Bridge to Resident Ownership

Throughout our geographic region (Aspen to Parachute), there are at least 55 Mobile Home Parks (MHP) with vibrant communities. Closure of manufactured home communities is always a threat but is particularly pronounced when there is a boom in commercial development, as developers eye these communities as prime targets for strip malls or office buildings. And because MHP residents own their homes but not the land under them, they are vulnerable to volatile changes, including:

• Closure of the community — the landowner can decide to put the land to some other use

• Unbearable rent hikes — the homeowners in manufactured home communities pay rent for the land on which their homes sit and there are little to no effective protections against confiscatory rent increases that can force homeowners out by making the lot rent unaffordable

• Dilapidation — community owners may fail to maintain the property, allowing the roads, grounds, and water and sewer system to deteriorate until the community becomes an eyesore, if not a health hazard

• Above market value purchase — when an MHP is listed for sale, there is often a bidding war between out-of-state hedge fund developers and, even if the residents were able to pull together an offer, there is no incentive for the seller to select theirs over a higher, more competitive on

Through an interventionary model, the RFCDC aims to purchase vulnerable MHPs and give the Residents the time and the tools to purchase directly from the RFCDC at an affordable rate. This bridge to Resident Ownership is an iterative model and we're learning alongside the Residents with the goal to set them up for success and share the knowledge gained along the way with others across the region and state.