When talking about housing, detached homes and multifamily apartments get most of the attention, but more than 18 million Americans live in manufactured housing in mobile home parks—which are de facto the largest source of affordable housing in the United States.  

But as lot rents rise, this source of affordable housing is at risk. Fortunately, in response, there has emerged a growing movement of resident-owned cooperatives, also known as ROCs. Today, more than 22,000 families who own manufactured housing units in more than 300 mobile home parks across the United States are member-owners of these cooperatives.

In this 90-minute webinar, cosponsored and co-moderated by NPQ and Shelterforce, a panel of folks, including residents, advocates, and technical assistance providers will discuss the ins and outs of how to build land security for manufactured housing owners, by enabling mobile home communities to come together and own the land jointly.

Andrea Chiriboga-Flor is executive director of Justice for the People Legal Center, in Denver, Colorado, where she helped organize the Montevista Comunidad cooperative.
Kelly Jensen is Board President at Paradise Village Cooperative in Johnstown, CO and represents the Mountain West Region of the ROC Association board of directors.
Doug McElroy is the former president of the board of the Pleasant Park Mobile Home cooperative in Great Falls, Montana and helped create the community’s cooperative.
Emily Thaden is president of ROC-USA, a national organization launched in 2008 with the mission of supporting quality resident ownership of mobile home communities nationwide.

• How do mobile home communities work—and not work—today?
• What is a resident-owned community and how does it operate? What are the benefits of cooperative resident land ownership for mobile homeowners?
• What threats do residents in manufactured housing communities face? What has been the impact of growing corporate investor ownership of mobile home parks?
• How can local policy help tenants buy land of manufactured communities from landlords and collectively own property themselves?
• In developing a ROC, what roles are played by the national ROC-USA, the local technical assistance provider, and the residents themselves?
• What lessons are being learned from the decades of experience with the ROC model? What are the opportunities for expansion?
• Are there scenarios in which residents don’t want to or are unable to become cooperative owners themselves? What might be alternatives solutions in that scenario?
• What can people in nonprofits or movement organizations do to support ROC development?  

Whether you’re a nonprofit leader, board member, or engaged in community-based organizing, this webinar will provide you with real-life examples and lessons learned that can inform your work in your own community.

Register to learn how nonprofits and movement activists are advancing strategies to address the economic and social inequalities of our time!

The moderators for this webinar are NPQ economic justice senior editor Steve Dubb and Shelterforce publisher and CEO Schlonn Hawkins. Schlonn has been a leader in nonprofit communications for over 15 years and serves on multiple boards, including Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County and the Delaware Local Journalism Initiative. Steve has worked with cooperatives and nonprofits for over two decades and has been both a student and practitioner in the field of community economic development. 

You can send your questions to webinar@npqmag.org to have them answered during the web event.