EDITED BY: GEORGE CHENEY
Residents of a Bayfield, CO mobile home community have formed a cooperative and have 120 days from date to raise the gap funding needed to purchase their park and protect their homes.
For the residents of Mini Mansions Mobile Home Park in Bayfield, Colorado, the place they call home is more than a collection of mobile homes. It is a community of neighbors, families, retirees, young adults, and longtime residents who have built their lives in a place they can afford. Now, that community is at a crossroads.
Mini Mansions is currently for sale, and its residents have come together to form a cooperative with the goal of purchasing the park themselves and becoming a resident-owned community with the support of MHP Network. The purchase price is $3.5 million, and the residents have a 120-day fundraising window to raise the remaining gap funding needed to make the purchase possible.
For the people who live at Mini Mansions, the effort is about much more than purchasing property; it is about keeping people in their homes.
A community built over generations
Mini Mansions is home to 35 households, representing an unusually broad range of ages and life circumstances. The community includes longtime residents, seniors, families with young children, young adults, couples and people living on fixed or limited incomes. This diversity is part of what makes Mini Mansions a community rather than simply a place to live
The park’s owner, Bette, has owned the property for more than 50 years and fully paid it off in 1994.
For residents, affordability means the ability to stay
For Carter Little, a Mini Mansions resident and member of the resident cooperative, affordable housing has given him something that is increasingly difficult to find in Colorado: the ability to build a future without being overwhelmed by housing costs: “Living here in an affordable place allows me to be successful in my education without having to worry about going into debt or having to stress about obtaining loans or scholarships to live off of.”
Still, Carter is particularly concerned about the residents who have the fewest alternatives if the park changes ownership and housing costs increase. Some residents rely on housing assistance. Others are older adults living on fixed incomes and have little ability to increase their income if their housing costs rise. For these residents, an increase in lot rent could mean something far more serious than having to tighten a household budget: It could mean losing their homes.
One Mini Mansions resident receiving Section 8 assistance could be displaced if household housing expenses exceed $1,200 per month. Another resident receiving Section 8 faces a similar concern.
For older residents living on fixed incomes, the prospect can be just as frightening. Many have no realistic way to earn more money, and some do not have family members who could provide an alternative place to live. For 68-year-old Mini Mansions resident Lorraine Boblitt, the possibility of losing her home strikes at the heart of why she moved to the community in the first place.
Before finding her home at Mini Mansions, Lorraine moved five times in four years. At 68, she wanted something she could finally call her own. Lorraine used what little money she had in retirement savings to make the down payment on her mobile home. It was a difficult decision, but it gave her something she had been searching for: stability. “For the first time in years, I had a home that belonged to me.”
Homeownership gave Lorraine a sense of pride and independence. But now, with the park being sold, that security is at risk. Lorraine is still working, but medical issues may soon force her to retire. She worries about what would happen if lot rent rises to $1,000 or more per month. “I love my home. I love the community I live in. I want to be able to stay here and grow older in the home I worked so hard to obtain.”
For Lorraine and many others, resident ownership offers a viable path forward. It would allow residents to have a voice in the future of their community while creating greater stability and protecting the homes they have worked so hard to purchase.
A resident-owned community could change everything
When residents purchase their community cooperatively, they gain a greater say in decisions affecting their homes and neighborhood, instead of waiting to see what a future property owner might decide. For Mini Mansions residents, that means the opportunity to preserve an affordable community where neighbors can continue to live, families can raise children, and older adults can age in place.
120 days to protect Mini Mansions
But a promising future depends on whether the cooperative can close its funding gap. The residents have already taken a major step by organizing themselves into a cooperative and pursuing the purchase of their community. Now they need help from individuals as well as organizations. Especially because of the high cost of land in Colorado, every instance of a conversion to a resident-owned-and-governed community requires the collaboration of multiple funders and other sources of support.
The total purchase price for Mini Mansions is $3.5 million. The cooperative has some financing in place but needs to raise the remaining funding to make the purchase possible.
Every contribution can help move the residents closer to the goal of making Mini Mansions resident-owned. This is an opportunity to invest not only in property, but in housing stability, community ownership, and the future of dozens of people in Bayfield.
Help Mini Mansions Become Resident-Owned
The residents have organized.
They have formed a cooperative.
They have a plan.
Now they need the larger community’s help to make it possible.
If the fundraising goal is reached, Mini Mansions can become a resident-owned community—giving the people who live there the opportunity to protect their homes and shape their community’s future.
Help the residents of Mini Mansions close the funding gap and keep their community together.
Contact Dan Hunt today to find out how you can help!