Residents purchase Newport manufactured-home park

Posted by Melissa Proulx on Friday, July 27 th, 2018

Photo of Front row, Edgewood Park Cooperative President A.J. Perras and Vice President Joyce LaPorte. Behind them, l to r, are ROC-NH Housing Cooperative Specialists Tyler Labrie and Chris Monroe.
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Front row, Edgewood Park Cooperative President A.J. Perras and Vice President Joyce LaPorte. Behind them, l to r, are ROC-NH Housing Cooperative Specialists Tyler Labrie and Chris Monroe.

NEWPORT, N.H — Homeowners in Edgewood Mobile Home Park purchased their 11-unit park this week, making it New Hampshire’s 126th resident-owned

Working with  ROC-NH, a program of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, residents organized and formed Edgewood Park Cooperative last January in order to convert their privately owned manufactured-home park into a resident-owned community (ROC).

“I love living at Edgewood Park,” said Joyce LaPorte, Vice President of the democratically-elected Board of Directors.. “And with the Community Loan Fund walking us through the process of becoming resident owned, we’ll make it even better.”

Board President Armand (A.J.) Perras Jr said he’s optimistic about the future.

“Ours at last!” he said. “Thanks to ROC-NH, we now have control over what goes on in the park.”

Resident purchased their neighborhood for $215,000 on July 24 with a mortgage from the Community Loan Fund.

Board Members will work with ROC-NH for the duration of their mortgage — at least 20 years.