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The business practices of the large corporations that own and manage manufactured home parks in Queensland seriously threaten the financial wellbeing and quality of life of retirees living in these parks. The peak body representing homeowners in these parks, QMHOA (Queensland Manufactured Home Owners Association), is urging the Queensland Government to introduce and fully enact promised legislation strengthening protections against unfair business practices before the state election in October.
Owning a home in a manufactured home park has the potential to be a very good option for comfortable, low-cost, and secure retirement living for people who will live out the rest of their lives on low to modest incomes. In these parks, the retiree owns the home but not the land it sits on, and they pay a weekly site fee to the park owners to cover the land leasing, access to and use of communal facilities, and other services.
According to data provided by the Queensland Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning, and Public Works, there are over 23,000 manufactured homes in Queensland. Approximately 100 purpose-built parks house 91.5% of these manufactured homes, while multi-use parks co-locate them with tourist and caravan parks.
The findings of a survey of residents in parks carried out by the Department showed that the majority of homeowners live on low to middle retirement incomes. Over 50% of respondents were on incomes of $40,000 per annum or less, with 53.6% receiving a full-age pension and a further 24.4% receiving a part-age pension.
In the past 10 years, the ownership of a majority of the purpose-built parks in Queensland has passed into the hands of a small number of large, multinational, and Australian corporations. These companies are adopting aggressive business practices that increase their bottom line at the expense and exploitation of vulnerable retiree homeowners. Annual site fee increases, which are increasingly unaffordable and inequitable, achieve this goal. These increases consistently surpass the necessary funding for park operations, as well as increases in the homeowner’s pension and fixed income. At the same time, many park owners are cutting back on the services they offer and on the maintenance of their grounds and facilities.
The result is that the wellbeing and quality of life of the older Queenslanders living in these parks are suffering significantly. Roger Marshall, President of QMHOA, states that “homeowners are having to make difficult choices to cut back on essentials such as medical and pharmaceutical expenses, insurance, recreational costs, and food in order to pay their site fees. Others are seeking to cope by returning to some form of work or by selling valued assets.” Residential parks have the potential to serve as an excellent retirement living option for individuals with low to middle incomes, but their potential remains unfulfilled.
The Queensland State Government has identified a number of areas in the legislation that require updating to meet contemporary standards and to provide enhanced consumer protections to homeowners. In their Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021–25, the Queensland Government made a commitment to take action to address these areas of concern. Work has been going on for over two and a half years on options to strengthen legislative protections; however, progress has been exceedingly slow. “Though the government is promising changes that will protect homeowners from the unfair business practices of park owners, so far there has been no definitive detail, and there has been no discernible action for many months now. With every week and month that passes, homeowners are being required to absorb ever-increasing and unwarranted site fee charges and are seeing a decline in the level and quality of the services they receive,” said Marshall.
QMHOA is looking to the government to act Marshall continued, “Too many retirees in parks are facing significant and growing financial stress. They need the Queensland Government to ensure, as a matter of urgency, that promised legislation that will strengthen protections for homeowners is introduced and fully enacted before the state election in October.”
This article was also published in Public Spectrum.
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