Coalition forms to support mobile home residents

COEUR d’ALENE — Residents and local leaders are joining forces to support those who live in manufactured or mobile home communities in Kootenai County.

Their immediate goal is to help the almost 500 residents of Oak Crest, a mobile home community in Coeur d’Alene, in the wake of its purchase by Utah-based investment company Havenpark Communities.

Some residents plan to form a homeowners association with the goal of eventually purchasing Oak Crest and turning it into a resident-owned community, or ROC.

But in the meantime, those residents are facing significant rent increases.

“Oak Crest residents need rental support and other supportive services,” said Victoria O’Banion, a marketing and acquisitions specialist for ROC Northwest, a nonprofit that helps residents purchase their mobile home communities.

O’Banion spoke at a Monday meeting of the Regional Housing and Growth Issues Partnership, which has formed a subcommittee dedicated to ROCs.

Manufactured homes are among the few affordable housing options in the region. There are more than 4,000 such homes in parks throughout Kootenai County. But residents are especially vulnerable to displacement.

That’s why O’Banion has organized a growing coalition that includes Oak Crest residents, as well as residents of manufactured home communities in Hayden and Post Falls.

The coalition is planning a resource fair for manufactured home residents in the region, likely to occur in November.

The resource fair will include information about ROCs. In this model, homeowners form a cooperative. Members continue to own their homes individually, as well as an equal share of the land.

In Idaho, community owners must give notice to residents within 15 days of entering into a listing agreement with a licensed real estate broker, but only if the residents have formed a community resident association for the purpose of purchasing the community.

The coalition is examining potential long-term protections for manufactured home residents, including legislative action.

For example, the 15-day notice could be extended. Some states give residents the right of first refusal before a mobile home community is sold.

O’Banion also wants to reach park owners, letting them know that they have options if they choose to sell. In the ROC model, park owners get a fair purchase price.

“Their residents are a viable buyer,” she said. “My team will come in with financial resources and support to help residents purchase their community.”

ROC Northwest has helped facilitate the purchase of more than 20 mobile home communities in Washington and two in Idaho so far.

For more information about the resource fair, or to become a vender, contact O’Banion via email at victoria@nwcdc.coop.