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CFED Launches Initiative to Improve Manufactured Homes
By James Comtois
Manufactured housing has opened the door to homeownership for millions of low-income families, a door that otherwise would have remained shut. CFED, a nonprofit organization that expands economic opportunity for lower-income homebuyers, has launched a new initiative to help families who choose manufactured homes make sure these are good investments.
The program, Innovations in Manufactured Homes (or "I'M HOME" for short) is a multi-year initiative that seeks to ensure that families who own these homes can reap the same benefits of homeownership as families who buy other kinds of homes.
Since 1976, manufactured homes have been built to a uniform federal building code and are of generally high quality. Millions of older, substandard homes still exist, however, often fueling community resistance to all such homes. Despite their prevalence, few attempts have been made to help owners of manufactured homes realize the benefits usually tied to homeownership. CFED and its partners are working to rectify this.
I'M HOME is replacing dilapidated homes with newer and more attractive housing, changing the way manufactured homes are financed, working with families who live in "parks,: where there are special challenges and working with policymakers to make sure the same benefits and protections are available to everyone who buys a home, regardless of how it's built.
"Manufactured homes not only can provide long-term, lower-cost housing, but they can help build financial security for millions of families through ownership," said Andrea Levere, CFED president.
While two-thirds of all recent affordable housing starts are manufactured homes, owners often are limited in how easily they can build wealth through homeownership. This is partly due to a lending market that treats manufactured homes significantly differently than all other homes. It is also due to the fact that millions of manufactured home owners rent the land under their homes.
In addition, manufactured home owners receive limited consumer protections and face a resale market that, once again, functions differently than the market for all other homes.
I'M HOME is supporting initiatives and programs that demonstrate the ability to provide high- quality housing in varied communities. Among the projects funded are programs in Georgia and Minnesota that focus on resident land ownership, organizations in rural Kentucky and inner-city Oakland that are using high- quality manufactured housing to expand the housing supply, and groups in North Carolina and Delaware that are seeking to address public policy issues.
"The origins of the industry are in post-war travel trailers. In the last 50 years, the product has evolved - these are permanent, and not 'mobile' homes now - but the underlying business model has not kept pace," said I'M HOME director David Buchholz. "For most consumers, these homes are treated in many ways by lenders and policymakers more like cars than the permanent homes they are, and this needs to change. We need to demonstrate that if we treat this housing stock as real estate, these homes can be high-quality, appreciating investments for millions of American homeowners."
I'M HOME is providing at least $5 million in funding for manufactured home initiatives over the next few years. The Ford Foundation provides major funding for the initiative.
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