Changemaker: Dan Hunt
A long-time resident of Animas View Mobile Home Park in Durango, Dan Hunt is an advocate for mobile home communities and a voice for cooperative resident and community ownership of parks across Colorado.
After a career in real estate and construction, Dan saw himself enjoying retirement at Animas View. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Dan and his neighbors learned of the park owner’s intentions to sell Animas View. Residents sprang to action to explore the opportunity to purchase the park and manage it as a co-operative. Dan was involved in preliminary Zoom meetings to organize park residents as they took their first steps electing a Board and forming a plan for purchase.
Dan was elected to serve on the interim Board as the Operations Manager, a role in which he could use his past work experience to work on the due diligence process. “It takes a lot of effort by a lot of people to make something like this a reality. Everyone had their strengths and used them well. Mine happened to fit this role,” Dan said. By Colorado law, mobile home park residents have a narrow window of time to organize, prepare, and present an offer to purchase, obtain loan commitments, and finalize the purchase. “It’s a challenge to pull everyone together to secure leadership and financing in a timely manner,” Dan said. “Our Board did this because we believed it was so important.”
“We could not have done it by ourselves. We are a Resident-Owned Community (ROC). Thistle is the ROC USA Technical Assistance provider in Colorado. Andy Kadlec and Tim Townsend were the team working with us, and I was able to work closely with them on many pieces. Their expertise was invaluable to our success.”
Animas View’s success came without displacing a single resident. “While the Board did have to raise pad rent, the increase was less than what rent would have been under a new owner,” Dan said. “The Board felt very strongly that no resident should be displaced. We were able to retain our residents.”
We had to be steadfast about our belief that we could make life better for our neighbors. We have made it this far as a team, with hundreds of people doing their piece.
Dan credits the leadership of community advocate Andrea Chiriboga-Flor and her work organizing residents of Denver Meadows Mobile Home Park. Their owner had given residents a notice to move out so the park could be redeveloped. Residents were not successful in their efforts to preserve their community due to a zoning change. However, this set the stage for state legislation that allows for the opportunity for residents to purchase their parks. “Andrea’s work created an incredible ripple effect,” Dan said, “I’m extremely appreciative of that. She was able to move resident-owned communities forward in a whole different way for Colorado.”
Another partner in collaboration since the purchase has been Animas View’s sister park, Sans Souci Cooperative in Boulder, and their president, Michael Peirce. “We shared information about what was going on at our parks and around Colorado to make things better,” Dan recalled. “His insights were critical because he’s also a resident.”
With the purchase, Animas View took on millions of dollars in deferred maintenance, which is slowly moving toward being corrected. Day-to-day maintenance has improved dramatically. “By keeping aware of programs, sometimes by letting others know of residents’ needs, 20 residents were able to have new electric heat pump water heaters installed and others were able to enroll in community solar programs,” Dan said. “The hope is that other programs will come along to make life better.” His view of economic and environmental sustainability for residents is taking shape.
In working for Common Good Management Cooperative, a consulting and management services cooperative, for several years, Dan was able to compare the similarities and differences between parks across the state and to consider best practices and lessons learned. He hopes to fill knowledge gaps by creating a website and discussion forums for professionals and residents at mobile home parks considering their opportunity to purchase and develop a co-op model. “There are too many information silos with people starting from scratch,” Dan added.
Dan also acknowledged the importance of grit and determination in building a resident-owned community. “I tell people the Animas View story and emphasize the passion needed to be successful,” he said. “We had to be steadfast about our belief that we could make life better for our neighbors. We have made it this far as a team, with hundreds of people doing their piece.”