Genesis assists mobile home park residents in purchasing their park

Fort Kent residents form cooperative; Genesis applies for grants

March 2007

Despite the evening's ten below temperatures, residents of the Riverview Trailer Park gathered on February 5 at the Fort Kent town hall to hear from the Genesis Fund staff about an idea that would allow them to remain in their homes past the November date the park owners have set for closure.

Executive Director Beth McPherson and Communications Director Heidi Shott traveled to Fort Kent at the behest of John Bannen, the town's director of planning and economic development, who is concerned about the displacement of 16 households that reside at the park. Some park residents, who own their mobile homes but lease the land on which they sit, have lived at Riverview since the late 1960s. Several are elderly and some are young families for whom the cost of moving a not-so-mobile home to another piece of land is prohibitive. The current owners, faced with insurmountable water and sewer infrastructure problems, issued the legally mandated one-year park closure notification in late November.

At the same time the Genesis Fund, with its staff just returned from training on resident-owned cooperatives in New Hampshire , was considering how to begin the work.

“After the initial phone call with John Bannen, I realized that we had our first project to assist with whether we were ready or not,” said McPherson. “The people at Riverview needed assistance and the Genesis Fund was the only group in Maine trained to help.”

With Bannen paving the way with the residents, Genesis Fund staff prepared to make the six-hour trip north. After showing a compelling video that features a few of the New Hampshire park residents who have successfully organized cooperatives to purchase their parks, McPherson outlined the steps necessary for the Riverview residents to take ownership of their park and overcome the infrastructure challenges while staying affordable. (Read our booklet - “From Tenant to Owner”)

After hearing there is assistance available to help them remain in the homes they own free and clear; that there is a way for them, without coughing up a big down payment, to join with their neighbors to own the park together; that there is support from the Genesis Fund to help them succeed, there was silence in the meeting room. Then park resident Jerry Nadeau turned to his neighbors and said, “I think we can do this. I think we should do this! I don't want to worry all summer about where I'm going to move my home to. I want to stay where I am.”

Heads nodded. People began to talk. A young woman named Janet Levesque

offered to talk with all the neighbors who didn't attend the meeting. In a matter of minutes, the sense of possibility – of partnership and community – blossomed and the prospect of a small mobile home park in northern Aroostook County becoming the first resident-owned community in the State of Maine , didn't seem farfetched at all.

Ten days later, on February 15, residents representing seven households returned to the Fort Kent town hall to sign an application to form a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation in the State of Maine . Bannen commented, “The staff at Genesis has been very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, as well as demonstrating genuine support to the Town of Fort Kent and the residents of Riverview Trailer Park . The residents have been buoyed by the efforts of the Genesis Fund.”

Meanwhile work at the Genesis Fund office continues. Grant applications to fund many aspects of the project have been submitted or are in the process,

including

•  a grant to fund a part-time community organizer to work directly with park residents

•  a predevelopment loan from MaineHousing to determine the cost of infrastructure repairs at Riverview

•  a grant to fund the cost of technical assistance and training provided to Riverview and future projects by the Genesis Fund

•  an “I'm Home” (Innovations in Manufactured Homes) Catalyst Grant from the Corporation for Enterprise Development

In addition the Genesis Fund is working with the Maine Legislature's Joint Business, Research and Economic Development Committee on LD 281, “An Act Regarding Notification of Intent to Sell a Mobile Home Park .” Statute currently requires that mobile home park owners who intend to accept a purchase offer give 45 days written notice to residents before a sale contract may be executed. The bill would require the owner to notify MaineHousing as well. Such a notification would allow the Genesis Fund (and others) to learn when a park is about to be purchased.

“We would love to start at the very top of Maine and work our way down,” McPherson told the residents gathered in Fort Kent . With the formation of the cooperative in the works and enough time to appraise the infrastructure and garner support from funders, the first project is well underway.

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...)

January 2007
Genesis Fund works with the Town of Fort Kent to convert manufactured home park (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