Published June 3, 2025
Monmouth, ME — The residents of West Village mobile home park, now called the Blue Rock Cooperative, purchased their 42-home community for $1.9 million, preserving the affordability of their homes and securing their futures.
When residents received notice from the owner of their manufactured home community that the property, the land underneath their homes, was going up for sale, they feared their lot rents would increase to unaffordable levels. The residents saw what happened to other communities in the state that were bought up by investor-owned firms, and they did not want to end up in the same fate, said Elaine Therriault, Vice President of the community’s volunteer board of directors.
“We were scared that the rents would become unaffordable,” said Ms. Therriault. “We saw what happened at Linnhaven in Brunswick, [Maine] and thought, we can do that too. We reached out to our neighbors and there was some interest in pursuing resident ownership.”
The residents worked with the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) to organize residents, getting more than half of the community to support the residents’ purchase of the park. They formed the Blue Rock Cooperative and made an offer that was accepted. ROC USA Capital financed the purchased.
Organizing residents together was no small feat. A group of residents were able to get enough support for the purchase by posting leaflets on doors and sending out emails. Not many responded to these notices, but when the day came to officially vote on the purchase, nearly all of the residents showed up to cast their vote, said Patty Cantin, who has lived in the community for 35 years and now serves as Treasurer of their board. Thirty-one out of 42 homes voted yes to the purchase.
“Keep sending out notices, keep the message going,” said Ms. Cantin. “That’s why we had such a great turnout. Even if it seems like people aren’t responding, they’re still reading the emails and paper notices. Don’t give up!”
After the purchase, the residents’ job is not done. They need to repair the leech field that is failing and stinking up areas of the community and to remove sick pine trees that threaten to fall on their homes. There’s a lot to do, but the residents are excited and hopeful now that the land is theirs.
“I’m excited,” said Ms. Therriault. “I feel different being an owner. It just feels better being here. We couldn’t have done it without CDI.”
Learn more about CDI’s New England Resident-Owned Communities (NEROC) Program here: https://cdi.coop/new-england-resident-owned-communities-neroc/
For press inquiries, please reach out to hholland@cdi.coop
