Affordable housing that you can call your own

LYNNWOOD — Dean Allard’s bad knee made it tougher and tougher for him to negotiate the stairs in his Lynnwood town home, so he bought a new doublewide manufactured home in a park a few blocks away.

The new three-bedroom home bought by Allard and his wife, Mary, is on one level, is Energy Star rated for efficiency and has a 30-year mortgage. The longer mortgage typically isn’t offered for manufactured homes, but it is at Alpine Ridge. The longer loan makes monthly payments more affordable for the Allards.

An added bonus — a real community.

“I managed my condo building, and I saw what they call the apartment mentality,” Dean Allard said of the tendency for condo or apartment dwellers not to be close to their neighbors. “This is so different here. It’s such a friendly atmosphere and there’s a lot more camaraderie.”

The Allards own their home, but they also live in public housing.

“It’s an incredible concept,” he said. “It’s the only type of low-cost housing that is not subsidized.”

The Allards live at Alpine Ridge, two manufactured home communities that the Housing Authority of Snohomish County bought from the owner several years ago to keep the homes from being razed for a private condominium development.

Bob Davis, the agency’s executive director, said the county made the decision because many such communities are being demolished and redeveloped, leaving people without affordable housing.

“Manufactured home parks are communities beyond just the structures themselves,” he said. “It’s the type of community we wanted to take a run at preserving.”

The county runs the parks, charging a little less than $500 a month for lot rent, which it uses to pay off the bonds that were sold to buy the properties.

Davis said the fact that Snohomish County backed repayment of the bonds helped make everything possible.

Brian Parry, who works for Snohomish County executive Aaron Reardon, said the county is hoping to expand those bond guarantees “to make more deals like this possible.”

“The financial communities won’t lend on a mobile home park, so this makes something like this happen that wouldn’t happen in the private market.”

He said mobile home parks are a good investment because they generate a steady cash flow and have limited vacancies.

Last week, the county celebrated renovation of the two clubhouses at the communities. In addition to the clubhouses, it’s also been remaking the homes as people leave. The county will buy the properties, then decide whether to restore the homes and sell them or to replace them with new homes for sale. Unlike in other parks, at Alpine owners don’t have to arrange for sale or transport of their home if they move.

Home replacement manager Cindy Holmgren said the goal is to keep the homes as affordable as possible.

The agency works with a local nonprofit agency called HomeSight, which helps remove homes, install new models and find low-interest loans.

Boeing Employees Credit Union also agreed to help by offering 30-year loans, even though that’s uncommon for manufactured housing. Officials there said the county management and support makes the deal more secure financially. They also said the loans are their way of supporting affordable housing within the community.

The first buyer of a new home at Alpine Ridge was Cathie Holland, who got a 4.625 percent interest rate and is paying $300 less per month than for the two-bedroom home she had been renting.

“I don’t know of any park in the state or the nation where this is being offered,” she said.

The homes are for heads of household who are 55 and older. People who meet lower income requirements get preference.

Holmgren said there are five lots available, two with existing homes, two with empty lots and one with a new doublewide.

The double-wides cost about $92,000. One of the existing homes, also a doublewide, was offered at $18,000.

Alpine Ridge homes

For more information about living in a manufactured home at Lynnwood’s Alpine Ridge, call Cindy Holmgren at 425-293-0574.