Deann Sweeper’s favorite thing about her home in Lakewood Vista isn’t her view of the pond fountain at the center, or the geese nesting on its shore. It's the sense of community she’s built over eight years with her neighbors.
She said now, Lakewood Vista is for sale for the second time since she’s lived here.
"We want to keep that community,” she said. “We’re old. What are we going to do if we can’t live here anymore?”
Sweeper is chair of the board chosen by more than 200 residents to lead efforts to try and buy the mobile home park and turn it into a resident owned community. Their efforts were first reported by the Eugene Weekly.
Sweeper said in 2020, the last time Lakewood Vista was for sale, residents also banded together to try and buy it. But they lost out to its current owners: the Carlyle Group, one of the largest private equity groups in the country.
"We've been told we were outbid, but every time we got outbid, we found more money,” Sweeper said. “We were just really left in the dark: ‘Park sold, you didn't get it, nevermind.’"
In 2021 State Rep. Julie Fahey of Eugene proposed legislation inspired in part by the Carlyle Group’s acquisition of Lakewood Vista. The park is located in her district.
Oregon had long had a system for mobile home residents to buy their parks. In 2021, Fahey testified that despite that, few park residents groups had been able to successfully compete with private equity and corporate buyers, putting a major source of affordable housing at risk.
"Mobile home parks are not a true free market because of the captive nature of the residents,” Fahey testified in 2021.
The fix lawmakers passed required park owners to negotiate in good faith and give residents more time; 15 days to organize and formally express interest, and 45 to form a nonprofit and come up with an offer.
Fahey, now speaker of the Oregon House, said she’s watching the situation at Lakewood Vista and is hoping for residents' success.
“I’ve heard from too many constituents who live in manufactured home parks about how conditions change when private equity firms take over,” Fahey said in a statement. “Rent and fee increases have made it harder for residents on fixed incomes to stay in their homes, or to sell their homes. At the same time, residents often see reductions in services and amenities that they have relied on for years. It’s deeply concerning to hear how these changes suddenly destabilize seniors, families, and individuals seeking affordable housing in a safe community.”
Fahey said she also has manufactured home communities in her mind going into the 2027 session, and is committed to preserving the progress Oregon has made to keep them affordable.
Peter Hainley is the executive director of Casa of Oregon, which is helping Lakewood residents organize and finance an offer. He said the nonprofit has provided assistance to more than two dozen parks looking to convert to resident ownership by helping residents access lower interest loans and providing other logistical assistance.
He said it will be challenging for a park as large as Lakewood Vista to become resident-owned, but there is a path forward.
"This is the most stressful point of the process right now,” Hainley said.
He said residents may end up paying more in the first two or three years to finance the transition. After that, turnover is low and they usually only vote to increase their rent to pay for collective needs.
"After that initial rent increase, or increases, rent rarely goes up,” Hainley said. “Across our 28 portfolios, it's less than 1 percent a year. Over time you definitely see that the rent for these parks is well below the parks that would be in the surrounding area of similar size and amenities."
Bill Miner, an attorney representing the Carlyle Group and the company that manages the property, Commonwealth Real Estate Services, said Casa of Oregon and the tenants have been provided with all legally required documents.
"The purpose of this legislation, the opportunity to compete is to give tenants exactly that, an opportunity to compete to become owners,” Miner said. “The ownership group and commonwealth take that obligation very seriously."
Miner said Carlyle is awaiting the resident’s offer.
The role of mobile home parks
Kevin Cronin, a housing lobbyist and Director of Policy & Advocacy for Housing Oregon, said in addition to the work state lawmakers have already done to restrict rent increases, every level of government can do more to protect mobile home parks as a source of affordable housing.
Cronin said some cities, like Portland, have changed the zoning for parks to prevent their owners, or potential buyers, from redeveloping them into more lucrative condos or apartments.
He said Eugene and other local governments could take a similar approach. He said they should consider setting aside housing dollars for residents seeking to buy their parks.
“When we have community ownership the money in our local economy circulates better, we don’t have Wall Street extracting wealth,” Cronin said. “This is one of the biggest bang for our buck investments we can make in our town.”
He said lawmakers should also consider giving tenants a right of first refusal, instead of an opportunity to purchase, which could help even more residents purchase their own parks.
Sweeper said she’s afraid that if Lakewood Vista residents don’t succeed, and the park ends up in the hands of another corporation, many will be gentrified out.
Sweeper was grandfathered in on an old lease after the last sale, so she pays less than new residents. She said her rent and cost of living has still been increasing steadily, far faster than Social Security.
"I really would love to live here, but I won't be able to afford it,” Sweeper said. “If I can't afford this, then what can I afford?"
