Nueva Vida Mobile Home Park

Nueva Vida Mobile Home Park, renamed from Parklane by residents after purchasing, is a 68-unit community in Fort Collins with 250-300 residents, many of whom are immigrants from Mexico with low levels of education. When the park went on the market in November 2021, tenants asked Nicole Armstrong, executive director of the nonprofit The Matthews House, and Sarah Bolduc of Genesis Project Church to help them. Armstrong’s nonprofit couldn’t take on such a project, so Armstrong and Bolduc began a new nonprofit—United Neighbors/Vecinos Unidos (UN/VU)—to attempt to purchase the park on tenants’ behalf.

In November 2021, they began working with residents, surveyed the park, and hired a real estate team that would handle the sale at a low 1.5% commission. Colorado University Law School  Professor Deb Cattrell and law students from the law school’s clinic handled the legal work necessary and helped educate the residents. Armstrong and Bolduc raised $6.8 million from three different organizations—Impact Development Fund, Larimer County, and Bohemian Foundation—to buy the park; funding was contingent on residents’ income falling at or below 80% of Area Median Income and on the park remaining as affordable housing. They made an offer in March 2022, but the owner had a higher bid from an investor. He wanted an “as-is” offer, which they then agreed to, and he accepted their offer.

Armstrong and Bolduc knew that “as-is” meant the park would have infrastructure problems that needed to be repaired. “The question wasn’t, ‘Were we buying a lemon?’ ” she said. “It was, ‘How sour is that lemon?’” The answer was pretty sour; like most old mobile home parks, Nueva Vida needed a lot of infrastructure updates.

The previous owner had required residents to install, own and maintain their own water meters. UN/VU decided as an organization to purchase an all-new water meter system; the organization retains ownership, making repairs as necessary unless residents fail to maintain them or somehow damage them. During the first year, water system problems caused the park to sustain frequent water leaks. The trees, which hadn’t been maintained for 25 years, had to be trimmed for safety. An old building that was so dilapidated it was uninsurable was torn down.

Now, water and sewer systems are being repaired and streets repaved. UN/VU hired Common Good Management to handle property management. With the help of UN/VU, they hired a local community member who is Spanish-speaking and a former teacher. Leases and community rules were rewritten in English and Spanish and bilingual community meetings, with provided childcare, are held monthly. Five volunteers serve on the board, including Armstrong, her cofounder Bolduc, the principal of a nearby elementary school attended by residents’ small children, a retired engineer, and another nonprofit employee. Other people have volunteered to help, including a financial officer and a grant writer and “others, who have come alongside us to say, ‘How can we be part of this journey?’” Armstrong said.

Residents participate in community meetings and the board is trying to determine if they have the will and desire to own the park. Armstrong shared that the ROC model doesn’t seem a good choice for Nueva Vida it’s a community with a lot of barriers to overcome. She also shared that being a nonprofit has in some cases been more helpful than if the park were an LLC or had another business structure. However, the organization is struggling in some respects; because mobile home parks are not flagged as “affordable” by the state for tax purposes, although its lenders deemed it affordable at financing. Nueva  Vida’s taxes increased an untenable 250% after the county said the property’s value increased $4 million in two years.

Despite challenges, the park has not had to evict a single tenant and the community is stable; residents are not moving out. And residents know that rent increases will likely be in the range of $50 each year, unlike other nearby parks owned by private investors, where lot rents have been raised by as much as $400 a month.

Armstrong attributes their success to relationship building within the community. UN/VU will continue to improve the park and may transfer to resident hands eventually.