Testimony of Joe Oliva, Outreach and Communications Director of GrowSmart Maine in support of LD 2231, “An Act to Support Owners of Manufactured Housing, Mobile Homes and Tiny Homes”
March 11, 2026
Senator Curry, Representative Gere, and Honorable Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Housing and Economic Development,
My name is Joe Oliva and I am the Outreach and Communications Director for GrowSmart Maine. We are a statewide non-partisan non-profit organization helping communities navigate change in alignment with smart growth. We advocate for comprehensive policies and funding for smart growth practices and outcomes.
Communities come in many forms, and GrowSmart supports the active creation and betterment of places that people feel safe, they belong and in which they can thrive – in short, places that people call home. Between lowering barriers to home ownership, making changes to the regulations that guide mobile home park development, and providing protections for tenants and clearer paths for mediation, LD 2231 does several important things at once.
The push to create affordable housing units in Maine can, and must, employ several strategies if the state is to reach its goals. Ownership by way of manufactured housing units, tiny homes, and mobile homes is a valuable tool as developers across the state work to construct traditional forms of affordable housing. The types of housing that this bill addresses are a critical piece of the affordable housing puzzle that we, as a state, are collectively trying to solve.
Protections for tenants and clearer pathways for mediation between them and landowners creates greater stability for residents; allowing for the benefits that come with long-term planning and a foundation for which residents can build lives in which they feel safe, they belong, and they can thrive.
From a land use perspective, the proposed regulatory changes to mobile home park development will allow denser and more efficient communities. Lowering the minimum lot size for four thousand feet (or bringing it in line with municipal ordinances) and adjusting “shall” to “may” when it comes to road frontage means that more lots can be created within the preexisting footprint of the park in places where it makes sense.