Tenants at two Bozeman-area mobile home parks have announced Montana’s first rent strike in over fifty years, citing rent increases they describe as “aggressive,” “unreasonable,” and “the reason I now understand what the word ‘untenable’ means.”

The landlord, an out-of-state property management group, responded within hours by promising eviction proceedings, which tenants said was the fastest response they’d received from management on any issue since moving in.

“I’ve been asking them to fix my water heater since October,” said Debi Fassler, 61, a King Arthur Park resident. “But I stop paying rent and suddenly they know my name, my unit number, and the specific section of Montana code that applies to my situation. It’s the most attention they’ve ever paid to this property.”

Monthly lot rents at the parks have risen to $947, up from $620 two years ago, an increase the management company described in a letter to tenants as “a market adjustment reflecting current conditions.” The current conditions, for reference, include the tenants not being able to afford the adjustment.

“They keep saying it’s the market,” said fellow tenant Ron Halvorsen, 44. “But I live in a mobile home on a gravel lot next to the interstate. What market is this, exactly?”

City Commissioner Linda Paulsen expressed concern during a Tuesday meeting, noting that mobile home parks represent “one of the last remaining sources of affordable housing in the valley,” a phrase that has been applied to so many disappearing things in Bozeman that it now functions primarily as a eulogy.

A representative for the management group declined to comment beyond a written statement that read, in full: “We remain committed to providing quality housing at fair market rates and will pursue all available legal remedies against non-paying tenants.”

Halvorsen, reading the statement on his phone, nodded slowly. “Quality housing,” he repeated. “The skirting on my unit blew off in March. It’s May and I can see my pipes.”

The rent strike is scheduled to begin Friday. The eviction proceedings are scheduled to begin Saturday.