Members of the El Nuevo Amanecer Cooperative pose for a photo after closing on the financing to purchase their community. Pictured left to right: Blanca Nuñéz (Treasurer), Humberto Padilla (President), and Amanda Salazar (Vice-President).
Last month, the homeowners of Gaylord Mobile Home Park purchased their 31-site manufactured (“mobile”) home community to become Minnesota’s eleventh resident-owned manufactured-home cooperative. The residents, almost entirely Spanish speaking, named their new cooperative community El Nuevo Amanecer (The New Dawn). For these residents, cooperative resident ownership truly is a new dawn, bringing stability to their community and ensuring affordable homeownership for years to come. The sale of the park to the homeowners defies a national trend of out-of-state buyers purchasing manufactured home communities. In 2021, 77% of all manufactured home communities sold in Minnesota were purchased by out-of-state investors.
“Cooperative resident ownership ensures long-term, stable, and affordable homeownership. Every resident of the community owns their manufactured home, however the land beneath their home was leased. This created an unstable environment for the homeowners, constantly in fear their housing could be jeopardized through an unwelcome sale of the park. By purchasing the community directly, homeowners now not only know their home will continue to be housing for years to come, but also that they will have an impact on how their community is managed.” - Victoria Clark-West, NCF Executive Director
El Nuevo Amanacer will function similarly to a traditional home owners association (HOA). The cooperative members will be able to vote for board members and the cooperative will make decisions regarding the long-term management of the park, such as homeowner dues, infrastructure projects, and other property management decisions. The park purchase was a collaboration between NCF and the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency. Through a grant issued by Minnesota Housing via the Manufactured Home Community Redevelopment program, the residents were able to purchase their community out of bankruptcy. While resolving an unstable housing situation, the conversion to cooperative resident ownership ensures the preservation of workforce housing in Gaylord. All households in El Nuevo Amanecer work at the local agricultural processing facility.
