New program offers affordable financing for organizations to purchase or refinance and revitalize manufactured home communities to lower housing costs across the country.
WASHINGTON – RealEstateRama – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), announced the launch of its new Manufactured Home Community loan product, which will provide an FHA-insured financing option for the purchase, refinance, and revitalization of manufactured home communities. This action will help entities to preserve, stabilize, and revitalize these vital sources of affordable housing. The announcement was made this morning by HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman at a media preview for the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
“Manufactured home communities offer a stable and affordable housing option for many families. Today, HUD is providing new resources for preserving and revitalizing these communities by providing FHA-insured financing to mission-focused groups to buy or refinance and revitalize manufactured homes,” said HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman. “This is just one of many ways HUD is empowering residents, industry leaders, and governments to expand access to innovative, affordable housing solutions, particularly in rural communities.”
Beginning today, certain mission-focused entities such as resident-owned manufactured home communities, cooperatives, non-profit entities and consortia, state and local governments, community development financing institutions, and Indian Tribes, will be eligible to use this program to finance the acquisition of or to improve existing communities, including making updates to common area resources and helping to maintain rent affordability. This tool provides an alternative to purchase of these communities by private equity funds and similar financial interests, whose track record reportedly includes unaffordable rent increases, failure to invest in community infrastructure, and regulations that don’t respect the community’s culture.
This permanent financing tool complements HUD’s recently announced PRICE program, which offers competitive grant opportunities for investments in affordable manufactured home communities.
HUD estimates that more than 5,000 individuals and families, based on average community size, could benefit from the program within the next five years. This Manufactured Home Communities program leverages FHA’s Multifamily 223(f) program, which will now provide permanent mortgage financing for manufactured home communities that may have previously been ineligible, and for previously ineligible manufactured home cooperative borrowers to be eligible to acquire and obtain financing for existing communities.
“With this product, HUD aims to support resident-owned communities and other mission-focused owners who are committed to high-quality, affordable manufactured housing that is not at risk of exorbitant land rent increases that jeopardize the stability of their homes and futures,” said Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon.
“Today’s announcement is an important first step for a program that we hope will provide a meaningful path to both affordable manufactured home community creation and preservation,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs Ethan Handelman. “As we progress with the program implementation, we will continue to assess both its scope and entity eligibility.”
