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Committee considers making Manufactured Home Improvement and Repair Program permanent in statute
Summary
Members reviewed a draft move from session law to statute for the Manufactured Home Improvement and Repairs Program, discussed funding and whether existing program rules or caps would change, and asked agency staff to clarify implementation details.
The House General and Housing Committee discussed moving the Manufactured Home Improvement and Repairs Program from session law into statute and raised technical questions about how the current program works in practice.
Committee members described three program components: (1) grants or funds to mobile-home communities for small-scale capital needs such as lot grading, infrastructure or foundations; (2) assistance to individual manufactured-homeowners to repair or improve their homes (examples included grants for habitability or foundation work); and (3) funds to improve park infrastructure such as water and sewer.
Members asked whether the statutory change would alter program operations and confirmed the draft does not materially change the program’s administration; it would instead move the program into statute while retaining appropriation requirements. Committee members asked whether the homeowner or the park owner receives particular line-item grants for foundations (committee members cited $15,000 to homeowners, $20,000 to parks in the current draft) and how quickly the program can respond when a unit becomes inhabitable due to water or other damage. A committee member suggested the program should allow either loans or grants; witnesses noted past ARPA funding led administrators to favor grants to avoid recapture risk, but members asked DHCD whether loans could now be offered because funds would be general funds.
Committee members also raised tax and distribution questions: whether a grant to a private park owner would create a taxable benefit and whether the grant amount would translate into equivalent on-the-ground work. The committee asked staff to ask the administering agency to clarify tax treatment and whether the program can expedite emergency repairs.
The committee did not vote; members said they were largely comfortable moving the program into statute provided DHCD clarifies (a) whether program language should explicitly allow loans as well as grants, (b) how the $15,000/$20,000 caps apply between homeowner and park, and (c) ways to expedite funds for emergency habitability cases.
