In Maine, we need more parks to convert to resident ownership and that’s why I’m encouraging all legislators to support L.D. 1338, An Act to Create and Sustain Jobs through Development of Cooperatives and Employee-owned Businesses. The bill provides straight-forward tax incentives for both the seller and the lender to convert to resident-owned communities or employee-owned businesses. Ownership helps to build a better Maine. It makes all the difference.Two Maine residents have recently published letters to the editor in their local papers, laying out how the state’s cooperative development bill will create more opportunities for resident-owned mobile home communities like theirs.
The first letter is by Kathleen Yearsley, who lives in Brunswick Bay Mobile Cooperative:
The cooperative life changed me personally by knowing I own my property and no longer rent. I have a voice and active part in something that makes change happen within the entire community… L.D. 1338 needs full support. This bill would encourage business and park owners to sell to workers or residents by providing some tax relief. We need affordable housing, we need more people-powered community solutions, and we need security in our communities.
Read Kathleen’s full letter here.
Norma Squid of Pemaquid Villas shared her story a week later and called upon legislators to support LD 1338:
In Maine, we need more parks to convert to resident ownership and that’s why I’m encouraging all legislators to support L.D. 1338, An Act to Create and Sustain Jobs through Development of Cooperatives and Employee-owned Businesses. The bill provides straight-forward tax incentives for both the seller and the lender to convert to resident-owned communities or employee-owned businesses. Ownership helps to build a better Maine. It makes all the difference.