OSTA: Empowering Park & Marina Residents
If you are an Oregon Manufactured Home Park or Marina resident who owns their home, but rents the space or slip in which your home is located, then we are here for you.
OSTA is your support network, a trusted source of information about your rights, and your advocate for more secure housing through improved legislation.
Through these efforts and initiatives, we enhance your quality of life.
OSTA is a nonprofit, grassroots organization that seeks direction from members, avoiding a top-down approach, regarding decision-making on critical issues affecting members’ lifestyle choices, quality of life, and rights as residents in manufactured housing and floating home communities.
OSTA works to provide an expanding array of programs, information, and services to its members. It is an organization focused, not only on protecting the rights of homeowners as residents in parks and marinas but an organization that supports all aspects of manufactured and floating home living.
To enable this to happen we rely on members, teams, and colleagues, across the state who support this common vision. This work requires time, investment, and dedication to serve our 80,000+ residents and we rely solely on memberships and donations to achieve our goals.
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https://oregontenants.com/membership-account/membership-levels/
OSTA: Empowering Park & Marina Residents
OSTA Update: Addressing the Crisis in 55-Plus Parks
What if skyrocketing rents and poor maintenance left the most vulnerable among us without a place to call home? Join us as we uncover the harsh realities facing seniors in 55-plus parks across Oregon, where we explore the compelling testimony of Bill Bateman, Vice President Rochelle Love Elder, and John Van Landingham from the Oregon State Tenants Association. Their relentless efforts have resulted in a proposed piece of legislation, LC 1860, aimed at providing much-needed relief and protection to these communities. Through an emotional recounting of Bill's own experiences as a 75-year-old manufactured home owner, we reveal the critical challenges residents face, from opaque rent hikes to deteriorating infrastructure.
This episode shines a spotlight on the pressing need for legislative reform as alarming statistics underscore the dire situation: 73% of residents struggle with bills, 47% can't afford food, and many consider returning to work despite their age. These numbers aren't just statistics—they're stories of real people grappling with fear and uncertainty. Hear firsthand from a tenant who shares the grim reality of frequent emergency water shutoffs and plumbing failures, illustrating the urgent call for change. Tune in to understand the full scope of the crisis and discover what advocates and lawmakers are doing to combat these injustices.
Draft of the Bill as it stands today:bit.ly/3BmKlGR
Link to Overview of Committee page:https://apps.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023I1/Committees/HHOUSH/Overview
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Comments or Questions for the Podcast
Email: bbateman@oregontenants.com
Copyright OSTA2045,2025 Not for rebroadcast w/o express written permission. Please share and download for educational purposes with attribution.
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Good morning. It's another OSTA update. It's December the 15th. I'm Bill Bateman and come on in, we'll bring you all the latest information. Well, hi everybody.
Bill Bateman:I'm Bill Bateman, part of the team here at the Oregon State Tenants Association, and on December 11th I testified remotely before the House Interim Committee on Housing and Homelessness. This was chaired by Representative Pam Marsh and it was on the pending legislation produced by our work group. The working title right now is LC 1860. This is not the formal title that will be assigned at the beginning of the session. We'll have HB as the designation and then a number. So that's what you're going to be looking to. A special thank you to my Vice President, rochelle Love Elder, and John Van Landingham of the Osta Board for their exceptional contributions and efforts as creating the remainder of this project. This is a working copy. This means it is likely there will be future changes and, to make it easy for you to follow, I've established a link to the draft of the bill as it stands today. That link is in the login area. Give it a click and I recommend bookmarking that section. There's a lot of good information to follow if you're new to the legislative process. So here's what I said, this is all about the numbers and their impacts. We've shared some of these numbers today with you in the documents submitted in preparation for the session. The numbers that brought us here today inspired me to become active in Osta approximately a year ago, and while working with residents of 55-plus parks, I've not only seen firsthand the problems we're talking about today, but as the 75-year-old owner of a manufactured home, they also are affecting me personally. So let's have a look at some of these numbers and some of those impacts.
Bill Bateman:Our survey is revealing in its consistencies. In addition to the written survey data, we provided Zoom meetings were held September 9th through September 12th, drawing attendance from as far south as Brookings all the way to Portland. Oregon Watch parties were put together with multiple computers to set up in clubhouses and allow as many people to participate as possible. A group of five volunteers at one park made over 500 phone calls to alert our membership. Of the combined 525 responses, there were over 1,200 in-depth comments, and those were provided in multiple categories by respondents from all over the state. I've read through them and submitted nine for your review.
Bill Bateman:I wanted to show that these are not isolated, one-off problems. Many comments are focusing on the decline in maintenance, maintenance and park service, despite the regular increase in rent. More importantly, there is a growing concern over the total lack of transparency for these cost increases. We discovered questionable practices used to force tenants to gain their property for next to nothing. These pernicious issues drew more attention due to the increasing emotional pressures that are being placed on the residents. We seniors are seen as cash cows because we have no place else to go. Not all seniors are wealthy, by the way. No prompts were given in any category for these comments. It is interesting those commenting spoke only on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal and retaliation. Not of reprisals for giving up a military secret or betraying a crime boss, but for fear of testifying about problems in their own park and about their own homes.
Bill Bateman:So let's look hard at these numbers. How do these rent increases impact a resident? 73% are struggling to pay other bills, 47% finding it difficult to afford food, 43% are unable to sell their home, 41% will not be able to stay in their homes, 34% will need to go back to work over the age of 65 and even 10% are finding it difficult to care for either children or other elders in the family. Let's hear from one of the tenants on these issues. Years and years of delayed maintenance have left the water and sewer systems in the park, as well as the fire hydrants and landscape plumbing, in need of serious repairs. In the past four years they have averaged six emergency water shutoff, some lasting more than eight hours, some lasting more than eight hours. When they turn it back on, the weak links sustain damage and cross-contamination of backflow prevention devices results in muddy water filling our sinks, washing machines, water heaters and ice makers with mud. To sum it up, preventing a problem is much easier than fixing one.
Bill Bateman:This proposed bill is a very good first step to prevent the oncoming wave of homelessness of the elderly, while allowing investors a profit on their investment. Anything else just won't add up. Okay, that testimony, along with all of the collected data, was submitted to the committee, along with testimony on that information by both John and Rochelle, also in support of the measure. Now we're going to keep you up to date here. Tune in for OSTA updates. I've added the links to the bill and the committee page, as well as some other useful links at the sign-in area. Useful links at the sign-in area.
Bill Bateman:Let's spend January working at the county level to promote proclamations and support for Senior Independent Living Month. That is a national event which is going to be held in February. Let's look to our commissions and city council for that. We'll have a workshop on that activity to give you more preparation. Once the bill has an official title, we can begin writing and working to build support for it and we'll have legislators we'd like you to reach out to to build additional awareness. Also coming up in January dealing with what to do when a tenant organization is just not enough. We're going to have more details on that upcoming online event in our next OSTA update.
Bill Bateman:All right, that's it for this time around. Thank you for listening. We look forward to seeing you at our next OSTA update. Have an excellent holiday at your house. Be safe it's kind of slippery out there with all this cold weather and rain and we'll holiday at your house. Be safe it's kind of slippery out there with all this cold weather and rain and we'll see you again soon. The preceding program was a presentation of Retired Guy Productions.
