ROCKLAND, Maine — George Krise describes his neighborhood as a mix of young and old, ranging from new babies to 90-year-olds.
It’s the kind of place where kids yell “car” when someone drives down the road so everyone can stay safe. The kind of place where neighbors look out for each other.
As a resident-owned manufactured housing community — the residents purchased it in 2016 — they’ve had to figure out everything from trash pick-up to maintenance.
So when it came to dealing with a 50-year-old water line in danger of rupturing, Krise, president of the Sunset Terrace Mobile Home Cooperative, knew he needed some outside help. He tapped the experts at the Cooperative Development Institute, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that provides support to housing communities.
As a result, Sunset Terrace is one of nine resident-owned manufactured housing communities in Maine getting a share of nearly $18 million in federal funds recently awarded to the Cooperative Development Institute. The $660,000 headed to Sunset Terrace will replace the water line that Krise and others worry will fail.
“The peace of mind that this is going to bring everybody in the park, that the worst thing that we know of that could happen, the biggest money hole, is going to be fixed,” he said. “That is a big deal.”
That same pot of federal money — $225 million awarded to 17 entities serving 26 states — will also help the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation Housing Authority. The authority is in line to get $5 million to develop 24 manufactured housing units, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Some of the roads and water lines at Sunset Terrace, a 76-home community, date to the 1970s, while others were added in the 1990s. Today they deal with “frequent leaks, flooding and erosion of home foundations,” according to the institute.
“The Second Street water main is the only original water main left, which of course makes it 50 years old, that is the biggest problem we have,” Krise said. “I call it our budget buster.”
Other resident-owned manufactured housing communities in Maine are also in line for a share of the $18 million, including parks in Veazie, Waldoboro and Freeport, all of which are getting $412,500, according to the institute.
Jeremiah Ward, director of the institute’s Water Infrastructure Support Program, said residents of the communities have been lobbying members of Congress and federal officials for a few years to get funding.
“They’ve been shining the spotlight on how manufactured housing communities have been in the blind spot for infrastructure funding for a long time,” he said.
Sunset Terrace is on municipal water, which is often a better water source than a well, Ward said. But because the community is on private land, the city won’t service the lines, which is why they need funding help to make the improvements, he said.
Statistics show about 8 percent of Mainers live in manufactured housing, with some on private single lots and others in communities.
“Manufactured housing communities are often called naturally occurring affordable housing,” Ward said. “Without an incredible amount of subsidy, it’s still well more affordable than stick built housing stock or apartments.”
For example, he said it’s still possible to get a three-bedroom, energy efficient single wide for about $100,000. Compare that to Maine’s current median single family home sales price of $395,000, and it is a far more affordable route.
About six years ago, Sunset Terrace received grant funding to do some repairs, but more than 40 lots are still using what Ward described as a “poorly built, poorly located water line.”
“Their biggest priority is replacing that water line and putting a properly sized water distribution line so they don’t have to constantly live in fear that this poorly built line will break,” Ward said. “It’s a stressful situation they worked to flag.”
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