Animas View Mobile Home Park

120-lot (plus a duplex) mobile home park of primarily elderly residents in Durango that also owns a duplex on its property. About 80% of Animas residents have incomes at or below 80%
of Area Median Income; 25% of residents live on less than 30% AMI.

Park residents were notified in December 2020 that the former owner planned to sell the property and that, as a result, lot rents could increase by $350 per month. Some residents had previously discussed buying the park and reached out to Thistle Community Housing to explore becoming a Resident-Owned Community. Unfortunately, Thistle Community Housing could
not assist unless the park was actively for sale. When the sale notification was received, Animas residents contacted Thistle immediately.

Residents met in the first week of 2021. ROC required that 51% of residents support the process of becoming a ROC. At the time, the law provided 90 days to get the park under contract and another 90 days to close. Animas was one of 85 MHPs being sold as a package. One other park in that group, Sans Souci in Boulder, was also able to become a ROC.

Residents formed a board and went to work educating park residents, raising money, and doing research on the infrastructure work that needed to be done. The board met frequently with resident member Dan Hunt, a retiree, as operations manager. Fortuitously, Hunt had experience in real estate, construction, restoration, property management and other businesses involving an understanding of finance.

The final loans were approved on June 8, 2021, and the closing occurred on June 21. The loans have 10-year balloon payments, by which time the park will have built enough equity to get new loans for the balances. Individual homeowners’ only equity is their $100 membership fee. The co-op owns the land, and should it go out of business, it must be turned over to another nonprofit housing group.

Lot rent was initially raised $80, with a subsequent increase of $45, to meet loan payments and expected operating costs. Infrastructure improvements proved to be more expensive than
engineering consultants had originally estimated: in planning, $800,000 had been set aside for water and sewer improvements that are now projected to cost $3.2 million. Until the work is completed, the park is paying approximately $50,000 a year for water that is leaking from old pipes.

Through ROC USA, the park is applying for federal funding from the newly passed PRICE program to pay for the repairs. The park also must replace a retaining wall estimated to cost about $100,000.

The park board also decided to renovate the duplex on the property because perpetual rent of the duplex is estimated pay for itself in 4-7 years and then provide approximately $50,000 in annual income. Local people have volunteered to help with some projects, such as painting the interior of the duplex.

“It took a team of people to purchase our park. We invited over 100 people from outside our park to our purchase celebration party. They all did what they could with the time they had. It was critical.
– Dan Hunt, Animas Resident

Animas’ financing package (“capital stack”) is a good
example of the complexity of funding. It was comprised of:

• $9.6 million ROC USA® Capital with National
  Cooperative Bank
• $2 million Colorado Health Foundation loan
• $1.2 million ROC USA® Capital bridge loan (to be repaid after closing through another funder)
• $1 million Durango HomesFund Loan (a Community
  Development Financial Institute)
• $565,000 Capital Magnet Fund Loan (through ROC
  USA®)
• $500,000 Colorado Health Foundation (a loan that will be forgiven after 10 years if the park is still in operation)