Genesis Fund works with the Town of Fort Kent to convert manufactured home park

Efforts to form a Resident-Owned Community a first in Maine

Download our brochure: From Tenant to Owner

Fresh from training at the New Hampshire
Community Loan Fund's (NHCLF) Meredith
Institute in early November, two Genesis Fund staffers, Beth McPherson and Liza Fleming-Ives, are beginning work with the Town of Fort Kent in northern Aroostook
County on the conversion of a manufactured
housing park. With a 16- lot park under threat of closure, the Genesis Fund is helping park residents explore the feasibility of turning their privately held park into a resident-owned cooperative.

The experience of the NHCLF, which has helped with financing and
assistance in the conversion of 80 manufactured home parks since 1983, has given the Genesis Fund a head-start in beginning its newest initiative of assisting some of Maine's 552 parks (which more than 19,700  often low-income families call home) become resident-owned.

"We returned home from the training in New Hampshire and were considering where to start with this work when we heard from the economic development office in Fort Kent. It seems that the many long-term residents of the Fort Kent park received the statute-required one year notice of closure," explained McPherson, executive director of the Genesis Fund. "The long-term experience and the wealth of materials provided by the NHCLF will be invaluable as we start to work with this community and the park residents."

While in New Hampshire Fleming-Ives, associate director of the Genesis Fund, visited several resident-owned parks in Southern New Hampshire. "It was exciting to see what happens after a park has been resident-owned for awhile. Owners begin to do landscaping and build porches and decks. Ownership and being involved in the management of the cooperative can really empower people," said Fleming Ives. "One park was only a few years from paying off its mortgage, and I could tell how proud the owners I met were of that accomplishment. We're hopeful that the Genesis Fund's work will be able to assist Maine manufactured home residents in a similar way."

The Genesis Fund is also working with legislators to amend Maine statutes to require that manufactured home park owners notify the state housing finance agency of intent to sell a park--a small but important step to make the market more transparent.

For more...

Download our brochure: From Tenant to Owner

June 2007

Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston awards grants and subsidy of $120,000 to support Riverview Cooperative in Fort Kent (more...)

 

April 2007

Momentum for Fort Kent resident-owned mobile home community builds; MaineHousing and Maine Community Foundation offer support (more...)

March 2007

Genesis assists mobile home park residents in purchasing their park

Fort Kent residents form cooperative; Genesis applies for grants (more...)

June 2006
Genesis Board supports exploration into manufactured housing cooperatives ( more... )

New Hampshire Community Loan Fund's Manufactured Housing Park Program

"A Fresh Look at Manufactured Housing" by Paul Bradley of the NHCLF