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THE MORRIS MILL POND COOPERATIVE
Manufactured Housing Residents Organize to Own
Gina Miserendino
Fall 2003
 

grassroots@housingforall.org

One effort in which DHC is fully engaged at this time came about as the result of the work of the Sussex Housing Group, where one of its members, Pilar Gomez, of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local #27, made us aware of the closure of a manufactured housing community in the Georgetown area. Shortly after this, a statewide symposium on manufactured housing cooperatives was hosted by Citicorp and Deutsche Bank. At the June meeting of the DHC Board of Directors, board members Lorraine deMeurisse and Ray Paylor asked DHC staff to look into the possibility of working with the residents of the Dogwood Mobile Home Park to form a manufactured housing cooperative.

Thanks to Many –

There are a number of parties working with the residents of Morris Mill Pond, of which the list below is part.

  • Terri Hasson, Vice President, Citicorp – working with potential lenders and grantors
  • Community Legal Aid Society; Matthew Meyer, Esq. – resident and housing cooperative organizational development.
  • Davis, Bowen, and Friedel, Inc; Charles A. Hauser, P.E., Principal – development of a feasible community water supply and septic system.
  • Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council; Andrea Charry, Director of Outreach – resident organization support, Spanish translation
  • Delaware Housing Coalition; Ken Smith, Director and Gina Miserendino, Grassroots Policy Project – project coordination.
  • Delaware Housing Capacity Building Program – real estate appraisal fees and predevelopment funds
  • DNREC: Jim Cassidy, Waste Water and Allen Pongratz, Water Supply – water and septic technical assistance.
  • Lorraine deMeurisse, Vice President, Deutsche Bank Trust – working with potential lenders and grantors.
  • NCALL Research; Joe Myer, Executive Director and Karen Speakman, Deputy Director – predevelopment and development technical assistance, as well as a predevelopment loan.
  • Lorraine K. Phillips, Esq. – coordination of legal services and pro bono legal assistance.
  • Rural Development (USDA), Delaware; Denise MacLeish, Loan Specialist – Predevelopment grant and water and septic improvement loan.
  • David J. Weidman, Partner, Hudson, Jones, Jaywork and Fisher – legal counsel.
  • Delaware Community Investment Corporation, Doris Schnider, Executive Director – predevelopment and loan acquisition assistance
  • South East RCAP and Delaware Rural Water Association – water and septic system evaluation.
  • Paul Bradley, Vice President, New Hampshire Community Loan Fund – start-up information on manufactured housing cooperatives and ongoing technical assistance on legal and organizational issues.
    •      		  Dogwood Park

    The former Dogwood Mobile Home Park is located in Indian River Hundred on the southeastern edge of Morris Mill Pond, just off Zoar Road. It has 24 lots on the 3.75 acre parcel of land and 1 manufactured home occupying an additional lot

    The community is made up mainly of working poor families. A few residents have been there for long enough to have seen the community deteriorate under the current owner, who has been there for about 12 years.

    In March of this year, the owner of the former Dogwood Park was cited by DNREC for having dug 3 illegal cesspools on the property. In April he gave almost all residents notice of a change of use under the existing "Mobile Home Lots and Leases Act," recently replaced by the newly written manufactured home act. The deadline for vacating the property was October 15. Some of the residents, who were renting manufactured housing units report being evicted through what seems to be illegal ouster. Residents report other illegal cesspools on the property, as yet undetected, and an illegal well and cesspool on adjacent property, which is on protected wetlands, owned by the same person. When asked why evictions were occurring, residents were told by the owner that it was a result of one of the residents (whom he mentioned by name) having called DNREC to investigate the illegal cesspools.

    Morris Mill Pond Cooperative

    The residents have had a number of general meetings and have elected a group of officers who are meeting as the board of their new resident organization. The board is meeting at least weekly: Rene Arauz (President), Ray Panaro (Vice President), Tim Greenwalt (Secretary), Fritz Gottfried (Treasurer), Elsa Culp (Master at Arms).

    There are 17 families remaining at Dogwood, all of whom have signed on as members of the housing cooperative. In addition, one family which was recently evicted through an apparent illegal ouster wishes to return to the community as members of the cooperative.

    The residents would like to purchase the land as a cooperative so that the land is owned by a corporation where they establish the rules and elect the officers. The housing cooperative is a first under Delaware law, as far as we know, at least for a group of manufactured homes. A cooperative is made up of members who pay a membership fee to join and who are the "consumers" of the co-op’s services, which means the co-op exists for the benefit of the members. Membership is limited to homeowners, and incorporating as a cooperative ensures that the corporation will be democratically controlled by the members. The board – a group of officers elected by the membership – has adopted bylaws and articles of incorporation. Vacant lots would be filled by new families electing to become cooperative members.

    There is a high degree of solidarity and a mutual aid mentality among the residents. Residents have resisted efforts to dissuade them from remaining with the cooperative. They are ready to begin collecting a fund of their own to help with a part of the work necessary to save their homes. They are also interested in donating their labor to help with the remediation of septic and digging a new well. (At least one resident has dug wells and laid water lines for the previous owners of the park.)

    Prospects

    At this point, an offer has been made to the owner which was rejected. Since the owner has kept the property on the market throughout the six-month notice period leading up to the eviction date, residents have requested and received a temporary injunction against the eviction, which includes restoration of power to lighting in common areas, which was cut prior to the eviction date.

    Options for the residents include an eventual upholding of the eviction in Justice of the Peace Court, a possible re-eviction under the new manufactured housing community law, and the transfer of the cooperative to a new manufactured housing community site elsewhere in Sussex County. But residents would still be happiest to come to terms with the current owner and buy the property at Morris Mill Pond.

     

     

     

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