Vision of a revitalized Bermuda Estates takes shape - Chesterfield Observer

The Richmond-based affordable housing nonprofit Project:HOMES paid about $2 million dollars two years ago to acquire the 7.9- acre Bermuda Estates Manufactured Home Park on U.S. Route 1 near its intersection with state Route 10. COURTESY OF PROJECT:HOMES

It’s small steps so far, yet two new structures in a 50-year-old trailer park on U.S. Route 1 signal the vision of Chesterfield planners and others to help low-income residents chart a path to home ownership.

In the past year, the county has worked with the city-based nonprofit Project:HOMES and the Virginia Community Development Corporation on a pilot program designed to create high-quality, durable manufactured homes and replace the worn-down modular units at the 7.9-acre Bermuda Estates.

At its Nov. 16 meeting, the county Planning Commission received an update on the yearlong progress of the project near the intersection of state Route 10 and U.S. Route 1.

“The redevelopment of the Bermuda Estates community is just a good story,” county Planning Director Andrew Gillies told commission members as he introduced the collection of county departments – a story involving community enhancement and building inspections, and the housing nonprofit that acquired the property in September 2020.

Project:HOMES’ purchase of the community marked a major departure from the nonprofit’s typical operating model.

The organization has provided large-scale home repairs for thousands of low-income individuals for nearly 30 years, yet its vision for Bermuda Estates is to gradually replace trailers with sturdier and more energy-efficient manufactured housing.

Beginning his overview of the Bermuda Estates project, Marion Cake, vice president of affordable housing for the nonprofit, said of the low-cost units: “It’s a type of housing that people in my industry hadn’t paid a whole lot of attention to, until recently.”

Cake said the process to acquire the housing community began several years ago and “took about two years of negotiation and about $2 million to be able to own the park, and it really took another year to fully understand what we had bought.”

At that point, Project:HOMES became the landlord, managing about 50 homes with a total of about 165 residents. Immediately, the project team encountered the markings of what Gillies called “a code-violation nightmare.”

Cake described a number of sewage, water line, drainage and road surface problems on the property. He said that the nonprofit, with its collaboration with Chesterfield County, was confident that the various zoning code violations would be resolved effectively. Also, he noted that the relationship between the park’s residents and the previous management “had deteriorated to the point that there was very little trust between them.” Cake described the community members at Bermuda Estates as “proud, resourceful and independent, and they all want to stay in their homes indefinitely.”

“Success for us will be exactly that: 100% retention of the residents that are living in the park, but in new or renovated units that not only will continue to provide affordable housing and affordable homeownership, but also give these people the ability to maintain the money that they put in their homes and potentially build wealth over time.”

In the early phases of the park’s revitalization, he said, the nonprofit’s efforts helped assure the residents that their homes and residency there were secure, allowing them to take more pride and ownership in the community.

In concert with the county, the nonprofit got to work on a host of infrastructure improvements and mitigating of the zoning violations. When Cake spoke to the commission, the work was ongoing and plans included the creation of a community center for the people living in Bermuda Estates.

A goal central to the redevelopment project, he noted, is to help the residents build and retain value in their homes – a virtual impossibility for most people who buy manufactured units, which deteriorate quickly and lose value. The homes eventually cost more to remove than they are worth.

“Unlike renters,” Cake said, “they are responsible for all the acquisition costs, all the maintenance, all the taxes, and they don’t ever get any of that money back.”

This fact presented the nonprofit with a significant challenge, he explained. “We believe that we can build a manufactured home that lasts as long as a regular home and is built like a regular home and holds its value like a regular home. By focusing on the units themselves, we can change the living conditions and the long-term financial health of the residents and the entire community.”

Project:HOMES engaged in a phased plan, Cake said, which directed attention to stabilization, infrastructure, community engagement, and the repair and replacement of the housing units.

Within the overview of the project, Cake presented a video featuring some of the county staff who managed elements of the revitalization.

In the recording shown to the five-member commission, Daniel Cohen, the county’s director of community enhancement, said, “I wanted a nonprofit owner [to buy Bermuda Estates], because I knew they would take care of the park.”

Cohen praised the quality of the manufactured home prototypes that the organization has helped develop. “They’ve done a really good job of creating what is a sustainable and long-lasting product for the people who live here and the future residents.”

In addition to federal community block grant funding that Cohen was able to acquire, other financial support came from the Virginia Community Development Corporation, the Bob & Ana Lou Foundation, Virginia Housing, Virginia LISC and the Robins Foundation.

Gillies, Cohen and Cake all struck on the theme that the partnership and the strategy of the redevelopment – including the manufacture of a lower-cost but robust structure – may help create a template for other communities in the state and elsewhere to replicate.

“It’s going to be a really nice national model for how to handle the renovation of an existing manufactured home community,” Gillies told commissioners. “It’s really an exciting process to see happening in Chesterfield.” ¦

Adblock test (Why?)