Monroe Mayor Greg Wolfe and resident John Ramono recently testified in Trenton at a state Senate hearing on the bill.
A rent leveling bill may be moving closer to becoming state law.
Mayor Greg Wolfe, along with Monroe Township resident John Ramono, recently testified at a Trenton state Senate hearing regarding a rent leveling measure that would affect mobile homes. The measure was proposed by state Sen. Paul Moriarty and Assemblyman Dan Hutchinson.
About 60,000 New Jersey residents live in mobile/modular home communities; they own their mobile/modular homes and pay a monthly lot fee to the park. Wall Street investment firms began purchasing mobile-home communities because they perceived them as undervalued, according to officials, and their aim is to significantly increase the fees for profit.
The bill from Moriarty and Hutchinson will cap lot fee increases at 3%. It was inspired by an ordinance that township council passed in September 2023 that protects residents residing in certain modular or manufactured homes from drastic increases in rent.
In February, the township established a Rent Leveling Board in accordance with the ordinance that is comprised of five members and two alternates. They are appointed by the mayor, with the advice and consent of council. Members serve staggered terms: two members for one year, two members for two years, and one member for three years.
The ordinance represents the township’s commitment to fair housing costs and balancing the interests of tenants and landlords. The board will oversee the ordinance’s implementation, ensuring compliance with its provisions for rent increase controls and adjustment procedures.
The Rent Leveling Board is a significant step in ongoing efforts to provide affordable housing and maintain transparency in the township’s governance. Romano, who attended the hearing with the mayor, is a tenant at a mobile/manufactured home park and a two-year member of the board.
“Statewide lot fee rent control will allow mobile/modular homeowners to breathe a sigh of relief instead of constantly having to worry if they will be able to afford to live out the rest of their years with dignity,” he said at the hearing.
Romano is joined on the board by Gina Renee Burton, a two-year member, Richard Coe Jr., a three-year member, Rosemary Dilolle, a landlord/designee of a mobile/manufactured home park and a one-year member; and Eric Fooder, a tenant at a mobile/manufactured home park and one-year member.
The board has two, one-year term alternate members. Joseph Fisona, also a mobile/manufactured home park tenant. The other seat is currently vacant.
After testimony in Trenton, the rent leveling measure successfully passed the first senate committee, bringing it one step closer to being signed into law.
