Resident-Owned Community (ROC)

What Is a Resident-Owned Community?

A resident-owned community (ROC) is a manufactured home community, sometimes still called a mobile home park, where the homeowners collectively own the land. In a conventional community, residents own their homes but lease the lots underneath from a landlord. That landlord sets the lot rent, makes the rules, and controls the roads and utilities. When the community is sold, rents often go up.

In a ROC, a cooperative corporation owned by the residents buys the land. As the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund explains, each home stays individually owned while the land under the homes belongs to the cooperative. ROC USA, a national nonprofit network, describes its model as a limited-equity cooperative for manufactured home owners.

How It Works

• Purchase. Residents organize and form a cooperative when a community comes up for sale, usually with help from a nonprofit adviser. They finance the purchase with loans, often from mission-driven lenders. Some states give residents notice of a sale or a chance to buy. New Hampshire, for example, requires a park owner to notify residents of a pending sale and to negotiate in good faith if they make an offer within 60 days.
• Membership. Each household buys a member share. ROC USA says shares typically cost $250 to $500 and are paid back when the member moves out.
• Governance. One vote per household. Members elect a board, which hires a property manager and adopts budgets and rules.
• Site fees. Monthly lot fees cover the mortgage, operations, and reserves. They carry no profit margin.

Example: ROC USA

ROC USA launched in 2008 with equity from three nonprofits: the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Prosperity Now, and Capital Impact Partners. By 2014, its network said the number of homes preserved in ROCs had passed 10,000. As of October 2026, ROC USA’s website said a longitudinal study it commissioned from a national appraisal firm found members’ site fees were 11% below market after five years and 21% below after ten. Those figures come from an advocate for the model, so they are best read alongside independent research.

Why It Matters for Affordable Housing

Manufactured home communities house many lower- and moderate-income owners without public subsidy. Because moving a manufactured home is costly, residents have little leverage when lot rents rise, and a sale can raise the risk of displacement. Resident ownership takes the land off the speculative market. The tradeoffs are real, though. Members must raise purchase financing quickly, govern themselves, and pay to repair infrastructure the previous owner may have neglected.