Boulder offers $1.3 million loan to help San Lazaro residents buy their mobile home park. They still need $30 million.

For months, residents of San Lazaro Mobile Home Park have been racing to counter a $42.5 million offer for their park from an anonymous buyer. They fear a new owner could raise rents or sell the land beneath their homes, potentially displacing longtime residents. 

Now, the City of Boulder is offering a $1.3 million loan to help them buy the property themselves — far less than residents had hoped for, and with a condition that could bring millions in additional costs.

The loan would be forgiven if the park is annexed into Boulder. But residents, who live just outside city limits, do not want to take on the estimated $8 million to $10 million cost of connecting the park to city services. The city has offered to help offset those expenses with loans and grants, but how much residents would ultimately have to pay remains unclear.

Members of the San Lazaro resident steering committee said they would need to consult with the community and their attorney about whether to accept the loan. Committee member Julie Heins thanked the city for its offer but expressed concern about the financial burden of annexation.

“My fear is the cost that’s going to be to this community,” she said.

The city’s loan is also about one-tenth of what residents had originally sought.

In June, when San Lazaro residents drafted a budget for the purchase of their park, they had hoped for contributions of a little more than $11 million each from the city and Boulder County. Last month, county commissioners voted unanimously to provide residents the full $11 million grant they requested, saying they hoped the county’s commitment would encourage other partners to contribute. 

City officials, however, have repeatedly said Boulder cannot use its existing affordable housing funds to support San Lazaro because the park lies outside city limits.

To get around that restriction, the city identified $1.3 million from its share of Boulder County’s Affordable and Attainable Housing Tax. The county collects the tax and distributes a portion of the revenue to Boulder each year. 

The city will receive about $3.1 million annually from the tax in 2026 and 2027. It had planned to use both years’ allocations for affordable housing at its Alpine Balsam property. Instead, it redirected $1.3 million of the county tax revenue to San Lazaro and will use city funds to cover the corresponding Alpine Balsam expenses.

“We were looking at the most that we could give towards San Lazaro, while still being able to keep the current project on track,” said Kurt Firnhaber, the city’s housing and human services director.

The city will not offer additional funding toward San Lazaro’s purchase, a spokesperson said, citing geographic limitations and ongoing budget constraints. 

“It is challenging for the city when a project comes along like this that needs this level of resource, particularly within a constrained city budget that we have right now,” Firnhaber said. “We’re very committed to helping the San Lazaro community in any way that we can, with the resources that we have.”

Even if residents accept the city’s loan, they would still need to secure about $30 million in additional funding and financing to meet the $42.5 million purchase price before their Dec. 8 deadline to submit a counteroffer.

That price tag is unusually high for a resident-led mobile home park purchase. In 2024, Sans Souci Mobile Home Park, a community about a quarter of San Lazaro’s size, purchased its park for about $3.3 million. Tim Townsend, program director of Thistle Community Housing’s ROC (Resident-Owned Communities) program, which helps residents buy their parks, said San Lazaro’s price is twice as much as the most expensive park he’s worked with.

‘We’re going to need more’

In addition to city and county contributions, San Lazaro residents hoped to secure state funds, philanthropic support and a loan of up to $15 million from Resident Owned Communities USA (ROC USA). 

Residents are also applying for a state housing award worth about $3 million. A decision is expected in December. They have also begun holding weekly conversations with state Sen. Judy Amabile’s team.

The group has also raised $50,000 in community pledges, $269,000 from local philanthropy and $40,000 from two resident-led fundraising events.

Townsend said ROC USA needs to see residents secure more funding, or demonstrate that they can, before committing to a loan.

The city’s offer does little to move the needle.

“In an acquisition that’s into the forties of millions of dollars, we’re going to need more,” Townsend said, though he praised the city’s offer as a sign of momentum and community interest. “It’s getting us closer, but still not as close as we would like to see it.”

Townsend pointed to the resident-led purchase of two Roaring Fork Valley mobile home parks last year as an example of the broad support San Lazaro needs.

The parks — Aspen Basalt in Basalt, Eagle County, and Mountain Valley in Carbondale, Garfield County — received funding from their own municipalities and other communities in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Pitkin County, Aspen and Snowmass each contributed between $1 million and $3 million. Glenwood Springs committed $100,000. Private donations from individuals and companies were also substantial, the Aspen Times reported. 

“All these communities, though they were not directly in the geographic map, stepped up big time, wanting to raise the funds to make it happen to protect these communities,” Townsend said. “For this community, we need to see the same thing.”

Townsend said neighboring communities were motivated by the fact that many park residents worked in Aspen or Snowmass and that their children attended schools across the region. 

He has encouraged San Lazaro residents to make the same argument, and they have. Many San Lazaro residents work in Boulder, and most of the more than 140 children who live in the park attend Boulder Valley School District schools, where declining enrollment has prompted school closures.

Annexation could bring millions in new costs

City staff are meeting with San Lazaro residents this month to discuss annexation.

If residents agree to annexation, the city would develop more precise cost estimates as the process moves forward. Annexation could take a year or more, according to the city.

The city has discussed annexing San Lazaro with residents and park owners for decades. Much of the estimated expense comes from connecting the park to Boulder’s water and sewer systems. San Lazaro has faced water quality issues for decades, and city officials say annexation could help resolve those problems.

Heins, who also serves on San Lazaro’s resident water council, which is working to address the park’s water problems, said its members do not see annexation as the solution. 

“The residents of that committee are unanimous that we really don’t want to have to annex into the city,” she said. “It will mean increased costs, increased taxes, and it’s counterproductive to where we want to go.”