Community Loan Fund Partners with NH Capital Region Habitat for Humanity on Home Project in Concord

March 31, 2026

Comprar una casa prefabricada Organizaciones sin fines de lucro,Desarrollo de Viviendas Asequibles

Mark Tierney is on a mission — and manufactured housing is helping him achieve it.

With the Same Amount of Money, Helping Four Times as Many Families

As the president of New Hampshire Capital Region Habitat for Humanity, he aims to help as many families as possible live safely and with dignity in their own homes.

It’s a goal that the nonprofit has focused on since it was founded in 1995. But as housing prices skyrocketed over the last decade, it’s become much harder to build or repair homes that low-income households can purchase below market value.

“We have people who are just really, really desperate for a safe and dignified place to live,” Mark said.

The solution?

Repairing manufactured homes to be placed in resident-owned communities (ROCs).

“Our affiliate would prefer to renovate manufactured homes as compared to building a stick-built house because with the same amount of money, we can help four times as many households,” he said. “We believe it's more important to help as many people as possible.”

Over the last few years, the Capital Region affiliate has renovated four manufactured homes and sold them at below-market prices to income-qualified buyers. The nonprofit’s board and more than 100 volunteers helped make it happen.

Manufactured homes are one of the last affordable entry points to homeownership in many parts of New Hampshire.

According to the Manufactured Housing Institute, the national average cost per square foot of a manufactured home is nearly half that of a traditional site-built home. Those numbers drive the Capital Region Habitat for Humanity’s strategy.

“Each Habitat affiliate has the ability to look at their existing environment and make a decision that works best for them and their community,” Mark said.

Mark gets to share the good news with each recipient.

“It’s like being Santa Claus times 100,” he said.

New Project Benefits Homeowner & Resident-Owned Community

Capital Region Habitat recently partnered with the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund to place a renovated home at Top of the Hill Cooperative in Concord — one of 152 ROCs in the state —because it’s a community that’s already owned by its residents

“A resident-owned community allows the residents to control their own future,” Mark said, while privately held communities are “really subject to dramatic price increases with no control.”

In New Hampshire, manufactured-home cooperatives are corporations whose members, the homeowners, own and operate their community as a not-for-profit. Each home is individually owned, but the land under the homes is owned by the cooperative.

Living in a resident cooperative is different than living in an investor-owned community because the homeowners aren’t simply tenants. The homeowners are members of a cooperative, co-owners of a community, and co-managers of a business. The Community Loan Fund offers coaching and training for ROC residents to manage their community successfully.

ROCs with available space for homes, like Top of the Hill, can receive financing and technical support to help with “infill,” the term we use for filling vacant lots with homes. Infill increases the ROC’s income from monthly lot fees that can be put toward community improvements and financial sustainability.

Over the last five years, the Community Loan Fund has helped ROCs set and sell 179 affordable homes.

Aron DiBacco, the ROC-NH "coach" for Top of the Hill, worked with the community and Capital Region Habitat to support the placement of the home.

"Most people who choose to share ownership of their community with their neighbors have never done anything like this before,” she said. “As part of the ROC-NH team I get to help them learn the skills they need to build and sustain a successful cooperative."

New Project Benefits Homeowner & Resident-Owned Community

“A resident-owned community allows the residents to control their own future,” Mark said, while privately held communities are “really subject to dramatic price increases with no control.”

Over the last five years, the Community Loan Fund has helped ROCs set and sell 179 affordable homes.

Aron DiBacco, the ROC-NH "coach" for Top of the Hill, worked with the community and Capital Region Habitat to support the placement of the home.