A majority of the Aspen City Council agreed to financially support residents of another Roaring Fork Valley mobile home park who are raising money for a resident-owned model.
Residents of the 98-lot Cavern Springs Mobile Home Park, located between Glenwood Springs and Carbondale, asked council members to contribute funding toward their efforts to purchase the park that was listed for sale last year. The city council did not formally vote to allocate money on Monday and was undecided on how much the city of Aspen would contribute, but a majority of council members agreed to support the community.
An undisclosed buyer made an offer to purchase the land that Cavern Springs sits on, but the current landowner agreed to sell the property to the residents and convert it to a resident-owned community for $23 million. It is the same model that the Aspen Basalt and Mountain Valley mobile home parks pursued last year when the land at both parks was listed for sale.
The city contributed $3 million — or about $21,600 per unit — to those mobile home parks alongside several other valley municipalities, nonprofits and private companies. If the city contributed the same amount per unit to Cavern Springs, it would amount to $2.1 million.
While some council members and city staff were concerned about an influx of funding requests in the future to support other mobile home park residents pursuing a ROC model, the city said there is a “relatively low risk of setting a precedent,” according to a memo sent to city council members about the request.
“As it was stated in the memo, this is less of an environmental impact than building new units and one of the greatest returns on investment in terms of affordable housing preservation, kind of the same thing we’ve been talking about with the other parks,” Councilman John Doyle said.
The city estimates there are likely only three mobile home parks in the area that are not already protected and have 50 or more units as part of the mobile home park. Communities with 50 or more units are more likely to be successful in pursuing and managing a ROC, according to the memo.
About 42% of the working residents at Cavern Springs are employed in Aspen.
Aspen’s financial contribution to the mobile home park purchase could limit the money that can be spent on other affordable housing projects that rely on city tax dollars. But the city said a financial contribution to the residents is a small fraction of the cost to build a new affordable housing unit.
The residents want to raise $10 million in equity by June 13. They have raised $1.2 million from municipalities and local foundations, and are seeking $2.5 million from the state. They need to raise $6.3 million more to reach their goal by June.
Monica Muniz, a resident of the Cavern Springs mobile home park and vice president of the Sopris Mountain Collective (the resident organization’s name), has lived in the park with her husband for 36 years. They have raised their daughter there and cared for Muniz’s brother, who is deaf and attends day programs at Cairn Connections in Rifle and physical therapy at Basalt-based Bridging Bionics.
“We have created our lives here,” Muniz told the city council. “We have developed long-term connections, and through fundraising to protect our housing, we have made new friends.”
Residents worry that if an outside buyer purchases the land, their rents will increase significantly. They also worry about high rent increases if the property value grows and changes hands every few years. Average rents at Cavern Springs are $1,025 per month.
Councilman Bill Guth said he did not want to contribute funding to the residents’ purchase.
“I don’t think that this perceived risk is what you think it is. I haven’t seen it in this community, doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but I think it’s low likelihood,” Guth said. “I don’t feel good about supporting this, not because I don’t value these people, not because I don’t think that what they’re doing is not worthy … or commendable, but I just don’t think it’s the right use of city of Aspen dollars.”
A majority of council members agreed to provide some amount of financial support to Cavern Springs. They will formally vote on an amount at a later date.