Mobile Home Park Legislation ROCs, But Will It Roll?

By George Berkheimer, STAFF WRITER

Among local legislation to be considered by the Maryland General Assembly this year is a bill that would give Howard County mobile home park residents the right to buy their community if the park owner receives and is considering a redevelopment proposal.
The bill addresses affordable housing issues and many park residents' increasing concerns over the security of their property and investments. Sponsored by a majority of Democrats in the county's delegation, the legislation seeks a more even balance of power between park owners and residents.
Coupled with the potential assistance and backing of a soon-to-go-national program dedicated to furthering resident-ownership of what are known as manufactured home communities, proponents say it could be a step in the right direction, although it still leaves much to be desired.
The right of first refusal legislation is co-sponsored by Del. Steve DeBoy (D-12A) and Del. Guy Guzzone (D-13).
During his eight years on the Howard County Council, Guzzone witnessed the closing of a number of mobile home parks along U.S. 1 in District 3, which he represented. He also met frequently with park residents facing eviction to help them explore their legal and administrative options.
"This legislation sprung out of the closing of the Ev-Mar Mobile Home Park," he said. Although Guzzone championed a right of first refusal option for residents of the small former community on Gorman Road, they weren't successful in their bid to buy the property. They were ultimately evicted in 2006 by heirs of three original park owners (after the trio died within six months of one another).
Even if the proposed legislation passes, Guzzone said, "There's still no guarantee [residents] will be able to make a deal happen, but this at least gives them another tool and ensures that they'll have first crack at it."

PATH to Ownership
People Acting Together in Howard (PATH), a coalition of religious and community groups, recently secured the added support of Howard County Executive Ken Ulman for the proposed mobile home park legislation. PATH members are now helping legislators hammer out several amendments to make it more agreeable to the organization's intentions and enlisting mobile home park residents in the process.
Wendel Thompson, a PATH member from Bethany United Methodist Church in Ellicott City, said PATH's involvement adheres to the so-called iron rule: "Don't do something for someone that they can do for themselves."
In this case, he said, legislation is the first part of a two-pronged approach to empowering some county residents who are at the mercy of not just property owners, but the county government as well.
Preservation of their housing preference will require a commitment to organization and training, he added. At least one of the county's remaining mobile home lots - Capitol Mobile Home Park - has taken the initial step of forming an association and electing officers.
"We're aware of eight parks with a total of about 1,302 homes," Thompson said, not counting an additional temporary park currently under construction that will close in 15 years. Located adjacent to Maple Park in Jessup, it will provide space for up to 60 of the 241 units that will soon transfer out of nearby Aladdin Village, the latest county park that has closed.
"These are the most affordable homes there are," Thompson said. "There's a lot of talk in the county about Moderate Income Housing Units ... and the need to produce new units. But in the case of mobile homes, the county won't replace what is lost. It's a losing battle."

A Piece of the ROC
With a democratic system of self-governance in place, Capitol Mobile Home Park is now in line to receive training from ROC USA, the nonprofit Resident Owned Community program of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (NHCLF).
ROC assists front-line trainers and organizers in the practice of forming and supporting resident-owned communities, and also helps align and secure financing to help these organizations acquire their communities.
According to ROC Director Paul Bradley, NHCLF has been market testing this approach for 23 years.
"It's community development, not for, but rather with, the homeowners," he said. To date, ROC has helped build 86 communities in New Hampshire and has trained 65 practitioners in 21 other states, often with the support of predevelopment loans that are forgiven if a project fails or are repaid upon the successful purchase of a park.
"We're going to launch ROC as a national scale initiative with national allies that include CFED [the Corporation for Enterprise Development] and the Ford Foundation in early spring 2008," Bradley said.

The Downside
But not everyone is convinced that legislation will resolve much of anything. Lee Brangan, an evicted Ev-Mar resident who now rents an apartment in Laurel, said he was not satisfied with the way the Ev-Mar closing was handled.
"I did not receive anything that I thought was even appropriate," he said. "I don't feel we were treated fairly."
Brangan said he was offered only $1,000 in compensation, which did not even cover the $3,400 cost of hauling his mobile home to the dump. "Some [of my neighbors] were forced into bankruptcy and others had their credit ruined for a considerable period of time."
Even if the new legislation had been on the books in 2003, Brangan said, he doubted the outcome would have changed for Ev-Mar.
"The reason is that an owner can simply bypass the law by closing the park ... and waiting until after the fact to receive a redevelopment proposal," he said.
Moreover, the current proposal only gives park residents 45 to 60 days to respond. "That's totally unrealistic," Brangan said. "By the time you hold a board meeting, submit an application for financing and get approval, that could take anywhere from 90 [to] 180 days."
According to Bradley, the typical ROC project in New Hampshire has taken 105 days on average from time from notification until closing on financing.
"It's not easy," he said. "But we focus on having a system with a basic infrastructure that's agile and on getting resources in the right places to act in a timely fashion."