PARK CONVERSION ACTIVITY & OTHER POSITIVE STEPS
We feel that there is a need to have a page devoted to positive events in Canada and North America, which demonstrate laws, actions and activities that directly relate to many of the problems we see in British Columbia.
Many of these will relate to Park Ownership by Resident Co-Operatives or Stratas. Others will refer to laws and financial assistance bodies that have been formed to assist such Resident owned Parks.
We will try to group these so that research will be easier and summarize each case below. Reference will also be made to the original document, which can be downloaded.
Laws
Co-Ops
UTAH
Though more than 75,000 Utahns still live in manufactured homes, many are losing the ground that their homes rest on.
At a recent seminar held at the Memorial Courthouse in downtown Farmington, it was noted that the majority of Utah’s manufactured homes are sited in “leased-land” communities.
Unfortunately, park closures have been devastating for many park populations. Many one-time homeowners need to access subsidies in order to remain in their homes.
Local representatives explained the benefits of Resident Owned Communities to those in attendance.
A co-op is set up to be democratically owned and governed, making housing affordable.
“We will help you,” said Lundgren (Director of Utah Resident Owned Communities (UROC), “I am willing to meet with anyone who wants to know more about forming a co-op.”
Utah Law now states that residents have to receive nine months eviction notice before a park’s closure becomes effective and their rent cannot increase during this time. This gives residents more time to relocate, find resources, access other housing, and build community support.
If homeowners are informed that their community is for sale, they can have the opportunity to organize into a homeowners’ association and work with nonprofit agencies to make an offer to purchase their park, as a resident owned cooperative.
Download a PDF copy of the whole article HERE
Stratas
Financial Assistance
Re-Locations
LADYSMITH, VANCOUVER ISLAND
Residents of a Ladysmith trailer park facing eviction are welcoming plans for a new development that
will give them a place to live once moving day comes.
The Town of Ladysmith has partnered with a private developer to build a new mobile-home park, said
Mayor Rob Hutchins, selling a chunk of public land to the developer at a price yet to be determined.
The
land will be zoned strictly for mobile-home parks, so residents being kicked out of Ivy Green Marina
mobile home park in January won't have to worry about being displaced again.
The partner, Seven Links Marketing Development Ltd., already owns a trailer park in Ladysmith,
Hutchins said.
Download a PDF copy of the whole article HERE
