South of Eugene, Oregon, in the community of Saginaw, the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County is working to utilize manufactured housing to help those in need.

According to the Register Guard, the organization has acquired the Saginaw Park community, furthering its efforts to buy and rehabilitate manufactured home communities for low-income residents.

“The mobile home park [sic] will be St. Vincent’s sixth such purchase,” said spokesman Paul Neville.

“The organization is striving to preserve the shrinking stock of trailer parks [sic], which provide affordable housing for low-income families.”

In addition to rehabilitating the communities, St. Vincent also invites social workers to each of the communities to work with residents on issues, including health care, fiscal management, alcohol and drug addiction.

“The social services component is really essential to ­changing the culture in the parks [sic] and improving the quality of life for the people who are there,” said Neville.

The organization expects to close on the purchase by the end of April. The price was not disclosed.

Last year, St. Vincent paid more than $1.7 million to acquire Tivoli Mobile Home Park in Junction City, with a combination of a $1 million grant from the state and a $1 million low-interest loan from Banner Bank.

“Many of these are not places that you’d normally want people to live in,” said Neville.

“So we will, as we can afford to, start taking out the old trailers [sic] and removing the old RVs and replacing them with new units.”

Neville said that St. Vincent will make infrastructure improvements, including paving the roadway and installing storm sewers, as well as making improvements to the septic system. With past community owners being fined for violations, Neville says that this is one reason that St. Vincent decided to purchase it.

“We want to take a park [sic] that’s been problematic for the people living in it and the surrounding area and make improvements that will make it a better place to live, and a better place for people to live near,” said Neville.

St. Vincent’s other acquisitions include the purchase of Garfield Apartments and Mobile Home Park in Eugene in 2004, Harwoods Mobile Manor in 2010 and the Hillcrest Mobile Home Park in 2011.

“Rising real estate prices are prompting trailer park [sic] owners to put their properties up for sale,” said Neville.

“Many mobile home parks [sic] are becoming so run down that they no longer are viable businesses, and owners don’t want to reinvest in the properties to keep them up to date. If park [sic] sites are redeveloped into expensive residential subdivisions, a community can lose a big slice of its low-cost housing stock.”

And Neville believes that the lack of low-income housing pushes people over the edge.

“For many people who are displaced from trailer parks [sic], the next step is homelessness,” said Neville.

“They can’t afford traditional housing, and there’s not enough affordable housing to take them in.”

For more on moves to buy manufactured home communities to preserve affordable housing, click here. ##

 

(Image credits are as shown above.)

 

Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.