Residents of the West Street Village mobile home park in Ludlow held a rally in front of the Housing Court in Springfield this week.
Residents of the community said the park's owner got permission from the rent control board in Ludlow to raise their lot fees by 150%. They're hoping to have that decision reversed in court.
Debee Boulanger is the vice president of the West Village Homeowner's Association. She said the increase does not reflect the level of care the owner has been put into the park.
"Instead of improving the quality of our life at the park, he did cosmetic things. So it's like if a band aid on a boil or something like that," she said.
Boulanger cited several issues, such as outdated faulty electrical systems and plumbing lines that have fallen into disrepair as well as raw sewage sometimes coming back up through some residents drains.
Tom Lennon, the trailer park's owner, did not respond to a request for comment. Lennon also owns Hillside Valley Mobile Home Park on the other side of Ludlow, as well as the Mill Pond Mobile Home Park in West Stockbridge, where residents fought an increase and won.
Some Ludlow residents have reached out to local and state offices for their support in the matter.
Sen. Jake Oliveira, D- Ludlow, toured the mobile home park alongside state Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Belchertown, this past February. Oliveira said the steep increase is unjustified.
"Trailer parks and mobile home parks are the last bastion of affordable housing here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," he said. "To further price out very vulnerable populations by these increases simply isn't right. And so there is work, I think, that we need to do as lawmakers to really give the tools and teeth in regulations to the rent control boards in each community that approve these increases to prevent these triple and double digit increases."
Olivera made a promise to the residents that he will introduce stronger rent control board legislation on Beacon Hill when the next active legislative session comes up this January.
The Springfield Housing court stated there was not enough time to review all of the documents that were submitted for the case. It will hear the case again on Sept. 11.
