Amid the abandoned trailers, trash and other debris littering the Hill Mobile Home Park in Bowling Green off U.S. Route 301, only two families remain.
The Caroline County Planning Department recently informed the attorney for Homes of America, LLC., the New Jersey-based company that owns the once-full mobile home community, of violations stemming from how the park deteriorated after a judge ordered residents out within 10 days back in the spring.
County officials voiced displeasure about how the residents were treated but had little recourse other than to demand prompt cleanup.
“After forcing the residents who had been there many, many years to move out within 10 days’ notice, the owners of the property are now violating the county’s property maintenance code,” Floyd Thomas, a member of the Caroline County Board of Supervisors said during an October meeting. “So, I’m going to insist that staff give them the shortest possible time to correct it, and that staff finds the most expensive person to repair it and bills those owners unless they take care of it.”
There are 32 mobile home parks with approximately 2,600 lots in the Fredericksburg area — all in Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties. That’s thousands of people — many of them who own their trailers — who could find themselves seeking shelter if owners decide to sell the land on which they sit.
But one city in Central Virginia has laid out a potential blueprint for preventing the displacement of residents should owners of a mobile home park decide to push them out.
Dan Rosensweig, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, said mobile home parks are “kind of a cash cow” for national hedge funds that purchase them, make minimal investment and increase lot fees, burdening families who own their trailers but not the land.
“People are kind of stuck because their trailers don’t move,” Rosensweig said. “So, it’s very, very vulnerable. There are 20 million people in the United States who live in trailers but do not have the rights to their land. It’s a national crisis. It’s one of the reasons why Habitat Charlottesville is kind of pioneering mobile home park redevelopment without displacement.”
One trailer at the Hill Mobile Home Park in Bowling Green sits abandoned while the scraps left from another remain on the property. (Photo by Taft Coghill Jr.)
Law afforded time to act
Habitat Charlottesville now manages the former Carlton Mobile Home Park after collaborating with the Piedmont Housing Alliance and the City of Charlottesville to purchase the property in September.
The partners reportedly put together a $7.25 million counteroffer to the $7 million offer the owners received in May. The purchase prevented hundreds of residents of the six-acre community with 66 homes from being displaced.
So how did it all come together?
“The short answer is that it was a minor miracle that we were able to pull it off,” Rosensweig said. “A lot of things came together that were unusual in a good way. From a responsive city staff and city council to a group of residents that were able to quickly mobilize around support for Habitat to having non-profits in town who are pretty good at this and creative to having some state and national financiers who were willing to take on and provide some debt.”
Despite all those factors, Rosensweig said the most critical piece was the Virginia Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act. The law, updates to which took effect this past July, requires mobile home park owners to give residents — or an organization representing them — 60 days to come up with an offer to purchase.
Rosensweig said that without the law, residents may have been “out of luck” as the owners could’ve accepted their first offer.
Rosensweig said the two months’ notice gave residents time to mobilize. They approached Habitat for help because it assisted in the redevelopment of two other mobile home parks without displacing residents and is also in the process of redeveloping a 123-acre park into an 1,100-unit mixed income development.
Still, there were some concerns.
“There are some holes in that state statute,” Rosensweig said. “One is that it doesn’t require the owners to take an offer from residents. It doesn’t give them a right of first refusal. It simply requires the owner to ‘consider’ the offer. What does ‘consider’ mean? It doesn’t really mean much.”
Bonding with residents
However, the law proved effective in this case. That’s partly because the park’s owners were wary of displacing residents and accepted the offer from Habitat, Piedmont and the city.
The Charlottesville City Council pledged $8.5 million of support for the project over the next five years, funding that Rosensweig said will “basically pay off the debt.”
Piedmont acquired two loans, one from Virginia Housing and another from the Community Housing Corporation.
“So, we were able to put together an offer in very short order to better an offer that was on the table,” Rosensweig said. “Now we’re able to take the money that comes in from the trailer park and invest it in the trailer park.”
Rosensweig said it was a win for all parties; the owners were able to cash in on what amounted to a family inheritance, Habitat and Piedmont officials were able to fulfill their mission of assisting with affordable housing and — most importantly — no residents were forced to move.
One of the conditions of the sale was that Carlton remain a mobile home park for at least three years. Rosensweig said the transition has been a smooth one, with a residents council formed to advise Habitat on property management. A “rent holiday” was held recently as Habitat officials asked residents to come in for a discussion to gain insight on their needs and aspirations in exchange for one month of free rent.
Residents also offer to do contracting work around the property to save money.
“It’s become a partnership more than a landlord/tenant relationship,” said Rosensweig said, “which is kind of fundamental to our ethos.”
Being ‘proactive’ is key
While Habitat Caroline President and CEO Jason Tickle said the organization is aware of what Charlottesville accomplished, it’s not doable in the county he serves — at least not yet.
“It would take a huge amount of community buy-in and a lot of resources to make it feasible,” Tickle said.
Rosensweig offered advice to mobile home park residents in the Fredericksburg area who may face home insecurity if park owners decide to sell.
First, be proactive. The land does not have to be for sale for residents and organizations to collaborate and make an offer.
He advises residents to seek out non-profit organizations that assist with affordable housing and to attempt to work with local government officials. He mentioned Resident Owned Communities (ROC USA) as an invaluable resource that should be contacted immediately.
The mission statement of ROC USA, which launched in 2008, is to make quality resident ownership viable nationwide and to expand economic opportunities for homeowners in manufactured home communities. According to its website, ROC USA provides coaching and financing through the entire community purchase process and continues with future training and education.
“It’s a national organization that helps residents pool their money together to make offers to purchase the park from the owner, and then they own it collectively,” Rosensweig said.
‘Time for a change’
The residents who were evicted after company officials decided to divest themselves of the Bowling Green property have been left to pick up the pieces.
Rodney Washington, who lived at the mobile home park for decades, purchased a home for him and his mother, another longtime resident, in the Ladysmith area. Tanya Rowan and her family moved to a mobile home park in Port Royal.
Other residents who were displaced now live in various parts of the county and the Fredericksburg area.
Washington said abandoned trailers and sheds have been targets for thieves; one resident had a motorcycle stolen. When Washington attempted to move his trailer to Port Royal, he was met with issues at the Rappahannock Mobile Home Park and eventually decided to buy a home.
He said this year was burdensome but believes it made him stronger.
“I lost a lot of money and spent a lot of money,” he said. “But it’s funny how God will take you through things. For me to live at that park so long and my mom had been there 40 years, it was time for a change. I’ve got to give thanks to God. After everything that went on, I’m still here. It’s amazing what He can do when you’re in a bind.”
Caroline Director of Planning and Community Development Leon Hughes said after a conversation last week with Homes of America’s attorney, the company seemed like it was finally prepared to address the state of the Bowling Green property.
But on Friday afternoon, the county contracted two trucks from 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to begin clean up efforts. It will take at least three more trucks to complete the task, Hughes said, and that doesn’t include the removal of trailers which may require a court order.
The county plans to send Homes of America the bill.
