$225 Million Made Available to Support Manufactured Housing Communities
The White House has released a plan to increase the supply and lower the cost of housing, including a multi-pronged approach to protect manufactured housing and to provide support for home-only loan programs.
“Manufactured housing provides an essential path to increasing overall housing supply and offers significant savings over site-built housing. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing steps to preserve and rehabilitate existing manufactured home communities and to make it easier to finance the purchase of manufactured homes,” the White House release stated.
Part of the plan to protect manufactured housing communities includes access to Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) grants, a fund of $225 million that now is available for the purchase of new homes in a community, as well as for infrastructure improvements, and for resident services.
This is the first time the federal government has made grant funding available specifically for investments in manufactured housing communities.
“Manufactured housing offers a proven solution to America’s affordable housing supply crisis,” HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said. “Today’s actions bring us one step closer to a future where everyone has access to housing that meets their needs.”
The FHA, in its Title I Final Rule published with the National Register, has increased loan limits to 115 percent of value for manufactured homes, tying to industry average, would increase a loan limit for a single-section and multi-section manufactured home from $69,678 to $106,405 and $195,322, respectively.
“HUD’s Title I program has been an important source of financing for manufactured homes, but low loan limits have made the program dormant in recent years,” the White House stated in its release. “The rule will increase loan limits to be in line with current market prices and enable HUD to regularly update the limits in the future. To support this action, Ginnie Mae revised eligibility requirements for Issuers of its Manufactured Housing Mortgage-Backed Securities program. These actions are intended to reduce barriers to entry for Issuers and increase participation in its securitization program for Title I loans.”
An expansion of Title I lending, for purchase and refinancing, has been a top priority for the Manufactured Housing Institute and its work on Capitol Hill in recent years.
Additionally, a clarification grants the use of CBDG Funds in acquisition of manufactured housing units, in the service of manufactured housing units, and for providing resilience to manufactured housing communities.
The White House plan, in non-manufactured housing-specific language, is looking to HUD to ensure the elimination of non-rent fees — for application and screening, for instance — in public housing and subsidized programs. Language in the plan also provides a set of tenant rights for military services members, adds resources to prevent unfair evictions, and provides renters’ rights during tenant screening.
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