Ownership Matters

Paul and Mike welcome journalist Amos Barshad to this episode of Ownership Matters, following the publication of his article "The Homeowners' Rebellion" in The Lever. Amos dedicated time and resources to research for this well-written article, going so far as to take a trip to multiple ROCs in Minnesota. Listen in to hear him describe his experience and what he took away from his interactions.

We welcome Deb Winiewicz to this episode of Ownership Matters, a highly active member of her community both locally and nationally, as former board president of Halifax Estates Mobile Home Association and current ROC Association Director of the New England region. She talks to Paul and Mike about the various roles she's held in her community, the recent policy efforts the ROC Association has taken...

Rachel Arndt joins Paul and Mike on this episode of Ownership Matters to talk about public investment in resident owned communities. Manufactured home communities are being recognized more and more, and Rachel has had first-hand experience with the growing awareness and changing attitudes toward MHCs. Listen to hear how what started as just a sugary drink tax became something bigger - a spotlight...

Margaret Jones from Mountainside Community Cooperative in Maine will tell you herself how much of an advocate she is for manufactured housing and resident ownership. In fact, in this episode of Ownership Matters, Paul and Mike talk to Margaret about all the work she’s done for her community and beyond. From her recent appointment to Maine’s State Manufactured Housing Board to her involvement in th...

Paul and Mike ring in the new year with Season 4 of Ownership Matters! As always, the first episode of the season takes us back to the previous year. Our co-hosts discuss the big events of 2023 - the continued success of PRICE Initiative efforts, more ROCs joining the network, and ROC Association's involvement at the I'm HOME Conference in Chicago. They discuss some of their favorite podcast guest...

Paul and Mike take this episode of Ownership Matters in a different direction than usual, with Paul taking the guest seat to answer questions about ROC USA’s new wholly owned subsidiary, Integrity Community Solutions, and what’s happening to his role down the line. Integrity Community Solutions (ICS) was created with the same vision in mind as ROC USA – preserving manufactured home communities thr...

When her community started the process of becoming a co-op, Allie Lechner was skeptical. With her background in property management, she wasn’t sure it was going to work out. Flash forward six years, she is now on the board at the flourishing Zumbro Ridge Estates in Rochester, Minn. and has taken many steps to ensure the community is successful and thriving. In this episode, Allie takes Paul and M...

George “Mac” McCarthy, President and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, brings to the table a well-informed outlook on resident ownership. Fueled by his education and experience in economics, Mac delves into conversation with Paul and Mike about the changing views around manufactured housing, his relationships with and advice to owners of manufactured homes – co-ops in particular – and w...

Carol Hodgkins from Wardtown Mobile Home Cooperative in Freeport, Maine and Stephen Hamlin from North Avenue Cooperative in Burlington, Vt., join us to discuss their experiences hosting tours in their communities. ROC USA® saw significant change and progress in 2022, and the PRICE Fund was a big part of this. Two years of hard work from community Members around the country led to the program’s inc...

Both Butch and Debbie moved into their communities years before they became ROCs. Today, they are happily reaping the benefits of becoming resident owned, in large part by participating in ROC USA’s online training platform called ROCKET. This platform is free to ROC Members and boasts a variety of different sessions, from mental wellness to board training. Listen in to hear more about what ROCKET...

Twenty-two years ago, Andrea Levere met Paul Bradley for the first time, before ROC USA was established. Paul worked at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and proposed an idea for the Corporation for Enterprise Development’s grant program, where Andrea was the vice president. Just seven years after CFED, which today is Prosperity Now, invested in Paul’s idea, ROC USA was founded and Andrea beca...

In the latest episode of Ownership Matters, Paul Bradley and Mike Bullard reflect on the exciting things that happened in 2022. They discuss the PRICE Initiative and other great achievements, changes in ROC USA and ROC Association, their favorite podcast episodes from the year, and what they’re hopeful for in 2023.

When John Egan excused himself from a meeting for a moment as his community was discussing becoming a co-op, he didn’t expect to come back and hear himself announced as the President of the community’s interim Board. But that’s exactly what happened at what is now Animas View MHP Co-op in Durango, Colorado. And after that abrupt entry into ROC leadership, here he is now, almost two years later, jo...

