Senate committee backs Manufactured Home Community Preservation Act, questions mortgage-insurance funding

The New York State Senate Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development reported S 38 35, a bill sponsored in the transcript as Senator Hinchey, that would establish the Manufactured Home Community Preservation Act and amend the Public Authorities Law to direct distributions from the mortgage insurance fund to support manufactured-home community preservation.

Committee members spent the longest portion of the meeting discussing how the proposed program would be funded and whether it would draw money from existing housing programs. The transcript records questions from multiple senators about the mortgage insurance fund’s revenue sources and current appropriations; committee staff in the meeting confirmed that the mortgage insurance fund is supported by mortgage-related fees and premiums and that the enacted budget did not cut the program identified in the transcript as "Sunny May." Staff also explained that existing carve-outs in the fund include $18,800,000 for the Neighborhood Preservation Program and $8,050,000 for the Rural Preservation Program and that, as described during budget negotiations, the fund is treated as a pot of money used for a variety of housing purposes.

Proponents in the committee described the bill as a response to an increase in sales of manufactured-home park land, which they said has left many homeowners—who typically own structures but not the underlying land—at risk of displacement when a park’s land is sold or when owners seek large rent increases. The transcript includes a committee member remarking that "private equity firms started making cash offers for the property at very large amounts," and that New York has about 190,000 households living in manufactured mobile homes, most of them in rural or small-village settings.

Committee members clarified that the bill would create a mechanism to review financial needs and to permit transfers of development rights so parks might be sold to local governments or homeowner associations; the bill itself does not appropriate a fixed dollar amount. As the sponsor and other senators noted in the meeting, the legislation would authorize the state to create subsidy programs through the budget process but would not by itself obligate a specific appropriation.

The committee moved and seconded a motion to report the bill to the Finance Committee; no negative votes were recorded in the excerpt and the chair announced the bill was reported.

The discussion made clear the bill seeks to address displacement of manufactured-home residents but leaves key questions about program funding and the size of any future appropriation to budget negotiations and to subsequent implementation steps by housing agencies.