All Parks Alliance for Change

All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a vehicle for Minnesota's manufactured (mobile) home park residents to express their needs and concerns in their parks and in the larger community.

All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC)

Formation	1980
Type	Grassroots, non-partisan nonprofit
Headquarters	St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
Region served	Minnesota
Executive Director	Dave Anderson
Website	http://www.allparksallianceforchange.org/

Mission

APAC is the statewide organization for Minnesota's 180,000 manufactured home (mobile home) park residents. The primary purpose of APAC is to educate park residents about their legal rights and to help them advocate on their own behalf. APAC focuses on the quality of life in park neighborhoods, the rights of park residents, public policy change to support park communities, and preservation of these communities.

Structure

APAC's board of directors is composed of individuals elected from manufactured home parks. Board members are elected by the park residents, after their park has attained chapter status by recruiting 10 percent of the households to join as dues-paying members. APAC also has a paid staff that includes an executive director, community organizers, and others.

History

APAC was founded in 1980 by a group of park residents in Anoka County who initially worked to eliminate no-cause evictions, and to create new storm shelter standards. These efforts eventually lead to the establishment of a special section of state law for manufactured home parks (Minnesota Statute 327C). APAC expanded to the seven county metro area in 1989 and statewide in 1994. In 2007, APAC began a national resident organizing project to promote resident leadership, organizing and advocacy in other states and on a national level.

Programs

APAC members work with a paid professional staff to develop and provide the following programs:

• Resident Education – A statewide, toll-free resident hotline [phone]), educational workshops, and consumer guides.[1]
• Leadership Development – Form resident associations and conduct leadership trainings.
• Community Organizing – Respond to management practices, rent increases, housing discrimination, homeowner displacement, and other issues.[2]
• Community Preservation – Work with residents at-risk of displacement to preserve their communities through a purchase by a nonprofit, land trust, or co-op developer.
• Legal Advocacy – Legal representation for residents, including filing tenant remedies actions for communities facing unsafe or unhealthy conditions.
• Public Policy Work – Work with residents to advance local and state policy changes.
• Racial Justice – Document and respond to disparities in resident treatment based on a person's race, including differential treatment and conditions, residency denial, and steering practices.[3]
• National Resident Organizing – Promote resident leadership, organizing and advocacy in other states and on a national level.[4]

Accomplishments

These programs have produced the following results:

• 1980: A plain English lease giving residents a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities.
• 1981: A national precedent was set for utilizing Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds when a grant was secured for park storm shelters in Blaine, Minnesota parks.
• 1982: State legislation to eliminate no cause eviction, prevent retaliatory eviction and establish storm shelter standards.
• 1983: State legislation to bar so-called 15-year clauses in leases. These clauses allowed park owners to prohibit in-park sales of older homes, forcing residents with older homes at their own expense to either demolish the home or move it out of the park. Residents now have the right to sell a home within the park regardless of the age as long as it is within compliance with park rules.
• 1986: Support from the Minnesota Attorney General's office to protect the right to organize in parks, by preventing management from evicting residents for forming a resident association and peacefully distributing flyers in their parks.
• 1987: State legislation to authorize municipalities to adopt park closing ordinances to require park owners and/or purchasers to provide relocation compensation in the event of a park closing. State legislation for stricter enforcement of storm shelter requirements, which gives cities the authority to order park owners to construct shelters if an evacuation plan is determined to be inadequate.
• 1989: State legislation to allow cooperative and nonprofit owned parks to homestead. This tax change reduces the costs of park conversions by lowering property taxes about 65%. The first park closing ordinance in the city of Bloomington, Minnesota. The ordinance provided for relocation compensation in the event of a park closing. Between 1989 and 2007, similar municipal ordinances adopted by 21 other cities.
• 1991: State legislation to create a right of first refusal in the event that a park is sold for redevelopment within one year of that sale. Residents or an authorized nonprofit are given 45-days to match the terms and conditions of the sale.
• 1993: Collins Park became the first park to close under a park closing ordinance. Under the terms of the Bloomington ordinance, 90 households were given relocation compensation or the fair market value for their homes.
• 1994: Three pieces of state legislation: (1) a requirement that home repossession actions take place in the county in which the home is located; (2) a requirement that park residents receive a copy of the park's evacuation plan and a certificate of rent paid form; and (3) a prohibition on restrictive zoning against parks.
• 1995: The Bloomington park closing ordinances is successfully upheld in court, establishing a legal precedent for park closing ordinances in the state of Minnesota. The former owner of Collins Park, which closed in 1993, had sued the city over paying relocation compensation.
• 1997: State legislation to require parks to provide criteria used for evaluating prospective tenants.
• 2003: APAC launches a joint program with the Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF) to preserve parks through conversion to resident-owned cooperatives.
• 2004: APAC worked with NCDF to convert Sunrise Villa in Cannon Falls into the first resident-owned manufactured home park cooperative in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. APAC worked with NCDF to promote the conversion of six other communities between 2004 and 2015.
• 2005: APAC worked with residents of Shady Lane in Bloomington on the first exercise of the right of first refusal. It is challenged by the park owner and successfully upheld in court, establishing a legal precedent for the right of first refusal in the state of Minnesota. Defeat of state legislation that would have allowed park owners to break lease agreements and charge for water, even if it was already included in lot rent.
• 2006: State legislation to require that park closing notices be sent to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health. APAC obtained a proclamation from Gov. Tim Pawlenty recognizing the vital role of manufactured home communities, honoring APAC's work on behalf of homeowners, and declaring September 24–30, 2006 "Manufactured Home Park Week." APAC worked with Twin Cities Public Television on the Emmy-nominated documentary, "American Dream Under Fire: Manufactured Home Park Residents Fight to Hold Ground."
• 2007: State legislation to establish the Minnesota Manufactured Home Relocation Trust Fund [5] providing a statewide guarantee of relocation compensation when a park closes to 180,000 residents in over 400 cities. Passage of the final local relocation compensation ordinances allowed under the new trust fund program. APAC successfully argued before the Minnesota Supreme Court that no park owner can prohibit residents or others from peacefully organizing, assembling, canvassing, leafleting, or otherwise expressing their right of free expression[6] in parks.
• 2008: State legislation to establish the Manufactured Home Lending Practices Bill, a law that protects homeowners from predatory lending practices, such as charging for services that aren't performed, as well as extending the foreclosure process on manufactured homes giving homeowners more time and resources to prevent the loss of their homes. APAC works with Woodlyn Court the first community to close under the Relocation Trust Fund to ensure the process operates properly and residents receive full compensation. APAC works with Sunrise Estates residents to finally replace an inadequate storm shelter and evacuation plan with two new storm shelters.
• 2009: Established a manufactured housing transportation project working group with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and local transportation authorities that lead to MnDOT guidelines that favor avoiding parks, replacing parks, and providing full relocation compensation.
• 2010: State legislation to establish the right to choose your home installation option rather than having to accept the most expensive option; access for the first time to the Right-of-Way Acquisition Fund (RALF) when road projects take manufactured homes; and property tax treatment for homeowners who live in resident-owned parks that is comparable to the lower rate for site-built homes.

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-18. Retrieved 2009-10-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-03-29. Retrieved 2009-10-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2009-10-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-05-14. Retrieved 2009-10-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• All Parks Alliance for Change
• National Manufactured Home Owners Association