Homeowners Who May Be Forced to Leave Their Community Are Fighting Back

Homeowners in Niagara, NY are learning the hard way that foreclosure isn’t the only way to lose your home these days. More than 135 owners of mobile homes in Sabre Park have begun working with NeighborWorks organization, Pathstone to find a way to halt the sale of the land their homes are on. Unique to hundreds of mobile park communities around the U.S., homeowners living in mobile home communities own the house they live in, but rent the land that the home sits on. This leaves the homeowners vulnerable to owners of the mobile park land choosing to sell the land right out from under them – effectively evicting them from their communities.

However, Pathstone and other NeighborWorks network members are working to organize mobile home residents and establish a financial process that allows owners to buy the land. NeighborWorks partners with ROC USA, a corporation created to help resident led corporations to buy their manufactured home communities from private company owners. NeighborWorks America CFO, Michael Forster is on the ROC USA Board of Directors.

NeighborWorks America recently recognized Montana resident, Tammy Hoth, with a Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership for her work in organizing her neighbors and successfully purchasing their mobile home community, establishing long-term affordability.