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Committee reviews proposed Manufactured Home Improvement and Repair Program
Summary
Legislative counsel presented draft language proposing a new manufactured-home program to provide grants to community owners and up to $15,000 for owner-occupied manufactured homeowners, with caps and eligible expense lists.
The House Committee on General and Housing reviewed draft language on Feb. 19 that would create a new Manufactured Home Improvement and Repair Program to deliver funding through statewide or regional nonprofit housing organizations, legislative counsel Cameron Wood said.
Under the draft section (proposed new section 700), the Department of Housing and Community Development would award up to $20,000 to owners of manufactured-housing communities for small-scale capital needs to infill vacant lots, site work and other improvements. Examples given in the draft include disposal of abandoned homes, lot grading and preparation, electrical upgrades, 9-1-1 safety improvements, relocation out of flood zones, and septic improvements; costs could also cover legal fees and marketing to make lots available.
A second subdivision would allow awards to manufactured-homeowners (owner-occupied primary residences) to address habitability and accessibility, with a cap of $15,000 per homeowner for foundation work, HUD-approved slabs, site prep, skirting, tie-downs and utility connections, the draft says.
Wood described the draft as a new statutory program; he and members discussed whether language should be broadened to cover other arrangements (for example, cooperative park ownership versus park owners), and he noted the draft language as written limited awards in one subdivision to park owners rather than individual homeowners. "The language is limited to owners of a manufactured housing community," he said, and he recommended the committee flag that distinction for possible change.
Why it matters: Manufactured and mobile homes represent a portion of the state's housing stock that committee members and witnesses have flagged as in need of targeted capital and habitability funding. The new program would create a permanent statutory program that could be considered for base funding in future budgets.
Next steps: Committee members volunteered to take the section to develop clarifying questions and to request administration witnesses for detail on administration funding intentions and program mechanics.
