It was Christmas Eve of 2020 when John Egan received a notice in the mail: In 90 days, the mobile home park where he and his wife lived in Durango, Colorado, would be put up for sale.Egan and his neighbors had already been through two prior sales of the park, Animas View, which came with rent increases, management changes and uncertainty about the park’s future. But a state law passed earlier that year now gave the residents the right of first refusal to buy the park themselves.All they needed was $14 million.It seemed nearly impossible for the park’s 120 households, most of which were low-income. But with the help of local government agencies, foundations and a nonprofit called ROC USA, they pulled the funds together in less than three months and purchased the park. ROC stands for “resident-owned communities.”“That was absolutely mind-boggling to us, and kind of mind-boggling to the state of Colorado,” Egan said.Had Animas View been in Arizona, things likely would have gone differently. Mobile homes, also known as manufactured homes, make up 10% of Arizona’s housing stock and are one of the last remaining types of unsubsidized affordable housing. But as developers continue to gobble up newly profitable land, mobile homes are rapidly disappearing.ROC USA, the nonprofit that masterminded the purchase of Animas View, wants to change that. The organization has already helped form resident-owned mobile home communities in 21 states and has its sights set on Arizona, recently partnering with local nonprofits and government agencies with the hope of creating simi …
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