Hidden Circle Residents Purchase Jay Mobile Home Park

Residents of the Hidden Circle Mobile Home Park in Jay purchased its manufactured home community last week for $1 million, ensuring the land beneath 31 homes in Jay can remain locally owned and affordable for years to come.

“It hasn’t been an easy process, but we never gave up,” said Travis, a resident of Hidden Circle Mobile Home Park and president of the cooperative’s volunteer board. “We had to purchase the park because the alternative could be worse. Someone could come in here and hike up the rents and eventually push people out of their homes. Now, people can feel financially safe and safe in their homes.”

The Hidden Circle residents began organizing with the Maine Labor Climate Council last year and won a mobile home park rent moratorium at a town meeting in May. Hidden Circle is the first community to benefit from a strengthened ‘Right of First Refusal’ state law that went into effect last October, making it easier for residents to purchase their communities when they go up for sale.

Residents of Hidden Circle Mobile Home Park formed a cooperative last year with the support of the Cooperative Development Institute, a New England nonprofit that supports communities in making transitions to resident ownership. Financing came from the Brunswick-based Genesis Community Loan Fund, the Mobile Home Park Preservation Fund administered by MaineHousing, and generous donors of the Maine Community Foundation.