Potholes and puddles. These are just a couple of the problems plaguing Wonderland Estates Mobile Home Park.
But these two problems and others like them will soon be problems no more, partly thanks to a $3.5 million grant from the Washington Housing Trust Fund.
When paid to King County Housing Authority in a few weeks, that grant will become the first chunk of public funding the agency has received since paying $8.4 million for the Renton park in November 2007. The purchase prevented Wonderland’s former owner from turning the park on Maple Valley Highway into 100 new homes.
The housing authority has help managing Wonderland from Manufactured Housing Community Preservationists and onsite managers Donna and Randy Cleveland.
Now the housing authority will also have the funding help it has been expecting from the state.
“The state did award us the money … but it wasn’t something we didn’t anticipate,” said deputy director Dan Watson.
Watson said the housing authority is also hoping for additional money for Wonderland — about $2.5 million from the county and more from “some other funding sources.”
“We’re always looking for money after these things…” Watson added.
The housing authority is looking for the Wonderland money not only to recoup the initial cost of buying the park, but also to keep rents low and fund needed improvements.
Rents have stayed “pretty much the same” since the purchase, Watson said.
He said Wonderland’s needed improvements include an upgrade of the park’s sewer, water and electrical systems, plus a revamp of the streets and the clubhouse. He estimates those improvements will cost $2 million.
The amount of improvements made will depend on the amount of money received. Utilities — many dating to the park’s construction in the 1960s — are first on the list.
Still, no work will be done until the housing authority receives more funding and restructures its debt.
Watson said this fall would be the earliest any work would start.
Wonderland residents Art and Mae Breeden are eager for that upgrade time.
“The roads are pretty bad,” Art said. “Potholes, drainage and everything else.”
The park wasn’t damaged by January’s floods, but Mae says water rose almost to the door of the clubhouse.
Things at the park are going “slow, but pretty good,” Art said.
The 55-and-older park has 109 lots. Tenants live in mobile homes in 62 of those spaces. The remaining 47 are vacant.
A few residents have moved in and out since the housing authority took over, but for the most part, occupancy has remained the same.
Watson wants to finish Wonderland’s infrastructure improvements before marketing those 47 empty lots. Still, the housing authority is allowing mobile homes that meet certain health and safety requirements to move into the park.
Doug Hobkirk, project manager for Manufactured Housing Community Preservationists, will be glad when the park fills up. MHCP is a Washington nonprofit that purchases, renovates and then operates mobile-home parks as low- and moderate-income housing.
“We’re looking forward to getting new homes and houses into Wonderland,” Hobkirk said. “Get the rent rolls up. And I know the residents are eager to get some new neighbors.”
Wonderland’s residents are eager for improvements, but they also know how to be patient. The fight to preserve their park took them a year and a half. Now that Wonderland is secure, they’re willing to wait while its new owners make it a better place.
“We all knew it was going to take time, it wasn’t going to happen overnight,” Mae Breeden said. “We’re just happy we’re progressing, and not going backwards anyway.”
Watson is also pleased with the park’s progress. Wonderland is one of four mobile-home parks owned by the housing authority. The housing authority attends many of the monthly meetings of the Wonderland Home Owners Association, of which Art Breeden is president.
“From what I’ve observed it’s working very well,” Watson said.
Help manufactured homeowners
Join 200 manufactured homeowners in Olympia on Tuesday, Feb 24 for Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day. The Association of Manufactured Homeowners and the Mobile Home Owners of America are organizing the day’s events for manufactured homeowners. Attendees will learn about and lobby for four bills to help manufactured homeowners. The day begins with registration and breakfast from 8-9 a.m. and ends with a meeting with legislators from 12-1 p.m. Presentations and affordable housing panels are in between. The event is free for manufactured homeowners. RSVP to Kylin Parks of AMHO at kylinp@wamho.org or 425.772.5174, or Bob Burton of MHOA at mhoa2002@donobi.com or 360.373.2436.
