Projects that can transform a community, from Millinocket to Arundel, were named “outstanding” in this year’s Smart Growth Awards from GrowSmart Maine, at the nonprofit advocacy group’s second annual summit.
Congratulations to Charter Oaks Village Cooperative for winning this prestigious award, and to our NEROC team for making this happen.
“The success of Charter Oaks brings positive attention and renewed interest in the preservation and development of compact neighborhoods of manufactured housing,” GrowSmart Maine said.
“Reducing the stigma of ‘trailer parks’ will put one of the most practical, cost-effective and resource efficient housing and development options back into the conversation about affordable housing, climate change, and walkable communities.”
Charter Oaks Village Cooperative is a manufactured housing community, partly in Arundel and partly in Biddeford, where the residents own their home but rent their lot. The community consists of 40 households who, for the most part, earn well below the median income for York County.
For almost 50 years, the park was owned and operated by a local “mom-and-pop” operator who took good care of the community and knew and cared about the residents, but they needed to retire and sell. The park was sold to a private equity investor from Las Vegas, “who immediately jacked up the rents and had plans to sell it off quickly for a large profit,” representatives of the co-op said.
In June, after a concerted community organizing effort, the residents of the park bought te community to operate it as a resident-owned cooperative. By doing so, the resident homeowners took control of the land beneath their homes and now work together to operate the park on a cooperative basis, allowing the community to permanently remain affordable . . .
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