Nonprofits Partner to Preserve 55 Households in Kalispell Mobile Home Park

In a partnership with the Whitefish Community Foundation, NeighborWorks Montana is in the process of adding a fourth mobile home park to its roster of resident-owned communities (ROC) in Flathead County, which will preserve 55 households and prevent tenant displacement.

As part of a multimillion-dollar acquisition and preservation effort, the nonprofit organization is purchasing Twin Willows, which was formerly Twin Acres and Willow Glen mobile home parks, in south Kalispell.

Twin Willows is slated to become the fourth community-owned mobile home park in Flathead County, joining the Hideaway Community in Columbia Falls and the Morning Star and Green Acres Cooperative, Inc. parks in Kalispell. Each community is part of an individual cooperative with a board of directors charged with approving an annual budget and identifying capital improvements while maintaining affordable lot fees.

NeighborWorks Montana is financing the purchase along with philanthropic support, as well as a low-interest loan from Clearwater Credit Union and the Montana Board of Investments, which is providing 75% of the financing through its loan program for projects that serve the public interest.

“We have to do a lot of creative financing because of interest rates and property prices right now,” NeighborWorks Montana Cooperative Housing Director Danielle Bundrock said. “On average, we’re having to do multi-hundred-dollar rent increases to give the residents the opportunity to purchase, and that can be intimidating. There’s a ton of excitement around being able to conserve their community and we’re trying to find creative solutions to bring down that requirement of the rent increase.”

To help fund the acquisition, the Whitefish Community Foundation awarded a $75,000 Major Community Project grant, which represents one of the largest philanthropic commitments to the project.

“This is an opportunity to keep people in their homes,” Whitefish Community Foundation President and CEO Alan Davis said. “With affordable housing, a lot of the focus is on new inventory and new construction, but we are losing affordable housing when we sell. Preserving housing is really important.”

Davis said the Whitefish Community Foundation was inspired to preserve affordable housing after the nonprofit organization helped relocate households when Spring Creek Mobile Home Park tenants in Evergreen were evicted in 2024.

After residents were served eviction notices, NeighborWorks Montana and the foundation established a tax-deductible emergency relocation fund to help ease the financial burden for residents, many of whom were low-income and senior citizens.

Davis said the foundation saw an opportunity to prevent a similar situation and mass eviction at Twin Willows, which influenced the board’s decision to award the grant.

NeighborWorks last year published a case study highlighting the aftermath of the Spring Creek relocation efforts, which revealed most households that were formerly homeowners wound up in rental situations.

Of the 26 households, four now own single-family homes or townhouses, seven rent an apartment, while the remaining households own or rent manufactured homes or RVs on their own land or rented property. Others moved in with family while some left the state.

Follow-up interviews conducted by NeighborWorks showed a significant impact to many residents, which included the split of several families while the stress contributed to declining health of some residents. Children with special needs also did not adapt well to the transition while others lost “specialized learning support” following the move.

The study also concluded that social connections were fractured for many families following the relocation. While some improvements in physical health were reported, there were also significant declines in mental health and social isolation.

But at Twin Willows, Bundrock said the former owner of the park wanted to give the residents the opportunity to purchase the community to ensure the residents would not become displaced in the event that a new owner bought the property and served eviction notices.  

Bundrock said the Whitefish Community Foundation and its Major Community Project Grant Program has played an important role and has helped prevent the displacement of 55 households.

“I just think it’s a fantastic opportunity to preserve affordable housing in Kalispell and the Flathead Valley and it’s been identified as such a big issue and need for our community,” Bundrock said. “This is a big support for workforce housing — being able to purchase this at market rate and use creative financing solutions to make this happen is a big win four our community overall.”

The Major Community Project Grant Program was established in 2010 and has awarded nearly $1.5 million to community projects selected by the foundation’s board of directors. Funding for the program comes from the Circle of Giving, Whitefish Community Foundation’s core group of donors who contribute $5,000 or more annually to support grant programs.

To support the Twin Willows acquisition, donors can make a tax-deductible contribution to NeighborWorks Montana by July 31. Visit www.nwmt.org for more information.

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