New Hampshire is one of a handful of states with a right-to-purchase law that gives residents of an MHC 60 days to match the offer on a community when the owner chooses to sell. This does not obligate the owner to sell to the residents, but the law requires the offer to be made.
With the help of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (NHCLF), the residents have now organized into the Woodbury Cooperative, and as Jo Ann Paradis, the vice president said, “We had to set up committees; we had to contact snow-removal companies, trash removal companies; we had to have all these engineers come in and test the ground – we were busy.”
Noting that two months is not a long time for low income folks to raise funds to purchase an MHC, NHCLF’s Tara Reardon said resident-owned communities are New Hampshire’s answer to a lack of affordable housing. “The average price for a manufactured house in the state of New Hampshire is $60,000,” says Reardon. “And the average price for a stick-built house is $270,000.”
The rent for each home site had been $240 a month, but now with ownership they would each have a mortgage payment of $550 a month. The residents point out that a two-bedroom apartment in Portsmouth is $1300/month. Moreover, it is better than moving.
Since 1984 the NHCLF has assisted 119 MHCs become resident-owned, and five more are currently in the wings. ##
(Photo credit: NHPR/Jason Moon–Woodbury Cooperative, formerly Ward’s Park)
