Colorado Launches $35M Loan and Grant Program to Help Mobile Home Park Residents Buy Their Communities

On May 17, 2022, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 22-160 into law, establishing one of the most substantial state-funded programs in the country dedicated to helping mobile home park residents collectively purchase the land under their homes. The legislation created the Mobile Home Park Resident Empowerment Loan and Grant Program, backed by an initial $35 million appropriation and administered through the Colorado Division of Housing.

The program responds to a long-standing vulnerability in the manufactured-housing market. Homeowners in mobile home parks typically own their homes but rent the ground underneath, leaving them exposed to sudden rent hikes, park closures, and private-equity buyouts. By providing low-cost financing and technical assistance, SB22-160 gives residents a structured path to form a cooperative, match or beat an incoming offer, and become the permanent owners of their own community.

Under the statute, three organizations were selected to deploy the capital. ROC USA Capital, the lending arm of the national Resident Owned Communities network based in New Hampshire, received $12 million to provide longer-term, low-cost acquisition loans to resident cooperatives. The Impact Development Fund was awarded $11.75 million to finance purchases through its Manufactured Home Community Finance program. Thistle ROC, a Boulder-based nonprofit with deep experience in Colorado cooperative conversions, received $5 million to support technical assistance, post-purchase coaching, and rent-stabilization grants to existing and forming ROCs over a five-year term.

The law works in tandem with Colorado's earlier opportunity-to-purchase reforms, which require park owners to notify residents of a pending sale and give them a window to make a competing offer. Before SB22-160, that right often existed on paper only because resident groups rarely had time to line up financing. The new fund closes that gap by pairing a ready pool of capital with seasoned cooperative-development partners who can structure a deal within the statutory timeline.

Colorado's model draws directly on decades of groundwork laid in New Hampshire, where the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund pioneered resident-owned community financing in 1984. New Hampshire law, enacted in 1988, gives manufactured-home residents a 60-day good-faith negotiation window when a park is listed for sale, and the state today hosts more than 150 resident-owned communities containing roughly 9,000 affordable homes. That track record helped persuade Colorado lawmakers that a dedicated state fund, rather than ad hoc grant cycles, could move the market at scale.

For eligible homeowners, the Colorado program offers several tangible benefits. Acquisition loans can cover the full purchase price of the park plus closing costs, with amortization periods long enough to keep lot rents affordable after conversion. Pre-development grants help cooperatives pay for appraisals, environmental assessments, legal review, and organizing expenses that would otherwise sink an offer before it reached the negotiating table. Stabilization grants can be used to cushion lot rents during the transition period, preventing displacement while the new cooperative stabilizes operations.

Eligibility is tied to the residents themselves rather than to individual income limits. To qualify, a majority of the homeowners in a park must form a nonprofit cooperative or housing association, vote to pursue the purchase, and partner with one of the approved technical-assistance providers. The cooperative then negotiates directly with the seller, underwrites the deal with its lender, and takes title to the land on behalf of all members. Each household retains ownership of its individual home and receives a share in the cooperative that entitles it to a lot lease, a vote in community decisions, and a say in future rent-setting.

The program is part of a broader wave of state-level action. Washington State's Housing Finance Commission partners with ROC Northwest and ROC USA to finance cooperative conversions in the Pacific Northwest. Minnesota's Manufactured Home Redevelopment Program funds both infrastructure upgrades and cooperative acquisitions. New York, Connecticut, Oregon, and Massachusetts have each passed variations of opportunity-to-purchase or preservation legislation. Colorado's contribution stands out for the combined scale of its capital commitment and its explicit blending of grants, loans, and technical assistance in a single statute.

For first-time homebuyers considering a manufactured home in a participating Colorado park, the program offers an additional layer of long-term security. Buying into a resident-owned community means that future lot-rent increases are set by neighbors rather than by an absentee landlord, and that the land itself cannot be sold out from under the community. Prospective buyers can confirm whether a park is resident-owned or exploring conversion by contacting the Colorado Division of Housing, ROC USA, Thistle ROC, or the Impact Development Fund.