Havenpark Capital Partners is a Utah-based corporation that has been buying mobile home parks around the country, including 5 in Iowa. Where Havenpark goes, our most vulnerable citizens are at risk. In Waukee, Havenpark bought Midwest Country Estates and proposed a 69% increase in lot rents. The people of the park organized and fought back. They shared their stories, knocked doors, connected with community resources, endured intimidation, and garnered national media attention when presidential candidates Julian Casto, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren visited Havenpark owned properties. Finally, the people of Midwest Country Estates got the state legislature to draft a bill that would help protect them from predatory practices, SF2238 in the senate and HF2351 in the house.

The bill showed initial signs of promise, having been originally sponsored by members of both political parties. In the senate, the bill was originally given to a subcommittee chaired by Chris Cournoyer, who was a co-sponsor of the bill. Feenstra and Jochum (another co-sponsor of the bill) were also on the subcommittee. So the bill looked like it was primed to pass the subcommittee, with 2 out of 3 members having already declared support. Then, suddenly, Cournoyer was removed as chair and was replaced by Jake Chapman, and the bill died.

So what happened? Havenpark's owner, Anthony Antonelli gave $3,500 to the Manufactured Housing Political Action Committee on July 19, 2019. That PAC gave $1,000 to Representative Bobby Kaufman (R-Wilton) on 11/10/2019 and $2,500 to Representative Pat Grassley (R-New Hartford) on Dec. 20, 2019. The Iowa Manufactured Housing Association lobbied against the bill on February 12, 2020, and 5 days later, Jake Chapman became the chairperson of the committee that killed the bill.

While some of our representatives care more about their contributors than the people suffering in their own district, I get the sense that the people of Midwest Country Estates will be back. Their lives depend on it.