LEAF recently approved a loan to Sherwood Valley, a ROC USA manufactured home community in Coventry, Rhode Island with 170 resident-owned units and approximately 23 miles from Providence. Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), Sherwood Valley’s technical assistance provider, helped them to organize the conversion effort.
Together with ROC USA, LEAF co-financed the resident-owned cooperative so it could purchase the community’s land from the off-site investor-owner. Now, community residents pay monthly lot rents on the portion of land where their home sits to the co-op; residents decide as a community on the rent levels and how the rent is spent. There is no profit margin added to the rent. In addition to approving the budget, the community sets community rules and standards together. Of the 170 units, over 70% of surveyed residents earn at or below 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) and the majority are 55+ and in or nearing retirement. Sherwood Valley’s new ownership models thus provides financial security and affordable housing where it is most needed.
Without this loan, the community’s land would have been sold to an outside developer that had an offer on the table, and eventually all of the Sherwood Valley residents would have been at high risk of displacement.
For more information about Sherwood Valley, take a look at their newly launched website!