Momentum for Fort Kent resident-owned mobile home park community builds

MaineHousing and Maine Community Foundation offer support

April 2007

Not long after the residents of Fort Kent 's Riverview Mobile Home Park formed a cooperative in early March, efforts by the Genesis Fund to assist with the conversion of

the park to a resident-owned community began

to bear fruit. With the park set for closure in November 2007, the conversion will allow park residents to remain in their homes and

improve the condition of the park.

On March 14, the Genesis Fund received word that MaineHousing approved a $25,750 predevelopment loan to fund an engineering study to determine the costs of replacing water and sewer lines. The deteriorating infrastructure of the park is the primary reason the owners announced the closure of the park late last year. The predevelopment loan will also cover pre-purchase and due

diligence phases of the project. Rick Churchill, a MaineHousing Multifamily Loan

Officer commented, "We at MaineHousing realize you are undertaking a worthy, yet daunting, task, and wish you the best."

In early April, the Genesis Fund received the green light on a $3,500 proposal to the Maine Community Foundation to fund the hiring of a community organizer to assist with the park conversion. The organizer will work to guide park residents step-by-step through negotiating the purchase of the park and creating park management and operating plans, thereby developing leadership skills among residents and strengthing the community's ability to meet future challenges.

A grant application to fund the cost of technical assistance and training for the

project with a USDA Rural Business Opportunity Grant has just received

endorsement from the Northern Maine Empowerment Council.

Mobile homes represent an important housing option for many of Maine 's low- and middle-income residents. The nearly 20,000 families that live in investor-owned mobile home parks face several risks when renting the site on which they place their home: sudden and unreasonable rent increases, failed and dangerous infrastructure, and change of use closures leading to expensive displacement and often loss of home. The conversion of parks to resident-ownership not only removes these risks, but also provides many economic and civic benefits to residents.

The residents of Riverview Mobile Home Park have the potential to serve

as first resident-park owners in the State of Maine . They are part of an exemplary program that can be replicated many times over as some of the state's 552 parks come up for sale.

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...)

March 2007

Genesis assists mobile home park residents in purchasing their park

Fort Kent residents form cooperative; Genesis applies for grants (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