Columbia mobile home residents launch tenants union, demand negotiations with corporate owner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Residents from three Columbia mobile home parks publicly launched a tenants union Sunday, calling on their corporate landlord to negotiate over rising costs, safety concerns, and alleged retaliation.

Tenants from Richland Heights North, Richland Heights South, and Creekwood Estates announced the formation of Columbia Tenants Union Locals 1, 2, and 3 during a press conference and rally held at Creekwood Estates. The Columba Tenants Union represent 102 households and are uniting to issue collective demands to Regal Communities, the New York–based company that owns the properties.

Tenant leaders said they are demanding that Regal Communities come to the bargaining table in good faith with a democratically elected tenant bargaining team and immediately end what they describe as retaliatory actions against residents.

Organizers said residents began organizing after months of escalating rents, unexplained fees, unsafe living conditions, and what they describe as a lack of transparency under corporate ownership. Tenants said efforts to resolve these issues privately were unsuccessful, prompting them to go public.

Speakers at the event included tenant leaders from each of the three CTU locals, Citywide Columbia Tenants Union representative Jack Dobbs, Empower Missouri’s Vee Sanchez, and Columbia Third Ward Councilwoman Jacque Sample.

Organizers called the launch a historic moment for tenant organizing in Columbia, saying it marks the first coordinated effort among multiple mobile home parks to collectively bargain with a corporate owner.

ABC 17 News reached out to Regal Communities.