Rep. Gabe Vasquez Calls for Hearing to Protect Manufactured Housing Communities from Private Equity

September 2, 2026 Press Release WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) called on the House Financial Services Committee to hold a hearing on institutional investors’ impact on Manufactured Housing Communities (MHCs) across the country. Congressman Vasquez led a letter to Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) — along with five other Members — urging the Committee to hold a hearing to address reports from MHC residents across the country who have said they have experienced price jacking, utilities neglect, and abuse in these communities after private equity firms purchased their communities. “Congress recently passed a landmark housing bill with overwhelmingly bipartisan support to help Americans purchase homes and specifically targeted institutional investors' role in purchasing single family homes. But the bill did not include equitable protections to address private equity’s role in purchasing hundreds of thousands of lots across several manufactured housing communities,” wrote Vasquez . “There is still more work to be done.” “The Land of Enchantment Manufactured Home Owners Alliance strongly endorses Representative Vasquez’s call for a House Financial Services Committee hearing on institutional investment and protections for manufactured homeowners,” said Joanne DeMichele, President, Land of Enchantment Manufactured Home Owners Alliance (LEMHOA) . “Congress has recognized the damage institutional investors can cause in the single-family housing market through the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. Manufactured home communities deserve the same scrutiny. Homeowners in these communities own their homes but not the land beneath them, making them captive tenants when investors acquire that land and rapidly raise rents or neglect essential infrastructure. In Silver City, New Mexico, residents recently saw lot rents increase by 70% virtually overnight after investors purchased the land beneath their homes. This is exactly why Congress must examine private equity’s growing role in manufactured housing and ensure that affordable homeownership is protected, not exploited.” Last year, local leaders and constituents in various communities across New Mexico raised alarm bells to Rep. Vasquez regarding an uptick in predatory pricing practices and property maintenance neglect in mobile and manufactured home communities owned by corporate landlords and private equity companies. They cited severe examples of landlord utility neglect for mobile home communities resulting in instances of elderly residents being forced to go without natural gas and hot water for months on end. Unfortunately, these cases are not anomalies, and the scale of this problem nationwide is astounding. One in six homes in New Mexico are mobile homes. In 2020 and 2021, institutional investors accounted for 23 percent of all manufactured home purchases, up from 13 percent between 2017-2019. “Manufactured housing is a critical pathway to stable, affordable housing for New Mexicans but private equity has continued to threaten this by failing to keep up their end of the deal in our communities,”said Vasquez . “Manufactured Housing Communities are often forgotten in the conversation to preserve affordable housing which is why Congress must look for every opportunity to fix this problem.” Read the full letter HERE . This letter has been endorsed by the Land of Enchantment Manufactured Home Owner's Alliance and Private Equity Stakeholder Project. “Congress must act with urgency to protect the dignity, safety, and security of the millions of Americans living in manufactured housing owned by private equity and other institutional investors,” said Chris Noble, Policy Director at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project . “Across the country, manufactured housing residents living in investor-owned communities are contending with extreme rent hikes, aggressive evictions, and cascading junk fees. In some communities, residents can't even count on having access to clean water. That is unacceptable and exactly why the Private Equity Stakeholder Project applauds Representative Vasquez’s efforts to uplift and center this issue as part of Congress’ housing affordability agenda.” Rep. Vasquez has repeatedly led efforts to stop greedy, corporate landlords from jacking up New Mexicans’ rents and continues his long track record of championing solutions to make housing more affordable for every hardworking New Mexican. Some of his most recent actions on this front include: Hosting a Town Hall in Carlsbad focused on enacting solutions to address the housing affordability crisis in New Mexico. Introducing the Keep Mobile Homes Affordable Act , a bill to ensure investors who purchase over 2,500 mobile homes or pads are not engaging in price gouging or failing to provide basic utilities to residents. This legislation was inspired by the Congressman’s conversations with mobile home residents in places like Alamogordo and Albuquerque who raised serious concerns about mobile home affordability. Voting in favor of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act , an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that marked the most sweeping win for housing affordability in a generation and became law in July 2026. Co-sponsoring the Bipartisan Families First Housing Act and the Stop Wall Street Landlords Ac t to crack down on greedy, corporate landlords and ensure hardworking New Mexicans have a fair shot at homeownership. ### Issues : Lower Costs, More Jobs