Jo Len Village Successfully Converts to Resident Ownership

For Immediate Release
December 11, 2019

Marlborough residents gain lifelong security, affordability after purchasing the Jo-Len Village – now a resident-owned manufactured home community

Contacts:
Jim Brown, President, Jo-Len Residents Association (508) 310-3265
Joe Cicirelli, Director, NEROC Program, CDI (603) 731-5698
Paul Bradley, President, ROC USA, LLC (603) 513-2818

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. – When opportunity knocked Mary Shea did not blink an eye.

More than a year ago, Mary and the other residents of Jo-Len Village received a letter notifying them that their community was for sale. For Mary the letter opened up a flood of memories of her 34 years in the community. In a story that resonates today, Mary and Frank Shea were struggling to find an affordable house because home prices were skyrocketing. After a year of searching, Frank proposed expanding their search to “mobile” homes. They visited various communities and eventually found Jo-Len Village. Mary was sold. It looked nice, they could choose a lot for their new house, and their future neighbors were warm and welcoming. They would have the community and homeownership they were searching for.

“Frank and I come from big families that lived small tenements. Family life revolved around the kitchen,” said Shea. “When I learned we could change the design of the house because it was being manufactured, I immediately sought out the builder to change the design and enlarge the kitchen to make it feel like a home.”

Over the years, their house has become their home. Even though at first they thought it would be short-term, they stayed because of the friends and community they found. They have practically rebuilt their house over the years and have made it theirs.

Then came the letter. Almost immediately, an informational meeting was organized to present the idea of resident ownership and for residents to discuss their options. One of the featured speakers was Wayne Grant, the former President of Meadowbrook HOA in Hudson, Mass., who shared his story about the recent conversion of Meadowbrook Mobile Home Park to resident ownership. At the conclusion of the meeting a group of residents, including Mary Shea and Jim Brown, the current Board President of the Jo-Len Residents Association, volunteered to spearhead a campaign to explore resident ownership.

“There was a lot of anxiety in the community about their future under new investor ownership,” Shea said. “While we didn’t have all the answers about our next steps, I knew resident ownership was the answer. We would have control of our destiny.”

That group has transformed into the democratically elected board of directors of the Jo-Len Residents Association and now includes Jim Brown, Deborah Nord, Phyllis Flanagan, Sue Morelli, Paul Betti, Pat Breault, Beth Giangregorio, Elizabeth “Penny” Rew, and Mary Shea. The board of directors worked diligently on behalf of the residents on whether or not resident ownership was in their best interest in achieving greater home security and better quality of life.

“As the board and the residents learned more about the benefits of resident ownership, the more we knew this was our best option,” said Jim Brown. “And when the time came for the residents to vote whether to purchase the community the decision was overwhelming.”

From day one, Brown has been impressed with the hard work and commitment of the Board of Directors to ensure the success of the purchase. “I have never worked with a more talented and thoughtful team of folks,” he said. “When push came to shove we came together and made the seemingly impossible possible.” Shea agreed. “Our team did such a great job at doing this,” she said.

“The opportunity for residents to purchase Jo-Len Village has brought people out of their houses. They are meeting and talking to their neighbors and unfortunately in today’s age this is becoming less and less common,” said Shea. “It makes me optimistic about the future of Jo-Len and being resident owners.”

Jim Brown has worked on other Boards for community service groups in the past. But achieving resident-ownership with his neighbors today and all those in the years to come, he said, is inspiring. “We are a 55 and older community and with the cost of homeownership soaring out of control we have secured a peace of mind for the residents today and tomorrow,” he said. “I’m amazed at what this community has accomplished.”

It takes a village to successfully become a resident owned community. The conversion of Jo-Len Village to a resident owned community would not have been possible without the support and trust of the residents and the leadership of the Jo-Len Residents Association. The Board of Directors would like to thank Carelle Carter, Chris Janunas, Chuck Morelli, Mark and Lisa Maksander, Steve Peck, Phil DiBuono, and all the residents who attended the membership and board meetings. Without their contributions, this would not have been possible.

Residents purchased their neighborhood for $14.05 million on December 6.

Cooperative Development Institute provides technical assistance for ROC USA® Network in 50 Resident Owned Communities in New England and northeast New York, and assists new communities through the purchase process each year. CDI will continue to work with residents throughout the life of their loan – at least 10 years, at which point the community will refinance. Most commercial loans refinance after five years.

“CDI has helped residents create a model of ownership utilizing cooperative principles and a highly skilled staff to deliver technical assistance enabling more than 4,748 residents to operate their corporations and take permanent control of their communities. We look forward to working with the families of Jo-Len Village and their continued efforts to preserve affordable housing in their community,” said Joe Cicirelli, Director of CDI’s New England Resident Owned Community (NEROC) program. “For more than 10 years, CDI has provided technical assistance to the residents and owners of manufactured home communities, and has helped to facilitate financing options with lenders such as ROC USA® Capital and the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, to enable residents of 50 manufactured housing communities to purchase their parks when they are up for sale.”

Jo-Len Village is the 24th ROC in Massachusetts and the 50th overall with which CDI works.

Homeowners are able to buy one low-cost member interest in these democratic ROCs. An elected Board of Directors acts on day-to-day issues. Members vote on larger matters, such as the annual budget, bylaws, and community rules.

Cooperative ownership of manufactured (aka “mobile”) home parks, as a way of preserving affordable communities, is a priority for a handful of national non-profit organizations. In 2008, this group formed ROC USA® as a resource to make affordable communities owned and operated by residents something viable for MH residents across the country. ROC USA is sponsored by the Ford Foundation, NeighborWorks® America, Capital Impact Partners, Prosperity Now, and the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. ROC USA is a non-profit, social venture with a national network of nine regional organizations, such as CDI, and acts as a national financing source for resident-owned communities.

“We help residents overcome the two hurdles to resident ownership by giving them access to expert technical assistance and financing to help homeowners purchase their community when it’s for sale,” said Paul Bradley, ROC USA’s founding president. “This is a huge win for the homeowners at Jo-Len as Marlborough is such a strong market and the housing pressures that used to ease up outside 128 now extend to 495.”

ROC USA and its affiliates such as CDI have helped 251 communities preserve more than 17,100 homes in 17 states since 1984. www.rocusa.org

To complete the deal, additional financing for the Jo-Len conversion to resident ownership was provided by the The Local Enterprise Assistance Fund (LEAF), a Boston-based community development financial institution that supports resident- and worker-owned cooperatives nationally. Gerardo Espinoza, Executive Director of Leaf, said, “LEAF is thrilled to support the Jo-Len Residents Association in taking ownership of their community. This project will preserve long-term affordable housing in an increasingly high-cost market, and aligns with LEAF’s core values of cooperative ownership and self-governance. We are grateful to our partners at CDI and ROC USA, the committed residents of the Jo-Len community, and the mission-driven investors who make the financing for this project possible. Congratulations to the new resident-owners.”

Cooperative Development Institute is a regional cooperative development center, founded in
1994, which has assisted dozens of new and existing cooperatives throughout New England and New York. It is involved in cooperative housing as well as agriculture, consumer, worker-owner, energy, and fishing cooperatives. More information about CDI, and the New England Resident Owned Communities program can be found on their website at www.cdi.coop.

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