Overview
In a significant step toward addressing affordable housing in Charlottesville, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville has officially purchased and will begin property management of Carlton Mobile Home Park through a partnership with the Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA) – The Habitat Carlton Alliance (“HCA”). The acquisition is part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to preserve affordable housing options in the region and improve living conditions for residents.
The purchase reflects Habitat’s broader mission of community-driven revitalization, ensuring that families in mobile home parks like Carlton have access to safe, stable housing without being priced out by rising real estate costs. The acquisition is seen to protect the park’s current residents, many of whom have faced uncertainty due to the increasing demand for land and development in the area.
Habitat’s Approach
After speaking with Dan Rosensweig, President and Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, he stated, “the first goals were to stabilize the park, get under contract and work with residents. Long term is to redevelop it into a mixed income community without any resident displacement and provide opportunities for everyone who is there, to stay there in a way that suits them.” Throughout the month of October, Habitat intends to meet with every family and find out what’s important to them, what matters most, and what they see as the future of the neighborhood. Habitat plans to work closely with the residents to assess their needs, make necessary infrastructure improvements, and potentially offer homeownership opportunities to those interested.
What This Means for Residents
One of the biggest questions asked from residents were the type of changes to “rules” that will be made to the community. Dan ensured that Habitat will work with residents within the budget to understand what to prioritize. Additionally, to help filter any input towards the development, a community advisory council consisting of the residents has been established. Dan adds, “the purpose of the council is to tell us what are the things they would like to be invested in and ultimately what decisions to make. What we try to do in operating a mobile home park is called ‘property management for success’ – rather than making decisions for people we want to make decisions with them.”
Carlton Mobile Park Street View
Because of the layout, there are different groupings of homes and it was suggested by a resident that at least one person from each grouping become a member of the council. A lot of negotiating is practice for coming to consensus as a group, so this prepares the residents for success when its redeveloped.
Dan noted, “one of the benefits is that since we are a nonprofit, any proceeds from the park we can reinvest it back into the park. There’s likely going to be opportunities to make investments but directed by the residents.”
Looking Forward
Habitat will try and work with the legislative delegation to see if they can strengthen the statute that allowed them to make the offer in the first place. From this purchase, Habitat continues to take meaningful steps toward solving the affordable housing crisis in the region, offering hope to families and a model for sustainable community development. Dan also stressed that none of this would’ve been possible without the courage and grace the Bolton family exhibited when accepting the offer. Dan hopes that other mobile home park owners thinking about selling will first be inspired by what the Boltons did and consider selling it to a Habitat or resident group so that families may avoid displacement.