Residents at Raleigh’s Homestead Village Mobile Home Park are ecstatic over news that WJ Properties is dropping its request for a rezoning of the park’s 38 acres.

Cary Joshi of WJ Properties told IndyWeek that the firm would instead look elsewhere. The zoning request, to be heard Tuesday, remains active in a formal sense.

Claudia Shows, a resident at Homestead Village for more than 30 years, rejoiced.

“As long as it is still a mobile home park,” she said, “we don’t care. We have still got to be cautious, I suppose. But, I am so excited, I just want to burst! This is the best news.”

The park’s owners still want to sell. This news, though, means that they will not be selling to WJ. WJ had sought a rezoning to build a shopping center, several housing developments, and some open land on the tract. It would have introduced many new homes to the area. Estimates by The City of Raleigh predicted that more than 500 children would be assigned to the area’s elementary schools as a result.

Shows organized some of the residents. She was able to generate support from her college classmates, as well as to generate some good media. That said, the rezoning decision may be a product of larger forces in the financial markets. Joshi tells Bob Geary that the decision to drop reflects a lack of available financing for shopping center developments.

H1700, the bill that provides a tax deduction (of 5 percent of sales price) to park owners that sell to non-profits, passed in the budget bill before the end of the short session in the 2008 NCGA.

Check out the expansive coverage of the situation facing residents in Raleigh’s Homestead Village Mobile Home Park in this week’s Independent Weekly. The story, “Paradise Lost: Mobile Home Park Residents Caught in a Catch-22″ is another example of the crisis of park closure that plagues many communities in the country.

Bob Geary, a writer with plenty of experience covering planning board and development issues, visits with Claudia Shows, the Estradas, the Bryants, and the Webbs. His story explains the concrete problems facing these households. He then links their plight to more systemic troubles that corrupt the sustainability of homeownership for residents of mobile home parks.

This story came about, in part, due to the power of blogging. Mr. Geary noticed the story while researching for issues on BlueNC. It was a diary entry about the situation at Homestead Village that (more…)

H1700, the bill to prevent the displacement of residents from manufactured housing communities, exited the North Carolina General Assembly’s House this week. It passed by a vote of 113 to 5, with two abstentions. The bill, in its fourth version, goes to the Senate this week. Its first stop will be with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Small Business, and Entrepreneurship, chaired by Senator R.C. Soles, Jr.

The bill seeks to reward park owners that sell to resident owned groups or to non-profits. The carrot behind the bill is to provide a financial incentive. In an earlier version, the “carrot” consisted of a seven percent credit on the likely capital gain made by the owner.

Paul Stam, a Republican from Apex, pointed out that the bill’s structure would do little in instances when (more…)

North Carolina’s H1700, a bill to reward park owners to sell to residents and non-profits, shifted directions today.

The bill came before the House with language that would have provided a tax credit equivalent to seven percent of the gain made by owners.  That gain would have been usable against tax liabilities for up to three years.

Two changes took place.  First, Paul Stam (R-Apex) pointed out that the bill would do nothing for owners who sell their park at little gain or even at a loss.  In many instances, park owners face that exact dilemma.  With stagnant wages in many rural counties, cash flows at parks have leveled off.  Often times, people that would have bought a home and put it in a park could, until recently, qualify for a mortgage through a subprime arrangement.

With that in mind, Stam asked for staff to consider an amendment.

Secondly, staff from Revenue considered changing the language on the incentive from a tax credit to a deduction.

The bill may be heard on Monday in the House.  It could still pass the House and make it across to the Senate this year.

North Carolina’s proposed legislation (H1700) to protect residents in park closures moved one step closer to becoming law on Friday.  The bill left Judiciary II and now moves across the Legislature Chambers into the Senate.

This bill, sponsored by Susan Fisher of Asheville, would provide park owners with an incentive to sell their properties to resident-owned cooperatives or to non-profit managed ownership groups.

A sticking point between advocates and industry was resolved in committee.  The issue at hand was a rider attached to the bill that required park owners to mail notification letters to each park tenant in the event of a closure.  This would have been in addition to existing state law that requires advance notice of 180 days in the event of a closure.

Representatives in the house Judiciary II committee agreed to language that requires that park owners inform the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency.

This brings the NCHFA into the scope of actors participating in park closures.  Advocates are attracted to this change because it may bring dividends later.  If notification makes NCHFA more aware of the scope of problems facing residents of manufactured housing parks, it follows that they will be more open to creating financial products for park acquisition or even unit financing in years to come.

Chris Parrish, a Board Member of North Carolina’s Manufactured Housing Institute, supports the changes, too. Parrish owns a first class land-lease community, Parrish Manor, outside of Garner, North Carolina.  His motives may be benevolent, or merely pragmatic.  Certainly, he runs his own park in a way that reflects well on his concern for families.  Then again, his support could stem from a perspective that says that park acquisitions by non-profits in North Carolina are, at best, years away from being a viable alternative.