Montana Mobile Home Park Residents Reach Historic Lease Negotiation Milestone with Texas-Based Landlord
Why It Matters
In Montana, residents of two Missoula-area mobile home parks have reached what organizers are calling a historic first in the state’s history — a formal lease negotiation between tenants unions and an out-of-state corporate landlord. The outcome could set a precedent for how mobile home park residents across Montana respond to rising lot rents driven by investor acquisitions.
The development comes as out-of-state investors have increasingly purchased mobile home parks throughout Montana, raising rents and leaving residents — who typically own their homes but rent the land beneath them — with limited options and few protections.
What Happened
Representatives from Oak Wood Ventures, a Texas-based company that purchased Travois Village in Missoula and Harvey’s mobile home park in Bonner in 2023, traveled to Missoula last week to meet face-to-face with tenant representatives from both parks. The in-person meeting at the Missoula County Courthouse lasted more than an hour and a half.
The negotiations were described by bargaining team members as “intense,” but resulted in several commitments from Oak Wood, including formal recognition of the tenants unions, a pledge not to retaliate against union members or individual residents, and an agreement to collectively bargain over the next lease. The company also expressed openness to two-year lease terms and agreed to modify its payment system to reduce fees charged to residents.
Perhaps most significantly for residents facing repeated rent hikes, Oak Wood representatives pledged to push internally for a 3% cap on future rent increases — a commitment bargaining team member Erik Brilz relayed to dozens of residents gathered at Travois Village following the meeting.
“This is a testament to the power of getting together and fighting together,” Brilz told the crowd. “This is testament to the power of union organizing.”
By the Numbers
Travois Village is a 273-home park located in Missoula’s Westside neighborhood. Harvey’s in Bonner is a 39-home park. Together, the two communities form Montana’s first jointly organized mobile home park bargaining unit.
- Current lot rent at Travois Village: $695 per month
- Current lot rent at Harvey’s: $670 per month
- Oak Wood raised lot rents by $200 in 2024 following its 2023 purchase
- A proposed $150 increase in 2025 was reduced to $50 after resident pushback
- Virtual negotiations between the joint bargaining team and Oak Wood began in January 2026
Zoom Out
The situation in Missoula reflects a broader national trend of private equity and out-of-state investors acquiring mobile home parks, which have historically offered lower-cost homeownership options. As corporations purchase these communities and implement aggressive rent increases, residents — who cannot easily relocate their homes — face difficult choices between absorbing higher costs or abandoning their properties.
Debates over tenant organizing and labor protections in housing and the broader workforce are playing out at multiple levels of government. In Florida, legislation has sparked debate over public worker union rules and accountability standards, while federal lawmakers have introduced measures aimed at modernizing workforce-related systems — reflecting growing national attention to how workers and residents can formally assert collective interests.
Jackson Sapp of the Missoula Tenants Union said this marks the first time in Montana history that a tenants union has won formal recognition from a landlord and secured an agreement to collectively bargain over a future lease.
What’s Next
While residents celebrated the outcomes of Thursday’s meeting, bargaining team members were clear that the process is far from complete. The unions and Oak Wood Ventures have committed to negotiate a collectively bargained lease, though the specific terms — including the potential 3% rent increase cap — have not yet been finalized in a signed agreement.
“This is absolutely not the end of our fight,” Brilz told residents. “We are just getting started here.”
Residents of both parks will continue working through the joint bargaining team as formal lease negotiations proceed. The outcome will be closely watched by mobile home park residents and tenant advocates across Montana as corporate ownership of manufactured housing communities continues to expand statewide.