Residents are buying their mobile home parks—and preserving one of the last affordable housing options for low-income Americans

So, they decided to form a co-operative and purchase their garden in Lakewood, Washington. With the help of a nonprofit that advises communities like theirs and helps them get loans, they bought it for $5.25 million. Since becoming owners in September everyone has worked to make improvements.

“Everyone thought, You know what? Some people have painted their houses, some have remodeled their interiors and exteriors, some have been working on their roofs,” said Galvez, 22, a co-op board member.

With rents in mobile home parks rising nationwide, advocates are touting the co-op model as a way to preserve an affordable housing option for people on low or fixed incomes and give them a greater voice in running their parks.

So far these residents owned communities are proving to be a reliable choice. None of the more than 300 in the ROC USA nonprofit network has defaulted or closed. Someone decided to sell back to the county housing authority where you originally bought it.

“They have a 100% track record of success, which tells you they work for residents,” said George McCarthy, president and CEO of the Lincoln Land Policy Institute, a think tank in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Resident property is an absolute bulwark against market interference by institutional capital.”

The push to promote residents’ ownership comes at a time when parks are becoming more popular The preferred target of investment banks, hedge funds and other wealthy investors.

almost A third of mobile home parks McCarthy said these investors have bought into the US since 2015, lured by reliable cash flows and higher returns from rent increases nearly double the general rental market price.

He said, “They trade in the desperation of the people who live in the gardens.” “There is no place they can take their homes if they can’t afford to pay the increased rents.”

Park residents often own their homes but rarely the land beneath them. So if the landlord raises the rent, residents can be evicted or forced to sell their homes. If a park is sold for redevelopment, mobile homes that cannot be moved will be demolished.

“Homelessness is what residents really face” if investors aggressively raise rents, said Victoria O’Banion, marketing and acquisitions specialist at ROC Northwest.

At Rimrock Court in downtown Oregon City, Madras, the rent has increased from $350 to $495 over five years. When the landlord notified the residents that he intended to sell, they feared further increases – or worse, that it would be demolished to make room for apartments. So they decided to buy it.

“We were really worried about being forced out of our homes,” said Shaun King, who lives there with her husband on a fixed income and has experienced homelessness before.

To pay off the purchase loan, residents are now paying $520 a month—a stretch, but it comes with reassurance, King said.

“Just to have that peace of mind, knowing our rent is going to be locked in for a while and won’t continue to go up, and also knowing that our rent money… is going to come back into the property, that’s the cool part,” she said.

The rent increase required for the cooperative business was steeper at the Evergreen Village Cooperative in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania, from $460 a month to $750 to pay off the $12 million loan.

However, more than two-thirds of the residents voted in favour, reasoning that their rent would be stable in the long run.

“We’re not for profit. All the money we get has to go back to the village and pay the mortgages,” said Stephen LaClair, chairman of the board.

He said Evergreen Village has set aside money for improvement projects for the next decade, and this year plans to enhance the sewage plant and fix electrical problems.

Cooperatives can also provide social support to residents. At the Liberty Landing Cooperative in Missouri, residents have started a food pantry to help neighbors in need.

“If there’s difficulty, we’re willing to work with someone. … It’s emotional when you find out someone’s lost their job, their kids’ support… and they don’t know what to do,” said Kristi Peterman, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors. Our president is to say, “If it doesn’t work for the poorest of us, it won’t work for anyone.”

Despite talk of better management and a stronger community, most parks are not cooperative.

The nation’s mobile home communities number about 43,000 and are home to 22 million people, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute, a national trade organization. But only about 1,000 are owned by residents, according to Caroline Carter, deputy director of the National Center for Consumer Law.

Some resistance comes from residents, many of whom are elderly and people with disabilities who may not want to take responsibility for managing their park. Others argue that rent controls or stricter zoning regulations that protect mobile home parks from redevelopment are more effective.

“Zoning is critical. Zoning is critical. Zoning is critical. Zoning is critical. Zoning is critical. It’s a very important thing to do,” said Jean Leonard, who lives in a park in Walla Walla, Washington, and has worked with other residents to successfully push the City Council to amend zoning codes to add mobile home parks… a land-use type.

Other residents considering buying their gardens face the same forces that make them popular with investors – a frantic market and competition from private equity firms and other potential buyers.

Sarah Marchant, vice president of the Community Loan Fund, called the New Hampshire subsidiary of ROC USA Tara Estates, a 380-home park in Rochester. The high price of $45 million discouraged residents from organizing.

Another challenge is that few states provide financing for residents looking to purchase their gardens. The lack of grants may make it difficult for residents to finance large loans.

New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Colorado and Oregon between countries that have laws That was effective in helping residents buy their gardens, said the National Consumer Law Center.

A new bill in Oregon would allocate $35 million in grants to help residents buy their gardens. Washington passed a bill last month requiring landlords to give tenants an opportunity to compete to buy their park. It also requires two years’ notice if the park is to close, although this can be reduced if the owners compensate residents financially.

Mobile homes are “an important, affordable housing option for many people, especially seniors where they are, and we need to make sure they are preserved,” said Sen. Noel Frame, the lead sponsor of the Washington bill.

Some real estate groups and park owners argue that the bill places an undue burden on landlords.

“If you want renters to organize bids for their communities … they shouldn’t wait for the clock to strike,” said Robert Cochran, real estate director for Contempo Mobile Home Park in Spokane.

Housing advocates say they hope so $225 million in federal funding recently approved maybe Provide some relief for mobile home park residents. Starting this year, money will be directed through grants to states, resident-owned parks, nonprofit organizations, and local and tribal governments to maintain mobile home communities and improve infrastructure.

King cherishes the Co-op mobile home in Rimrock Court, Oregon that has been saved from rent increases and potential purchases by investors.

“It is very difficult to find affordable housing when you have a low income. Being able to own your own home is very empowering.”

“It’s 600 square feet. It’s not much, but it’s a castle for me.”

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Associated Press writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed.