MH Resident Ownership Group Formed

The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and the Corporation for Enterprise Development have announced the formation of ROC USA, an organization aimed at helping residents of manufactured housing on rented land become homeowners. Resident ownership occurs when owners of manufactured homes form a membership association to purchase their community when it becomes available for sale. "In the United States, roughly 35% of owners of manufactured homes live in communities (or 'parks') where they rent the lot their home sits on," the organizations said. "Unlike other homeowners, whose home is their most important financial asset, homes on rented land depreciate over time." ROC USA, which has received more than $8 million in investments from Fannie Mae, the Ford Foundation, and other sources, is the national expansion of a program that has been operated by the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund since 1984. The organizations can be found online at http://www.rocusa.org, http://www.theloanfund.org, and http://www.cfed.org.