NCF has a foundational mission of “transforming lives and communities through cooperative enterprise.” That mission is often carried out through educating and providing technical assistance to those living in manufactured housing communities as they organize and run their own resident-owned cooperatives. However, NCF has consistently seen an additional need to be an advocate for those in manufactured housing cooperatives through involvement in public policy.
While cooperative board members are naturally leaders in their own communities, often their roles expand into advocating for all manufactured housing residents. Such is the case with Woodlawn Terrace Cooperative Board President Bev Adrian. With a storied history of manufactured housing advocacy work, Bev joined NCF Executive Director Victoria Clark-West to testify in support of Minnesota HF 814, a bill that provides $65 million in state funding for preserving and expanding manufactured housing. Bev and Victoria explained to the members of the Minnesota House Housing Committee that the legislation is not only necessary to help preserve the most affordable form of homeownership, but also expand cooperative ownership across the state.
Minnesota Housing and the Minnesota legislature invested over $9.5 million in the MHCR program in 2022, the single largest funding cycle in the program’s history. The 14 projects that received grants will improve 742 home lots in manufactured home communities located in six different regions of the state. NCF-supported resident-owned communities received the vast majority of the funding in 2022, totaling nearly $6 million in infrastructure and acquisition projects. The two largest grants were given to resident-owned cooperatives.
There are a lot of myths out there about manufactured homes, and we’re doing our part to bust them. Here are five of the most common myths we hear about manufactured homes.
Myth #1- Manufactured homes are “mobile”
There’s a reason you're reading the phrase “manufactured homes” and not “mobile homes.” First, “mobile homes” *technically* refers to homes built before Housing and Urban Development (HUD) code was established in 1976. More to the point, only 1% of manufactured homes move once they are placed. Sure, they get put on a truck to go to their forever home, but once they are put there they are pretty much stuck. It takes lots of money (like, tens of thousands of dollars) to move a manufactured home. And you risk really serious damage. Some older homes can’t be moved at all without being completely destroyed.
Natividad Seefeld is the President of Park Plaza Cooperative in Fridley, Minnesota. But she's so much more than that. She's a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, a former business owner, a problem solver, a cancer surviver, a mover, a shaker, and part of the glue that holds together a vibrant, thriving, diverse, urban community.
We hear lots of myths about cooperatives, and thought it was time to set the record straight. This post is part of our annual campaign — the theme this year is “myths and legends.”
Myth #1 – Cooperatives are nonprofits
Co-ops are businesses, plain and simple. They have to make money to function and are not eligible for most grants. Co-ops face the same challenges as other businesses!
A Decent Home, the feature length documentary about the vulnerability of manufactured homeowners amid rampant speculation by investor groups, is released today and is available on Amazon.
Every year in October, cooperators everywhere celebrate National Co-op Month. I love Co-op Month because it reminds me to stop and reflect on all the ways that cooperation nourishes our spirits and strengthens our communities. I had fun putting together this list of ways to celebrate Co-op Month and hope you have fun getting out there and cooperating!
On December 28th, 2020 the residents of Madelia Mobile Village in Madelia, Minnesota were notified that they were the recipients of a $700,000 grant from Minnesota Housing’s Manufactured Housing Community Redevelopment Program to complete the much needed renovation of two water and sewer lines within their community.
Each year Northcountry Cooperative Foundation brings together leaders from resident owned manufactured home communities across Minnesota and Wisconsin for an exciting educational event called Common Ground. It is an essential opportunity for residents to connect, network, and learn together in a shared community.
NCF has been nominated for a 2022 Nonprofit Mission Award from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN). The organization is now one of three finalists in the Innovation category, along with Springboard for the Arts and Just the Pill.
NCF is honored to be considered for a 2022 Nonprofit Mission Award, which includes a professional video highlighting each recipient's work, a cash award, and other recognition raising awareness of our mission among Minnesota's community of nonprofit professionals.
NCF is excited to announce the addition of three new directors to the NCF board, bringing the board roster to 10 members. The new directors all come from nonprofit lending and finance backgrounds, proficiencies that will guide NCF’s strategic direction as we work to develop a loan program designed to meet the unique capital needs of housing cooperatives.
NCF is pleased to announce that we are the recipients of the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) Seed grants for the Metro, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest regions of Minnesota.
NCF will use the grant to improve the energy efficiency of manufactured homes within the resident owned communities we support and develop a tailored rehab loan product that homeowners can use to complete home rehab projects.
In October 2020, NCF received an email from Morning Bell Coffee Roasters inquiring about using an NCF-authored brochure called “Small Business Ownership Succession; The Cooperative Solution.” The brochure was created by NCF a number of years ago and intended as an overview on the tax benefits of becoming a worker cooperative. The owner of Morning Bell, Nadav Mer, reached out because he was in the process of developing a feasibility assessment on whether his company could convert to being worker owned and he came across our work. As a cooperative development organization, we jumped at the chance to assist – about taxes and beyond!
Soren Stevenson joined NCF in May as the organization's Real Estate Development Officer. Samuel Estes joined the organization in October as a Housing Program Associate. Soren and Samuel are both graduates of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs and were drawn to NCF's mission of empowering underserved communities through the cooperative ownership model.
Legislators gathered for a tour of Park Plaza Cooperative on September 21, 2021. Pictured left to right: Senator Lindsey Port, Rep. Sandra Feist, Rep. Steve Elkins, Sen. Mary Kunesh, Victoria Clark (NCF), Rep. Connie Bernardy, Natividad Seefeld (Board President, Park Plaza Co-op), Sen. Mark Koran, Soren Stevenson (NCF), Trevor Nelson (APAC Board President), Rep. Tony Jurgens.
NCF co-hosted a Minnesota legislator tour of Park Plaza Co-op in Fridley, MN on Tuesday, September 21, 2021. Fifteen legislators and legislative staff attended the event. The event’s co-host, the Park Plaza board of directors, had an opportunity to share the positive impacts that cooperative ownership has had in their community and legislators had an opportunity to hear about what can be done at the Legislature to improve and preserve more manufactured home communities.
Some of the issues highlighted during the tour included the need for dedicated down payment assistance programs and improved home financing options for manufactured homeowners. Staff from All Parks Alliance for Change also provided background on a resident-led campaign to pass a bill that would expand the opportunity for cooperative ownership to more manufactured homeowners.
View photos from the legislator tour.
Learn more about NCF’s public policy work.
