Executive Councilor John Stephen — a strong advocate for resident-owned communities — selected Medvil to represent his district (District 4) by hosting the breakfast. He praised the cooperative’s board and volunteers for their work managing the 301-home community.

“I want to thank you for your efforts,” he told the board members in attendance. “You make New Hampshire proud as well as all the residents.”

Medvil Cooperative is one of more than 150 resident-owned manufactured-home communities in New Hampshire.

Kim Capen, Operations Director of Medvil, and Sarah Marchant, Chief Operating Officer and VP of ROC-NH with the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, spoke about how the state government can support affordable homeownership opportunities and the challenges faced by resident-owned communities.

“My message is that to remain affordable, infrastructure is the biggest issue that we face in manufactured homes in New Hampshire’s resident-owned communities,” said Capen.

Marchant emphasized the benefits of homeownership for Granite Staters and how manufactured housing can be one solution to the current housing crisis.

“We need 60,000 housing units by 2030,” she said. “But 40,000 of those need to be homeownership and this is one of the few attainable, affordable homeownership options that we have in this state.

“We invest a lot in rental housing, which is incredibly important, but there are ways that we can think creatively about homeownership and do better to make sure that we continue the tradition of homeownership in the Granite State.”

Frank Boudreau, a director at large on the Medvil board, was also recognized by the Governor with a commendation for his service to Medvil and the wider community.