After over a year of organizing with Mountain Voices Project (MVP), residents of Cavern Springs Mobile Home Park in Colorado’s Roaring Fork have raised millions of dollars and negotiated a contract with their landowner to purchase the land under their homes.

This victory — driven by immigrant, working families and retired seniors — allows residents to avoid being priced out of their homes, build generational equity, and shape their community on their own terms.

How it happened

In May 2025, residents got notice that a Texas-based investment firm had bid on their property. Realizing this put them at risk of displacement, they turned to MVP and Coloradans for the Common Good (CCG) organizers to figure out how to protect their community and formed the Sopris Mountain Collective — named for the peak many families can see from their homes.

Resident leaders challenged the sale notice, leading to a settlement with the owner that reduced the price to $23 million and started a 120-day clock to raise it. Leaders organized tamale sales, built new alliances, brought their case to city councils and foundations across the valley, and secured local government and philanthropic commitments.

They raised an astonishing $11 million and, after three weeks of negotiations, residents and the owner signed a contract.

"I still get goosebumps, and I feel very hopeful that we were able to accomplish this," said Maria Judith Alvarez, MVP leader and president of the Sopris Mountain Collective.

"We have been working on this for more than a year, so I feel very hopeful, not just for our families, but for what this could mean for the future of this valley."

Established as a resident-owned community, 98 households representing 350 people will have the freedom of keeping their homes permanently affordable in a region facing an extreme housing crisis.  

Organizing ahead

Residents are now fundraising through the summer to maximize loan payment affordability before closing in September. They're also building on their statewide power with CCG, pushing for mobile home protections including rent stabilization. In May, residents packed Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church and got both leading candidates for governor to publicly commit — despite prior opposition on the campaign trail — to working with CCG on lifting the statewide ban on rent control for mobile home parks.

[Photo credit: Eleanor Bennett, Aspen Journalism & Aspen Public Radio]

Residents of Cavern Springs Under Contract to Buy their Mobile Home Park, Aspen Public Radio [pdf]

Poll: Economic Inequality Tops Colorado Women Voters' Concerns Ahead of Midterms, Rocky Mountain PBS [pdf]

Aspen Considers Contribution Toward Another Mobile Home Purchase, The Aspen Times [pdf]

Residentes de Cavern Springs Buscan Reunir Millones Para Evitar Desplazamiento de Casi 100 Familias en el Valle, Noticias Aspen [pdf]

Snowmass Village to Contribute $1M to Cavern Springs Purchase, Snowmass Sun [pdf]

Glenwood Springs Commits $500,000 Toward Cavern Springs Mobile Home Park Resident Purchase Effort, Post Independent [pdf]