National Affordable Housing Initiative Launched

ROC USA Rolls Out Resident Ownership in Manufactured Home Communities in 30 States

CFED, Fannie Mae, Ford Foundation, NCB Capital Impact, New Hampshire Community Loan Fund invest $8MM in new organization.

CONCORD, N.H., May 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (The Loan Fund) and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) today announced the launch of a new organization, ROC USA(TM), which aims to help the 3.5 million American families living in manufactured home communities seek the benefits of homeownership. ROC USA's mission is to preserve affordable housing by making resident ownership of manufactured home communities viable nationwide.

In the United States, roughly 35 percent of owners of manufactured homes live in communities (or "parks") where they rent the lot their home sits on. Unlike other homeowners, whose home is their most important financial asset, homes on rented land depreciate over time. However, few attempts have been made to systematically help owners of these homes realize the financial benefits tied to homeownership.

ROC USA is seeking to solve that for those on rented land and is launching with core financial investments exceeding $8 million from the Ford Foundation, Fannie Mae, CFED, NCB Capital Impact, and The Loan Fund. ROC USA will offer training, networking and financing to help homeowners gain security through resident ownership.

Resident ownership occurs when owners of manufactured homes form a membership association to purchase their community when it becomes available for sale. Without resident ownership, homeowners risk eviction when a park is sold to a new owner who may convert the land to other uses, or impose higher land rents over which they have no control. There are an estimated 50,000 manufactured home communities in the US.

"When a manufactured home community is for sale, ROC USA will facilitate its effective and efficient purchase by the homeowners, something that community owners undertake with confidence, creating a win-win for homeowners and community owners alike," said Paul Bradley, founding president of ROC USA, LLC. "When that happens, we preserve an important source of affordable housing for the 3.5 million homeowners in America -- working families and retirees -- who live in manufactured home communities. Resident ownership has been demonstrated to align ownership interests, preserve affordable communities, and reduce economic insecurity these homeowners face," he said.

ROC USA is the national expansion of a program that has been operated in New Hampshire by The Loan Fund since 1984. The Loan Fund has incubated the launch of ROC USA since 2006.

"With the assistance of the national partners, ROC USA will take to national scale a home-grown program that has achieved 20 percent market share and a strong record of success in New Hampshire," said Juliana Eades, president of The Loan Fund. "Resident ownership makes sense in every conceivable way - economic, social, and, most importantly, its beneficial impact on the lives of individual homeowners and their neighbors," she said.

"At periods within the last decade, two-thirds of all affordable housing starts were manufactured homes, yet owners often are limited in how easily they can build wealth through homeownership," said Andrea Levere, president of CFED. "This is partly due to a lending market that treats manufactured homes significantly different from other types of homes, and to the fact that millions of these homeowners rent the land under their homes rather than own it, as do almost all other types of homeowners."

Concurrent with its national launch, ROC USA has certified 9 affordable housing providers throughout the US who will serve as its initial Certified Technical Assistance Providers (CTAPs) and provide technical assistance and training programs, along with high-quality mortgage financing, to help homeowners buy their communities and secure their economic futures.

The CTAPs are located in 28 states: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, IA, ID, LA, MN, MS, MT, ND, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NV, OH, OK, OR, PA, SD, TX, TN, UT, WA, WI and WY. Each newly appointed CTAP has received a $50,000 implementation grant from CFED to help cover the costs of year one operations.

ROC USA(TM) www.rocusa.org

New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (The Loan Fund) www.theloanfund.org

Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) www.cfed.org

Contact

ROC USA: Skip Moskey, 207-317-6425 skipmoskey@mac.com

CFED: Kristin Lawton, 202-207-0137 klawton@cfed.org