Pathway to Partnership

Complete the checklist listed above.

Please keep in mind that Real Estate Development takes many months, and affordable development is particularly complex. ECLT thrives to be a good partner throughout the process, while remaining mindful of limited staff capacity. This requires that staff priority is on late phase development and delivery to qualified buyers. ECLT will balance this priority with early-stage discussions to build our pipeline beyond 2026. For this balance to be efficient, ECLT will limit early staff involvement and ask municipalities to work toward projects and an environment that make affordable homeownership development feasible.

Elevation de-risks affordable for-sale construction development by an early commitment to purchase completed units at c/o at a maximum purchase price. Developer partners can use this commitment to leverage lower cost capital, public development incentives, and expedited processes. ECLT will raise public and private funds to fill the gap between the cost to develop and the affordable sale price, will market and sell the units to qualified buyers, and – through the community land trust model – will ensure permanent affordability of the homes generation after generation.

Examples of local match include waived or reduced permits and fees, cash subsidy, investments from local foundations or businesses, or donated property.

We partner with developers to create affordable homes by providing services that enable a project to be feasible.  Some of those services include:

• Proforma review and refining
• Calculating the affordable price; estimating the subsidy gap and identifying resources
• Project design feedback and community needs alignments
• Purchase and sale agreements – up to 100% of units presold to ECLT
• Access to funding resources to supplement or replace owner/development equity
• Network of potential development partners and resources
• An experienced team with reputational equity

ECLT was proud to purchase Westside Mobile Home Park in mid-2022. The organization is now working to deploy its Permanently Affordable Reimagined Communities (PARC) model at Westside, which entails redeveloping the park to create homes on permanent foundations for its current residents and will result in greater wealth building opportunities for those residents. This is the first time the model is being deployed, and ECLT will use it as an opportunity to work with residents to ensure it is deployed in an equitable and thoughtful manner that benefits all those residents.

As a result, ECLT is not currently considering acquiring other mobile home parks. However, here are some resources that you may find helpful as you organize within your own park and community to either purchase the park as residents and turn it into a resident owned community or work with local government or community partners to ensure socially responsible management.

• Thistle ROC. Thistle Community Housing, a nonprofit in Boulder, is a certified technical assistance provider for ROC (Resident Owned Communities) USA, a national nonprofit which provides financing to convert mobile home parks to resident ownership. Thistle is actively working with residents of mobile home parks across Colorado to transition parks from private ownership to resident owned communities. By clicking the link, find information about the process and contacts to move forward.
• Colorado Poverty Law Project’s Mobile Home Initiative. This initiative seeks to assist mobile homeowners and tenants by offering education about rights under Colorado’s Mobile Home Park Act. If you believe the notice issued to you by your park owner may be deficient, CPLP may be able to help obtain additional time to organize and put together an offer.
• Justice for the People Legal Center. For assistance organizing interested residents into a co-op or other association, an important step before making an offer to purchase, Justice for the People Legal Center is an excellent resource. They can also potentially provide legal advice to better engage with park owners.
• Colorado’s Mobile Home Park Oversight Program (MHPOP). This program within the Department of Local Affairs conducts outreach and education on mobile home park laws, as well as receiving and investigating complaints against park owners and facilitating related dispute resolution. If necessary, MHPOP also takes enforcement actions.
• Your local governments, including the county or municipal government, as well as any local housing authority, can also provide advice and potential funding.