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.
Join OSTA Link
https://oregontenants.com/membership-account/membership-levels/
OSTA: Empowering Park & Marina Residents
What Are You Prepared to Do? Eight Action Days Ahead!
The affordable housing crisis has reached a tipping point in the Pacific Northwest, with a ray of hope emerging from Washington state. After years of advocacy, Washington lawmakers have approved a crucial 10% cap on annual rent increases, countering the alarming 43% rise in median residential rents (adjusted for inflation) that has far outpaced the modest 26% growth in renters' incomes between 2001 and 2023.
Now Oregon faces its moment of truth. With House Bill 34 scheduled for a critical Senate Committee hearing on May 7th, manufactured home residents have just eight days to mobilize and finalize similar protections. The Oregon State Tenants Association (OSTA) is continuing a multi-faceted campaign to ensure resident voices break through the noise. Park owners are organizing significant opposition, making resident participation essential to balance the narrative with lived experiences.
The path forward is clear but requires immediate action. Contact your state senators with personalized stories about how uncapped rent increases threaten your housing security. Sign up to provide testimony – in person, virtually, or in writing. For those able to travel to Salem, OSTA hopes to organize a rally before the hearing to recreate the powerful showing from previous efforts when supporters filled the main hearing room and two overflow halls. Remember the words that drive this movement: "What are you prepared to do?" This is the culmination of nearly two years of advocacy work, and your voice could make the difference between success and failure. Visit the OSTA website for resources, senator contact information, and continuous updates as this critical deadline approaches.
Find your Oregon State Senator
Senate Committee on Housing & Development
Chair Senator Khanh Pham, sen.khanhpham@oregonlegislature.gov
Vice-Chair Senator Dick Anderson, sen.khanhpham@oregonlegislature.gov
Member Senator Anthony Broadman, sen.anthonybroadman@oregonlegislature.gov
Member Senator Todd Nash, sen.toddnash@oregonlegislature.gov
Member Senator Deb Patterson, Sen.DebPatterson@oregonlegislature.gov
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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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It's interesting to note that between 2001 and 2023, the median residential rents in Washington state rose by 43%, adjusted for inflation, and that's outpacing the 26% rise in renters' income over the same period. That's probably why, after a protracted battle, washington state lawmakers voted last Sunday to limit annual rent increases to no more than 10%. That's right. Despite what you may have heard in your floor letters, the thing in Washington is not dead. It passed last Sunday and it's on the governor's desk. Now our task let's do the same thing here. We've got eight days. Come on in, let's talk about it. Well, hi everybody, I'm Bill Bateman here at OSTA, oregon State Tenants Association and yeah, there was some misinformation floating around on the House floor about what was happening in Washington and indicating that it didn't work there, so it's not a good idea here. Well, actually it did work there. So, following that same logic, if it's working in Washington, it must be just perfect for Oregon. Thank you very much.
Bill Bateman:So our path through the state Senate HB34 has been scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Housing and Development Wednesday, may 7th, 1 to 2.30. Now testimony can be provided in person, online or in written form, and we know the park owners or their reps are going to show up in force, and we need folks like you, who are going to be affected by the bill, to be represented as well. Folks, we did this once before. This is not new information. We just got to do the same thing we did the last time and do it better. We have eight days. So what are the things we should be doing? What are the action items? Okay, first of all, you need to contact your members of the Senate with phone calls or emails Now. Ideally, members of the Senate Housing Committee should be hearing from you, but reach out to your own individual senator to build support throughout the body of people. It's preferred to send an individual email. Don't send out mass emails with all kinds of recipients. It looks like it came out of an email mill. They need to talk to you and hear your story. So again, send your email to your senator and let them note you are a constituent. Now, if one of your individual senators happens to be on the Senate Housing Development Committee, make sure they hear from you. We're going to post a list on the OSTA website of who they are and how to reach out to them, and if you don't know who your senators are. We're going to show you how to find out where all those senators can be looked up.
Bill Bateman:So, eight days until the vote, make your reservations if you're going. I know I have. I'm down in the Medford area so it's a little bit of a commute to get up to Salem. I'm going to be there and if you're far enough to need a reservation, better go ahead and do it now. Also, decide who you can get to come with us. Let's get a good group up there. Naturally, the folks a little bit closer, the folks in Salem, up and down the northern part of the state, have a much better opportunity to go, and we hope you'll do like you did the last time. Do you remember the last time? It hasn't been that long. We not only filled the main hall, we filled two overflow halls, and that's what we need to see it again Now.
Bill Bateman:Next weekend a couple of things will have happened. First of all, we're going to be obviously closer to the 7th, but we will have had a meeting with Representative Marsh and have those last bits of information that we're going to need. Second, it's important for you to sign up and get on the record to either offer in-person or virtual testimony, or submit that written content and we will have where to do that, listed on the Osta website. It's so simple. Anybody can do it. I did it the last time. I'm going to go up and do it personally this time, in any capacity. If you can make it to the Capitol, we need you back again Now. We're trying to put together a rally in Salem before the hearing. Keep your eyes out for more information as it becomes available.
Bill Bateman:Now I've had a couple of things. People ask me about the formality of the communication. Naturally you should be courteous. Naturally you should give honest and factual information, just like we've been doing. The 600 plus of you who took part in our initial survey did an excellent job and we're reminding the legislators. This time we have a lot of factual, firsthand input, not like that business on.
Bill Bateman:Washington voted down the bill. Let the people you're writing to Know why this legislation matters, and it's you and me who are being priced out of the homes that were supposed to be our lifelong security. So use this week to put your packages together. Next Saturday and Sunday we're going to help direct those packages and then on the 7th we hope we're going to see you up in Salem and have an opportunity to complete, I want to say, almost two years of hard work. And finally, remember, if you have problems writing like I do, my penmanship is just yeah, not going to make it. It's okay if you have somebody write the letter for you. In our park we've had occasions where we get together and people will speak the letter and we'll type it up for them. They read it over and sign it and you tell them right there on the letter Hi, I'm Bill Bateman and I'm writing this letter for Mrs So-and-so. They write it, they sign it and it's that ink on the paper, that personal signature, that gives extra credence to material that our legislators get.
Bill Bateman:Head to the OSTA website. We're going to be keeping you up to date all this week. There's a lot of good things happening. If you've got questions, call the helpline. There's the number on the OSTA website. A lot of things happening there and we hope you're going to be a part of it.
Bill Bateman:Really, one of my favorite quotes is Sean Connery and he was in the Untouchables and he's laying there talking to Kevin Costner. He's been gunned down by the bad guys and he grabs Costner and he pulls him up to him and says what are you prepared to do? And this is the showdown for us, ladies and gentlemen. What are you prepared to do? And this is the showdown for us, ladies and gentlemen. What are you prepared to do? I hear a lot of concerns. I hear a lot of hand-wringing. I know a lot of people are upset. I'm looking forward to seeing you there and if you can't be there in person, I understand that. I'm looking forward to reading your letter or watching you testify on Zoom, because together we're going to beat this. Stay tuned. The preceding program was a presentation of Retired Guy Productions.
