Manufactured homeowners in Gladstone suffered a series of recent setbacks in their quest to purchase the land that they currently rent , but they vowed to continue their fight during a Feb. 12 rally.
First the manufactured homeowners discovered in February that the landowner wouldn’t allow them to compete for purchasing the property he had already contracted to sell. The homeowners had hoped that they could stabilize future rent increases by creating a cooperative model to purchase the land.
Tri City Mobile Court’s behind-the-scenes sale then led Community and Shelter Assistance of Oregon to step away from helping manufactured homeowners with a potential purchase. CASA of Oregon has helped preserve 26 manufactured communities to date, but the nonprofit organization said that it couldn’t take further action on the Tri City transaction.
Tri City’s current owner is Milton O. Brown, who was disbarred from practicing law through an Oregon Supreme Court decision in 1998. According to CASA, Brown is now using an obscure chapter of the federal tax code to defer capital gains taxes on his sale of the park.
CASA of Oregon believes that Brown exploited a loophole in the state law that normally requires manufactured homeowners to be notified of a potential sale of the property so they can compete to purchase it themselves. CASA Manufactured Housing and Cooperative Development Center Director Rose Ojeda believes that Brown made an error by sending an “interest in selling park” notice to residents when he will be using a 1031 exchange, which the IRS allows in certain cases so real estate investors can swap one investment property for another and defer capital gains taxes.
Brown’s participation in a different real estate transaction during the 1980s eventually led to his disbarment. Oregon judges found that Brown had tricked his business partners to obtain full ownership of the Totem Pole Shopping Center property.
“Disbarment is the appropriate sanction whenever a lawyer intentionally abuses the lawyer-client relationship for his own benefit,” the Oregon Supreme Court wrote in its decision.
Brown’s Tri City Mobile Court business is represented by Brenda Christina, a real-estate agent based in Vancouver, Washington. Contacted over the phone by Pamplin Media Group, Christina said she had no comment about why the owners were thinking about selling.
Maria Orozco, a longtime resident of Tri City and a spokesperson for the park’s homeowner organizing committee, said that residents would continue fighting for their right to purchase the property after contacting the governor’s office and a legal representative.
“We don’t know where we’re going to live if the new owners want to close this park — maybe outside under a bridge — and the governor says that she cares about homelessness in Oregon,” Orozco said.
Over 80 families live in manufactured homes on the approximately 8-acre Gladstone property, which includes an Oxford House for peer-supported sober living. Ted Bieber, a mathematics instructor at Clackamas Community College who lives at the house founded in 2002, said he and his housemates would find another house to rent if they were evicted.
“We’re survivors and warriors, so we’ll stay on our feet, but I’m more worried about their families in manufactured homes that they won’t be able to move,” Bieber said.
John Seiler, one of the manufactured homeowners, said he’s known for a long time that a manufactured home park could be sold out from under him, since he and the other homeowners only rent the property.
“It’s always been this sword over my head that I’d lose my home,” Seiler said.
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