When Mary O'Hara joined ROC USA, it was just getting started as a national organization trying to scale the success of Resident Owned Communities nationwide. Fourteen years later, Mary has been promoted to Executive Vice President for ROC Movement and is empowering ROC leaders to become movement leaders. In this episode of Ownership Matters, Mary takes a look back at 14 years of history and tells...

You've probably heard it before, but the very first Resident Owned Community came about as the result of a graduate student project. Today, we're joined by the professor of that class, Michael Swack! Michael is a professor at the University of New Hampshire and directs the Center for Impact Finance and the master's program in community development, which he designed for adult practitioners. Michae...

On today's episode of Ownership Matters, Mike checks in with ROC Association Board President Marjory Gilsrud from Madelia Mobile Village in Madelia, Minnesota. Marjory is fresh back from a trip to Washington, D.C., where she attended the ROC USA Board of Directors meeting, held some strategic planning meetings for the ROC Association, and made two visits to Capitol Hill to meet with policymakers i...

"When housing on the lowest rung of the American Dream is being devoured by the wealthiest of the wealthy, whose dream are we serving?" This is the question documentary filmmaker Sara Terry seeks to answer in her latest film, A DECENT HOME. A DECENT HOME is a feature length documentary that addresses the urgent issues of class and economic inequity through the lives of residents of manufactured ho...

Last fall, Devynn Fetter came home to find papers stuck in the door of her home in Columbia Falls, Montana. The paperwork let her know that her community of 30 homes was for sale - and that she and her neighbors had the opportunity to buy it for themselves. Once things were in motion, Hideaway Community was on its way to becoming a Resident Owned Community with Dev at the helm as interim Board Pre...

Earlier this year, Courtney Berner, the Executive Director of the Center for Cooperatives at the University of Wisconsin, wrote an article called "Where are New Co-ops Emerging? The Changing Map of Co-op Development" for Nonprofit Quarterly. In the article, Courtney writes how Resident Owned Communities are a sector-specific strategy that is changing where new cooperatives emerge. Courtney joins t...

Does your Resident Owned Community have vacant lots? Are there homes that need replacing? Have you considered how additional site fees from new homes could impact your community's bottom line? If any of these questions ring a bell, then this conversation is for you. We're joined by Alan Blake of ROC-NH to talk about his new position as an infill specialist. In his position, he's a resource for New...

Nearly 40 years go, 13 homeowners in Meredith Center, New Hampshire banded together to purchase the land beneath their homes with the help of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, becoming the first Resident Owned Community. Jason and Jeff Sirles grew up in the cooperative, and their father, Bob, was the ROC's first Board President. In this episode, Jason and Jeff reflect on the sense of communit...

When Bev Adrian met host Paul Bradley in the early 2000s at an event called the Meredith Institute, she had no idea she was on a long path to resident ownership. Fast forward nearly 20 years and Bev is the Board President at Woodlawn Terrace Cooperative in Richfield, Minnesota, one of the newest resident-owned communities in the country. In this episode, Bev walks us through her long crazy journey...

Happy New Year! In our first episode of the new year, hosts Paul Bradley and Mike Bullard look back on the successes of the resident ownership movement in 2021 and look ahead to what's to come in 2022. Paul and Mike talk about a little bit of everything in this episode - consolidation in the manufactured housing industry, new ROC purchases, the retirements of a few important people, changes at ROC...

A lot about manufactured housing has changed over the years thanks to innovations in construction techniques, changing customer preferences and tastes, building codes and more. But at least one thing has remained a constant: Manufactured homes provide the most affordable entry into homeownership. Ramsey Cohen from Clayton Homes joins Ownership Matters to tell us about everything from the cutting-e...

This week, we had the opportunity to sit down with Cranberry Village’s own Board President, Brenda Bakal. While Brenda moved in a few years after Cranberry Village became a ROC, she has navigated the community during the pandemic, its refinance and some major infrastructure projects. In the episode, she will share with us what attracted her to the community, what motivated her to run for the coope...