, and is for people age 55 and up.

The new owners have increased rent by about $200 over the last year. Also, Axia has set lot rent for new mobile home renters at $1,100, which is quite a bit higher than what current residents pay. That means that current residents are having trouble selling their homes, because people are reluctant to move in and pay that high of a lot rent. In effect, that means current residents are having to lower their asking price if they want to move out.

Richard Wager, a resident of the mobile home court, said he moved there two years ago with his wife.

"I'm trying not to get too emotional, because I found myself very emotional when I got ready for this," he told the crowd of over 100 gathered for the event. "We came to Missoula and began paying $500 a month about two years ago, and now it is $750 a month. And the tenants that come in, they'll have to pay $1,000 to $1,100 a month. That makes it almost impossible to sell our homes."

He said he's had serious health problems, so even though he's over 70 he's working at Lowe's to make ends meet. The couple's Social Security payments have only increased by $15 a month this year, he added.

"I have written two letters to both our senators and our governor about this, and all I got back was a form letter stating we understand your issues, we are looking into it," he said. "That's really BS. The real issue is a majority of the legislators are landlords and are inclined to not vote against their interests, even if it means to help us out."

Wager said forming the tenants union will give them power if they stand in solidarity with each other.

"The action goes beyond political lines, because we are both Democrats and Republican tenants in this court," he said. "And let me tell you that no matter how you slice it, this is extortion, and that's not right."

The tenants union has sent a demand letter asking Axia to end rent increases that surpass the federal Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA) standards.

Vicki Reynolds, a longtime resident of the court, said Axia has not responded to requests to meet in person to answer questions. The company has also not responded to questions from the Missoulian.

Reynolds noted that company representatives have stated in letters that they're a small company, even though they own many mobile home courts across several states.

"They gave us lies and and expect us to give more and more money to them in response, and that's not right," she said. "Still no meetups, no response to our demand letter and continued empty promises to preserve this beautiful community as intended by the original owners."

The Katoonah Lodges Tenants Union formed with 76% of the residents represented. Anything over 65% is a "supermajority union," according to the Missoula Tenants Union, which helped the residents organize.

In letters to residents earlier this year, Axia said that the cost of purchasing the park, combined with infrastructure upgrades, necessitated the rent hikes.

A Missoulian investigation recently found that private equity firms own at least 30 mobile home courts in Montana, representing nearly 4,000 homes.