New Hampshire Senate considers strangling local investment in affordable housing
V.1, N.18
The spirit of “Live Free or Die,” so poignantly on display right now in Ukraine, can also be seen in New Hampshire, the state that proudly emblazons the slogan on its license plates. Here’s the question: Should mobile home parks have the freedom to buy themselves out, when their landlord owners decide they’re tired of the business and want to sell? Over the past 40 years, the answer has been “Yes,” protecting affordable housing for nearly 8,500 families. Until now.
As you’ll read in our first two articles, in 1980 the state allowed mobile home parks to organize cooperatives to buy themselves out. By localizing ownership, residents in 140 mobile-home communities have been able to keep their rents affordable and literally keep a roof over their heads. The beneficiaries have been mostly low-income, frontline service providers like firefighters, teachers, nurses, and food-service workers. Providing the finance for these co-op conversations has been the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, one of the oldest and more successful local investment funds in the country. (We previously covered their work in Issue 11).
Now, New Hampshire lawmakers are considering a bill to require a majority of mobile-home park residents to approve any co-op arrangement. This might sound fair on the face of it, but getting an absolute majority of a community to agree on anything is very difficult. Moreover, it just gives more power to the landlord. If a mobile-park owner wishes to demolish the community entirely or sell it off to a private buyer, no resident approval is required. Only co-op initiatives require this new administrative burden. If this infuriates you as much as it does us, please let politicians in New Hampshire know your feelings.
Not all the news is bad: You also can read about promising efforts to develop public banking in Philadelphia and expanded microcredit facilities in Dayton.
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NEWS
Senate Bill Jeopardizes Resident-Owned Communities in New Hampshire, Concord Monitor (February 27)
NH State Senate Bill Would Doom Resident-Owned Community Movement, Community Loan Fund (January 19)
Philly Is Poised To Become The First U.S. City To Run Its Own Bank, Billy Penn (February 18)
Micro-Lending Program For Underserved Businesses Reintroduced In Dayton, Dayton Inno (February 16)
PARTNER VOICES
Marjorie Kelly: New Federal Rule Supports Employee Ownership, Democracy Collaborative (February 4)
Bringing Black Farmers And Food Businesses Into The Fold Requires Reparative Capital, Fair Food Network (January 28)
EVENTS
Can We Imagine A World Where Personal Security Doesn't Require Individual Savings? – Webinar. Monday, March 7, 2-3:15pm ET. Is it possible to save for retirement and grow our investments, while also repairing harm done to communities and ecosystems?
Remaking the Economy: Redefining Risk – Webinar. Thursday, March 10, 2pm ET. Speakers challenge traditional “risk” assumptions and discusses strategies that they implement to shift risk to those who can afford to bear it and facilitate the building of wealth in low-income communities and communities of color.
The ABCs Of Local Investing With Michael Shuman – Webinar. Wednesday, March 23, 4pm ET.
Shifting Power Through Place-Based, Community-Governed Investments – Webinar. Wednesday, March 23, 1:55-2:40pm ET. Several presenters, including Executive Director of Transform Finance Andrea Armeni, will showcase community engaged approaches to create social change.
ICYMI
Building a Worker-Centered Platform for Ridesharing, Fifty by Fifty (January 14)
Bringing Opportunity Home – Building Wealth In Underserved D.C. Communities, Washington Business Journal (February 18)
Where Are New Co-ops Emerging? The Changing Map Of Co-op Development, Nonprofit Quarterly (January 19)
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Fair Food Network is seeking: a Director of Institutional Funding, Business Operations Manager, Senior Director of Impact Investing, and Program Ambassador.
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About The Main Street Journal
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