Tenants union in Johnson Co. unveils demands on owner Havenpark

Residents of mobile home parks across Iowa came together to lobby legislators for homeowners' rights in 2019 at the Iowa State Capitol. (Courtesy Candi Evans, Iowa Manufactured Home Residents Network)

By Amie Rivers

June 18, 2025

Remember the 2023 story of mobile home residents in Johnson County whose parks were bought by investment company Havenpark Communities, then had their services taken away while their lot rents were jacked up?

The residents started a couple of tenants’ unions—the Iowa Manufactured Home Residents Network, and Johnson County Residents United (JCRU)—and have been working behind the scenes to try and fix problems and keep their neighbors in their homes.

That has now resulted in “Expectations for Livable Communities,” a list of demands on Havenpark, which JCRU unveiled today.

Screenshot of press release from the tenants union about unveiling their demands, June 18, 2025.

Residents are calling on Havenpark to institute “a two-year moratorium on lot rent increases” and said park owners needed “to provide clean, safe drinkable water, essential park maintenance, and responsive on-site management in all parks.”

“Havenpark has continued to impose annual lot rent increases while canceling amenities, allowing park conditions to decline, and neglecting upkeep of park necessities such as street lighting, storm shelters, snow removal, or tree trimming,” JCRU said in a release.

Havenpark owns five parks in Iowa City, and they’re not an outlier.

“The majority of Johnson County parks are now owned by out-of-state companies or private equity groups,” JCRU says.

It’s all part of the ongoing trend of private equity buying up all the affordable housing and selling it back to us at increasingly unaffordable prices.

But tenants unions like JCRU are trying to turn the tide back in favor of homeowners—and they’re a lot like labor unions in that respect.

Do you live in a mobile home park? How have things changed for you? Email me.

———–

This story first appeared in the Iowa Worker’s Almanac, an Iowa Starting Line newsletter.

Amie Rivers

Amie Rivers is Iowa Starting Line's newsletter editor. She writes the weekly Worker’s Almanac edition of Iowa Starting Line, featuring a roundup of the worker news you need to know. Previously, she was an award-winning journalist at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier; now, she very much enjoys making TikToks and memes and getting pet photos in her inbox.

Have a story tip? Reach Amie at [email protected]. For local reporting in Iowa that connects the dots, from policy to people, sign up for Amie's newsletter.

View all posts

CATEGORIES: LABOR

Support Our Cause

Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Iowans and our future.

Since day one, our goal here at Iowa Starting Line has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Iowan families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.