Our History

The Oregon State Tenants Association (OSTA) began when a small group of people from Salem and Eugene organized to represent the rights of residents of mobile home parks. The group sought to meet the needs of park residents who were being treated unfairly by park management by forging the way for legislative changes.

OSTA toiled to understand the system and where to go within the system to affect change. Along the way it developed a following of residents, politicians, and others concerned for residents’ rights and built a membership base of homeowners. To more accurately represent its membership, the organization broadened its name to Manufactured Home Owners of Oregon, Inc. and tied the highly recognized OSTA acronym to it, becoming MHOO/OSTA.

The original Oregon Landlord-Tenant Coalition formed with a focus on apartment tenants. OSTA was an active participant in the Coalition.

John VanLandingham joined the original Oregon Landlord-Tenant Coalition and OSTA pressed legislators and were victorious in the creation of the Manufactured Housing Community Resources Center (MCRC) to explain laws, provide counseling and services, offer referrals, and maintain a directory of manufactured housing dwelling parks.

MHOO/OSTA (the manufactured housing tenants group) and the Park Owners Association (the manufactured housing park landlords group) opposed one another in legislative efforts. In response to the conflict, a legislative committee led by Oregon Senator Bill Kennemer insisted all parties work together or else neither side would be heard at the capital.

Facilitated by Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), the newly-focused Oregon Manufactured Housing/Landlord-Tenant Coalition was formed so that manufactured tenants and landlords would work together on legislative requests and solutions if they wanted to get any bills passed.

Working for win-win solutions ultimately broke the stalemate and new legislation poured forth.  Among the bills passed into law that session were 90.600 on forming Committees of Seven for grievances; clubhouse availability, use, and hours; elimination of pet fees and utility add-on charges, and a requirement for landlords to provide prospective buyers with a one-page sheet of information about any tenants’ association.

Enactment of the Oregon Landlord Tenant Statutes, as well as ongoing revisions and improvements of those laws, shifted the focus of MHOO/OSTA. The organization found that changing the law is a good beginning but only a beginning. Helping homeowners understand and benefit from the changes would become the next phase of their work.

Still financially supported only by membership dues, the organization recognized that for the changes in the laws to be effective, every homeowner in every park needs access to information and resources and MHOO/OSTA expanded to include tenant education and empowerment along with their legislative advocacy.

In September 2008, the membership voted to dissolve MHOO/OSTA and transfer its assets and membership to a newly formed entity, Manufactured Housing/Oregon State Tenants Association. MH/OSTA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, was formed enabling the organization to apply for grant funding that could help it serve many more park homeowners statewide.

A strong membership structure is still vitally important to MH/OSTA as it continues to rely largely on membership dues for its all-volunteer work. Beyond the financial support it provides, a broad membership network is an extremely effective way to provide ongoing education and empowerment to park homeowners, collect input from park homeowners, and advocate on behalf of park homeowners.

During the work of negotiating and lobbying for Senate Bill 586, park and marina tenants worked together to advocate for improved rights and protections and both groups realized that, because of their circumstances of owning homes on rented space, they shared much in common and saw a future where they could be stronger if they worked together. With the passing of SB586, marina tenants were brought under the program coverage and services of the MCRC and was renamed the Manufactured & Marina Communities Resource Center (MMCRC). MH/OSTA opened their doors, their network, educational resources and programs to floating home tenants.

MH/OSTA embarked on an effort to include marina tenants and upgrade some of the ways they had been communicating with their park residents.  In Summer of 2020, MH/OSTA became the Oregon State Tenants Association – Manufactured and Floating Home Communities, known again simply as OSTA, and launched a new dynamic and interactive website that will allow OSTA and its volunteers to reach and support more park and marina tenants all across the state.