{"id":74368,"date":"2019-09-15T03:41:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T09:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mobile-homesick-aurora-struggles-trying-to-help-renters\/"},"modified":"2019-09-15T09:41:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T09:41:35","slug":"mobile-homesick-aurora-struggles-trying-to-help-renters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mobile-homesick-aurora-struggles-trying-to-help-renters\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile homesick: Aurora struggles trying to help renters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"In
In this photo from 2018, Petra Bennett sits on the couch in her mobile home with her dog Romeo, in front of what she called her \u201cwall of fame,\u201d which was covered in photos of her three sons, all of whom grew up in the home. Residents of Denver Meadows Mobile Home and RV Park, including Petra Bennett, were forced to relocate after the land of the park was rezoned.<\/span>Philip B. Poston\/Sentinel Colorado<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, Aurora lawmakers, like so many across the state, are struggling again with whether and how to preserve the dwindling stock of affordable housing.<\/p>\n

When Aurora City Council members approved a 10-month moratorium on redeveloping mobile home parks in the city along with a task force to study the housing stock, the effort was lauded as a forward-thinking. Leaders, academics and residents were hopeful that it would prevent the depletion of the region\u2019s most affordable, non-subsidized housing option.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis move on Aurora\u2019s part is incredible. I haven\u2019t seen this happen anywhere. So this is a huge move,\u201d Esther Sullivan, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver who studies the role of mobile home parks, told the Sentinel after the passage. \u201cThey could be a model for the country here. Affordable housing advocates have to focus on preservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eminent closure of the Denver Meadows Mobile Home Park<\/a>, located on a swath of land north or East Colfax Avenue, motivated council members to approve the moratorium and task force in March 2018, though the body was quick to point out both approvals were more far-reaching than Denver Meadows.<\/p>\n

A year-and-a-half later, the moratorium has ended, Denver Meadows residents have all been forced to find new homes, which they say come nowhere close to being as affordable as their mobile homes, and the city is still working through how to move forward on preserving other mobile home parks.<\/p>\n

The recommendations included proposals for stronger protections of residents facing retaliation, mandatory mediation, encourage using model leases, creating funding for land trusts and local law for a collective purchase opportunity.<\/p>\n

So far, the city has taken on the task of creating more educational material for park residents and park owners, according to Deputy City Manager Jason Batchelor. Postcards will direct people to a city webpage with a list of resources, which will now include new state law for mobile home parks.<\/p>\n

\"Mobile
Mobile homes in the Berkeley Village Mobile Home Park in Aurora on Aug. 29. More than a year ago, Aurora was blazing trails in how to handle the battle between mobile home park owners and helpless renters. Now, Aurora lawmakers are struggling again with whether and how to preserve the dwindling stock of affordable housing.<\/span>Philip B. Poston\/Sentinel Colorado<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Between Adams and Arapahoe counties, which make up the bulk of Aurora, there are 92 mobile home parks, many of those are in unincorporated areas of the counties. In Aurora city limits, there are 11 parks.<\/p>\n

Sixty-six of the region\u2019s mobile home parks are in Adams County, according to the most recent assessor records. There are 11,300 mobile homes in Adams County, which is an increase from a decade ago when the county reported having 68 parks but 10,413 homes. 20 years ago there were 71 parks and more than 13,000 mobile homes.<\/p>\n

Brian Arnold, who sat on the mobile home task force, said he\u2019s already seen the success of the task force despite no city ordinances have come from the recommendations.<\/p>\n

Arnold, who also sits on the state housing board, said the group has started talking more about the preservation of mobile homes since the creation of the task force. He isn\u2019t sure those conversations would be had at the state level without Aurora\u2019s efforts to initiate those discussions in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe of course want to keep getting in front of them (city council) and push for policy, I don\u2019t know how easy that will be with the city council we have right now,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cThat might be different after November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the group\u2019s recommendations were adopted into statewide legislation this year.<\/p>\n

Boulder state House Rep. Edie Hooton sponsored the bill that made its way to the governor\u2019s desk this year. After the passage of the bill, she told the Sentinel that the seven parks in her own district have been her anchor for the issue, and that constituents have made it clear to her they wanted to see more protections.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1985, Colorado passed the Mobile Homes Park Act and in that statute it addresses the rights of homeowners and park owners, but there was not a corresponding enforcement mechanism,\u201d she said. \u201cSince then, almost 40 years now, there\u2019s been a pretty significant imbalance between homeowners, who pay lot fees on property that they don\u2019t own a home that they do own, to park owners, who are not regulated. And so there have been many years that legislation has been introduced to try to create some kind of parity between the two parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hooton says there are a lot of ways she wanted to address that \u201cimbalance\u201d she\u2019s heard about from park residents. Her bill, HB1309 was a big step in the right direction, she said. But there\u2019s a lot more she wants to do, too.<\/p>\n

Hooton said she\u2019d eventually like to prevent situations like the residents of Denver Meadows endured. HB1309 created a dispute resolution program within the Department of Local Affairs that is funded through new fees paid by park owners and residents. It also grants counties to enact laws related to mobile home parks \u2014 which Hooton said is important because many parks are in unincorporated areas \u2014 and extends the time a resident has to move or sell a mobile home after being evicted.<\/p>\n

\"In
In this 2018 photo, Petra Bennett stands in her backyard and reminisces about her three boys playing in the yard as they grew up over the 17 years that she has lived in her mobile home at the Denver Meadows Mobile Home and RV Park. She and other residents were forced to relocate after the land of the park was rezoned.<\/span>Philip B. Poston\/Sentinel Colorado<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Aurora Mayor Bob LeGare, who led a negotiating effort with the owner of Denver Meadows to get money for displaced residents, said he thought the state legislation did a good job of addressing issues that have been facing Aurora mobile home parks. He specifically noted the dispute resolution program and allowing residents more than the previously required three days to move a mobile home.<\/p>\n

Another policy discussion for mobile homes is expected to take place in the next month, according to LeGare. He said, as a long term goal, he\u2019d like to see more conversations with park owners.<\/p>\n

More than a year ago, LeGare reached out to each of the park owners of the city. He didn\u2019t hear anything back from that group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when somebody from the government calls and says, \u2018we\u2019re here to help\u2019 they don\u2019t believe you,\u201d he suspected of why nobody returned his calls.<\/p>\n

Now, the task force, with a list of recommendations complete, may dissolve into another task force. But Aurora Councilwoman Crystal Murillo, who represents the northern region of the city hopes the group will remain specific to the challenges mobile home parks face.<\/p>\n

According to the report, only 1.3% of the total housing stock in Aurora are mobile home units. But many of those units have remained affordable. In 2016, the median value for mobile homes in Aurora was $28,300. That\u2019s about the same price as pre-recession years. Lot rents, which are separate from the mobile home, drive up the total price, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t have good process around (the task force) we won\u2019t be able to make decisions that are meaningful to people that are living in those parks,\u201d she said during a city council meeting this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

this photo from 2018, Petra Bennett sits on the couch in her mobile home with her dog Romeo, in front of what she called her \u201cwall of fame,\u201d which was covered in photos of her three sons, all of whom grew up in the home. Residents of Denver Meadows Mobile Home and RV Park, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1413,5469],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-74368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-mobile-home","tag-parked"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74368"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=74368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}