2023 U.S. Congress Budget Creates A New Program Supportive Of Manufactured Housing

Besides, support for existing programs for homeowners and renters. The U.S. Congress legislation created a new program to improve the conditions of manufactured housing,

Source: Daily Yonder (DY)  – The 2023 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget for 2023 includes an important new effort on manufactured housing. The final budget provided HUD with increases in most areas. Despite the agency’s name, HUD programs are often used in small towns and rural areas. HUD’s overall 2023 funding is $61.8 billion, a huge $8.1 billion increase over 2022.

The creation of the new $225 million manufactured housing financing and improvement program is a big victory for rural housing advocates. The Housing Assistance Council has called this new effort “game changing.” In an earlier statement, HAC said that this new program’s aim is “to preserve and revitalize manufactured homes and communities (including older pre-1976 mobile homes). Grants would be distributed through a competition, with eligible applicants including states, local governments, Tribes, nonprofits, CDFIs, resident-owned manufactured housing communities or coops, and possibly other entities.”

The new manufactured housing effort at HUD is remarkable, given that it has become almost impossible in recent years to pass authorizing bills to create new or amend current domestic anti-poverty programs. Contrast that to the fact that Congress in December passed, and the president signed an $858 billion National Defense Authorization Act, the 62nd consecutive year for passage of such legislation. This was an increase of $89 billion over 2022. A huge defense authorization bill passes every year, while the last major authorizing legislation passed for affordable housing was in 1990. Defense appropriations is a separate, huge annual bill. And a totally separate appropriations bill covers military construction and veteran’s affairs.