Mobile Home Park Purchase Program

Many mobile home park residents are interested in improving the conditions in their parks and/or working with their resident association to acquire the park as a Resident Ownership Park (ROP) . Since 1989, the County has implemented a program to assist in resident or non-profit acquisition of mobile home parks. Through these efforts, the units can be protected as long-term affordable housing, residents can gain greater control over their parks, and the physical condition and quality of life in mobile home parks can be improved.

There are many advantages in resident or non-profit acquisition of a mobile home park. However, any project involving non profit or resident ownership involves a complex real estate transaction, significant private and/or public financing sources, and it is important that residents fully consider the implication of either a non-profit or resident ownership approach prior to proceeding with a project.

There are three different types of mobile home park projects where County assistance may be involved:

• Independent, privately financed resident ownership projects with no local financial assistance.
  
  There have been a number of resident ownership projects in the County where the residents are able to proceed with park purchase and have the financial means to qualify for private financing. County involvement in these parks is limited to providing the residents with some basic help in starting the process, such as information on ownership options and financing and funding options, and the names of consultants who have assisted in the conversion of local parks.

• Independent, privately financed conversions where limited local financial assistance is needed.
  
  There are a number of privately financed resident ownership projects where the residents have expressed significant interest and financial commitment towards a resident purchase, but a number of residents cannot afford to pay their proportionate share of the costs. In these cases, the County can provide financial assistance to income eligible mobile home owners. Under existing guidelines, financial assistance is limited to no more than 15% of the households in the park. Loan recipients must be low income and must occupy their mobile homes and the County will require that their mobile homes be subject to permanent resale restrictions.

• Non-Profit Purchase and Infrastructure Upgrade.
  
  There are a number of mobile home parks that are occupied by predominately low and very low income residents and the park suffers from disrepair and infrastructure problems. Often times, residents do not qualify for bank financing for the park purchase, and the residents themselves are primarily interested in working with a non profit organization to acquire the park, take over property management functions and improve the site conditions. As a result, while the park may not be conducive to resident ownership, it may be appropriate for a non-profit affordable housing developer to acquire the property and raise the funding needed to complete the infrastructure improvements. These projects require broad based support from the residents and may involve extensive financial support from the County. As a first step, the County may refer the resident association to an experienced non-profit housing developer who can assist in organizing the project and obtaining outside funding. Local financial assistance in the form of loans or grants may be used to help cover the non-profit organization's predevelopment costs to determine project feasibility, or their acquisition or rehabilitation costs. In the event that substantial local funding is included in the project, all of the mobile homes in the park would be subject to resale price restrictions.

Some things to consider in looking at the feasibility and desirability of this kind of project are:

• County funds must be leveraged with other state, federal and/or private funds, including some matching funds from the residents;

• There are restrictions placed on the resale of mobile homes, to ensure long term affordability;

• There will be ongoing involvement of the non-profit developer in park management;

• This type of project is very complicated and takes a significant commitment of time. There is no guarantee of success, as it requires pulling together a number of pieces that are not controlled by any one entity (state grant funding plus private financing plus County funding, etc.).

For more information on this program contact:

Planning Department
Housing Division
Micaela Lopez 454-2336