Visalia – Augusta Homes New Approved Financing

At the October 2015 ICFA Board of Directors meeting, the Board approved financing a $11.5 million bond refunding of a manufactured home community located in Tulare County in the City of Visalia – Mooney Grove Mobile Manor. The project will be a joint effort, carried out by Augusta Communities and its affiliate, Villa Del Arroyo Moorpark, LLC. The financing by ICFA will ensure that at least 20% of the units in the development remain “affordable housing” for lower income residents. A minimum of 20% of the spaces available must be occupied by very low-income households, and a minimum of 50% of those spaces must be available at affordable housing costs. In addition, a minimum of 55% of spaces must be available for low-income households.
 
Mooney Grove Mobile Manor is a 170-space community for persons of all ages. Covering 7.2 acres, the site is located 40 miles south of Fresno near the College of the Sequoias. Amenities in the community include a recreation center with assembly room, service kitchen, pool, shuffleboard, laundry, and many other features. A large municipal park is adjacent to the community, and offers wonderful outdoor spaces for families, as well as a county museum.
 
As an Augusta Communities development, homeowners will enjoy the following benefits:

• The park will remain an all ages community.
• Surplus funds will be used for various improvement projects including: repaving, pool decking and coping, street lighting improvements, storm drain improvements, construction of a childrens’ play area, and installation of a security system.
• Augusta Community’s management staff is trained to be problem solvers, with the financial resources to address homeowners’ needs.
• Augusta Community Center (ACC), a non-profit supporting organization, will work with park management to improve resident relations, and provide resident programs and services.  Together, Augusta and ACC have built playgrounds, organized health fairs and educational presentations, offered youth camps and afterschool programs, provided home improvement assistance, given away school supplies, funded scholarships, and sponsored food share and other neighborhood programs and gatherings.  Programs like these will become available to Mooney Grove if funding permits and after operations have stabilized.

 
“Augusta Communities and the Independent Cities Finance Authority have a history of creating great communities with a focus on providing housing options that are affordable for lower income residents. The housing market in California is making home ownership difficult for many families, seniors and youth, and the ICFA is working diligently to leverage public financing to create new housing options in the state,” said Mike McCormick, President of the ICFA Board.
 
Said Suzanne Taylor, Executive Director of Augusta Communities, “We value working with ICFA to make projects like Mooney Grove Mobile Manor possible. Augusta Communities has a strong track record of delivering high-quality programming for low to moderate income families, and we are confident the residents of Visalia will be pleased that the improvements Augusta plans for Mooney Grove will contribute to building a better community.”
 
With the approval of this project, ICFA will have financed the purchase by non-profits of 5,500 manufactured homes. This project is the fifth time Augusta Communities and ICFA have teamed up to improve conditions in a mobile home project while ensuring a long-term commitment to affordable housing.