LEAP ROC

Working with community owners and residents to preserve affordable housing and prevent displacement

LEAP is the southern Idaho affiliate of the national organization ROC USA. In a resident-owned community (ROC), homeowners form a non-profit business known as a cooperative which then purchases the community from the current owner. This model allows community owners to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing by selling to residents, preventing potential displacement and homelessness while empowering residents.

LEAP works with Idaho manufactured housing communities to provide 3 things: pre-purchase guidance to navigate the purchasing process, financing support to obtain a loan for the purchase and capital improvement needs of the community, and post-purchase technical assistance to the community’s Board of Directors for years afterward.

Information for Owners

When the time comes to sell your mobile home park, you likely have many options. A sale to the current homeowners is as timely and efficient as any other commercial transaction. Community owners need to only provide the opportunity for a resident purchase, LEAP ROC and your residents will do the rest.

Your buyers have one goal: gaining ownership of the land underneath their neighborhoods. Resident groups are looking for reasons to buy, not reasons to back out. This makes them uniquely willing buyers, which is why 98 percent of contracts between sellers and resident groups reach the closing table. 

With your permission, and only with your permission, LEAP ROC will examine the feasibility of the transaction. We are equipped with a dedicated, specialized financing source: ROC USA® Capital, whose sole line of business is lending to Resident Owned Communities, and after the deal is signed, we'll stand by the residents.

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Information for Residents

Through LEAP ROC, a community in Caldwell became the very first resident owned community in Idaho! In 2020, two communities in Garden City joined together to become the second resident-owned community and ensured the preservation of their homes against impending gentrification. 87 homes in Idaho now get to participate in decisions that directly impact lot rent and community improvements, among other things.

Each household in a ROC is a Member of the cooperative, which owns the land and manages the business that is the community. Members continue to own their own homes individually and an equal share of the company that owns the land beneath the entire neighborhood, voting democratically on important issues facing the community like capital improvements, potential rent increases, and more.

Even if your manufactured home community is not for sale, there are steps you and your community can take to be prepared. We can help you figure out if resident ownership is right for you.