HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024 7-12 Housing Fund Board - Data and Needs Assessment CommitteeHousing Fund Board - Data and Needs Assessment Committee
July 12, 2024
Check-ins: Present: Viki Sonntag - facilitator, Cheryl Weinstein - Dove
House, Julia Cochrane – scribe; Guest, Luis Sierra - NW Cooperative
Development Center - ROC (Resident Operated Communities) Program
4 Corners Sale
4 Corners Mobile Home Park (110 units) is up for sale. ROC NW has made
an offer to purchase to convert to a resident-owned community/housing
cooperative. Under a relatively recent WA State law, tenants have right of
first refusal and ROC comes in to help the tenants organize to buy.
Luis Sierra of ROC NW:
Four Corners is now up for sale on the open market. Owner has 5 properties
including the Four Corners and 2 in Sequim and another in Port Angeles.
ROC NW is notified if trailer courts/mobile home parks are up for sale, along
with the residents. ROC make tentative offer, and if accepted, they organize
the tenants to buy. ROC’s offer was rejected as too low. It is possible that
owner will come back if he cannot find other buyer at his asking price. Leigh
Christianson is the lead resident organizer at 4 Corners.
The benefits of ROCs include stable rents over long period. Bellingham has a
community in Bellingham that formed in the 80s and their lot fees (as
opposed to “rents” as residents own the property) have not gone up over
3% a year.
To form a ROC, the residents form a cooperative corporation and buy the
property. This process takes 4 months or less - create the cooperative,
board of directors, and ROC does due diligence - appraisal etc. The
community gets the final votes based on operating budget, etc. The coop is
taking on the financial responsibility. The money comes from either of two
funding streams: ROC USA or WCRA /WHFS. (WCRA= Washington Community
Reinvestment Association) ROC NW also tries to find available local financing.
Sometimes there are county and city funds that are loaned only repayable if
the cooperative decides to dissolve.
There is a cooperative member share purchase that is about $100.
Individual owners have an occupancy agreement with the cooperative as
long as they pay their lot fees. The community hires a property management
company - they mow the lawns and fix pipes etc. – a requirement by lenders
for larger communities.
Regarding help with organizing local resident owned communities: Looking
for large meeting space. Help with outreach. Plan is to hold public
informational meeting. Will ask how HFB can support at coming meeting.
• Potential to extend model to subsidy expiring apartments for sale.
• ROC has a list of Mobile Home Parks in Jefferson - Luis will send to us.
Manufactured home parks can be converted to other uses. Samya, city
council member of Bellingham, authored legislation that banned rezoning of
parks.
Evaluation of June (Low-Income Housing) Needs Assessment.
Discussed the need to do a follow up by tenureship - homeownership or
rental, as we felt that we only began the needs assessment. Propose a
Meeting that Focuses on Rental Assistance Programs and Rapid Rehousing -
Section 8, TBRA, CBRA, HEN, Olycap, PHA, Property Managers for subsidized
housing.
We avoided the whole discussion for workforce housing versus housing for
all.
Prep for August 9th (Domestic Violence, SA, Trafficking and Sex Workers)
Needs Assessment REAL Team, LEAD Team - police dept., CARES Team.
Julia will reach out to Anya and Amelia at the Health Dept. Dove House.
Bayside. JCIRA. Viki to draft invitation. Cheryl will facilitate.
Target Housing Needs Numbers for 5 Year Plan Viki to draft memo to
planners.