CONCORD, NH-ROC USA Capital here has received a $10 million line of credit from Merrill Lynch Community Development Co. LLC, New York, to help residents of manufactured home communities (common called mobile home parks) purchase the land where their houses reside upon.
These residents need to have banded together and formed a resident corporation to purchase the community in which their homes are located. According to ROC USA Capital, 35% of manufactured homes are located in these communities and the homeowners are vulnerable to the land being sold out from beneath them.
"This line of credit provides essential financing that will enable us to act quickly when opportunity knocks for homeowners," notes Michael Sloss, managing director, ROC USA Capital, which is the financing subsidiary of ROC USA LLC, an organization looking to help those living in manufactured home communities to buy, preserve and improve them."Resident ownership is a good investment - stable fees, a nice park and people getting involved," said Dottie Hillock, director of the South Parrish Road Cooperative, Winchester, N.H.
ROC USA Capital was founded in August 2008 with investments from the Ford Foundation, CFED, NCB Capital Impact, New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and NeighborWorks America. It is the national expansion of a program operated by the New Hampshire Community Loan fund since 1984.
"Resident ownership has been demonstrated to align ownership interests, preserve affordable communities, and reduce the economic insecurity these homeowners face," said Terri Ludwig, president, Merrill Lynch Community Development Co.
