Overview:
- Homes of America, a hedge fund subsidiary, pleaded guilty to operating the North Morris Communities park without a license.
- Brown water that destroyed appliances and 12% rent increases occurred under the previous ownership, says resident representative.
- New owners say they've replaced 73 water lines, and are connecting the park to municipal water.
At the North Morris Communities manufactured housing park north of Flint, new owners are working to repair what public officials and resident advocates say is the damage caused by out-of-state investors.
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Why it matters
Private equity owners of manufactured home parks have raised rents, and cut essential services. Private equity firms own over one-quarter of manufactured housing lots in Michigan, according to the watchdog group Private Equity Stakeholder Project.
Who's making public decisions
The Michigan House holds the power to advance or stall Senate-passed legislation that would give mobile home residents the first right to purchase their communities, require annual inspections, and limit fees.
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Residents endured drinking water quality issues and raw sewage spills under the ownership of Homes of America, an affiliate of a hedge fund known for buying and gutting newspapers.
An agent for former park owner Homes of America pleaded guilty to a one-year misdemeanor, operating without a license, and paid a $25,000 criminal fine March 26, 2025 in what is possibly the first conviction under Michigan’s Mobile Home Commission Act, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said at a Wednesday press conference.
Homes of America, a subsidiary of the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, agreed to sell the Thetford Township park, formerly known as North Morris Estates, as part of the plea deal, according to a statement at the time of the conviction from the Genesee County prosecutor.
“People who choose to live in a mobile home park deserve the same dignity, the same safety, and the same respect as anyone else, and they deserve clean water and safe infrastructure,” Leyton said.
A Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy sanitary survey from May 31, 2022 found multiple deficiencies in the community’s water supply, according to Leyton’s office.
An investigation by Michigan State Police found the former park owner had been operating without a license since at least Nov. 29, 2023.
EGLE informed North Morris Estates Jan. 16, 2024 that it was in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to Leyton.
New Jersey-based Homes of America did not respond to requests for comment on North Morris Estates.
Brown water, sewage spills at Genesee County community
The park’s former owner raised Theo Gantos’ rent by around 12% when it assumed ownership, as well as the following year, he told Planet Detroit. Gantos is vice president of the residents’ association.
“They’re not investors; they’re extractors,” he said of Homes of America.
Brown water ran out of Gantos’ faucets under the previous ownership, which destroyed his hot water heater and washing machine, he said. Gantos spent thousands of dollars to install his own water distillation system, he said.
When charges were filed against Homes of America in 2024, Gantos said the company shut down the office in the park and forced tenants to drive 7 miles to pay their rent.
Before the property changed hands, Michigan regulators contacted North Morris Estates about a raw sewage spill in the community, according to state records.
“I’ve received a complaint about raw sewage on the ground in the park coming from broken and uncapped sewer lines. I wanted to see if Homes of America is addressing this,” EGLE environmental engineer Brent Bodnar wrote in an April 16, 2025 email that includes photographs of the spill.
Gerald Runnels, a regional manager at Homes of America, responded the same day that the issue was resolved.
“Lime is currently down on the area. We have someone out to identify the lots with missing/broken caps and will get photos once completed,” he said.
Bodnar emailed Homes of America again April 30, 2025 regarding “raw sewage and leaking water from the sanitary sewer system in the park.”
The environmental engineer followed up the next week and said he had not heard back from the mobile home park’s owners.
The community’s new owners took over Sept. 4, 2025, according to the resident advocacy group MHAction.
The park changed dramatically under new ownership, Gantos said.
“The new owners did more in the first month than the owners before did in the three-plus years they owned the park,” Gantos said.
Andrey Noskov, who co-owns the park with Albert Swiden, told Planet Detroit they’re in the process of connecting the park, which uses well water, to municipal water, and have replaced 73 water lines so far.
The owners improved the main office and community space, repaired roads in the park, and are working to restore a community pool, Noskov said.
Gantos said the owners switched to an organic herbicide to control weeds and supported efforts to vaccinate and neuter outdoor cats living in the community.
‘Maximizing profits’: Investors squeeze mobile home park residents, prosecutor says
Hedge fund Alden Global Capital slashed newsroom jobs at hundreds of newspapers it acquired.
Its affiliate Homes of America has bought 144 manufactured home communities, with over 10,000 home sites in Michigan, Florida, and Illinois, according to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), a watchdog organization.
“Communities across Michigan and throughout the country continue to face similar challenges,” Leyton said.
“Too often, out-of-state corporate investors purchase mobile home parks with one goal in mind: maximizing profits.”
Companies dramatically increase lot rents, forcing out residents who cannot afford the increases, and cut costs by eliminating essential services, he said.
Residents of manufactured or “mobile” homes often own their homes, but rent the land on which they sit.
Despite the name, it’s often difficult or expensive to move a mobile home, forcing some residents to put up with “really egregious” property maintenance by landlords, Esther Sullivan, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado Denver, told the Associated Press last year.
Residents have reported dramatic lot rent increases, legal and financial abuse and deferred maintenance after Homes of America takes over parks, according to PESP.
Private equity firms own over one-quarter of manufactured housing lots in Michigan, according to PESP’s Manufactured Housing Tracker.
Private equity refers to firms that generally raise capital to acquire and manage private companies or take public companies private to sell them at a profit.
Push for manufactured housing legislation in Michigan
The speakers at last week’s event said Michigan’s hundreds of manufactured housing communities in the state are in need of legislation to protect residents.
In May, the Michigan Senate passed legislation that would give residents the first chance to purchase their communities, require annual state inspections of parks, ensure one-year leases for park residents, provide fair compensation for owners if a park acquires their home, limit fees and penalties, and provide 12 months’ notice if a park is closing.
The bills have not received a hearing in the Michigan House.
Paul Terranova, Midwest organizer with the nonprofit Manufactured Housing Action, said mobile home parks can be amazing places to live, with a density that is often lacking in other areas.
“People look out for the seniors next door. They mow each other’s grass. They help each other fix their homes,” he said. “It’s a level of community that we don’t often see in other parts of our nation.”
This makes it infuriating to see Wall Street investors take ownership of manufactured housing communities, he said.
“If you see a distressed mobile home park somewhere, you’re seeing a robbery in progress,” he said. “You’re seeing a company that’s coming in and sucking wealth out of a community.”
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