China Goes Modular, St. Jones Landing Zoned Out, NH Residents Buy MFH Park
China and the U.K. agree to $3.1 Billion modular homebuilding deal, Delaware residents feel forced out of development, and residents of a New Hampshire manufactured home community purchased their 79-unit manufactured home park.
It’s the day after Christmas 2016, now let’s unwrap these manufactured housing headlines for the past week.
Here at MFH we have reported on the unprecedented actions by the British Parliament to address a severe housing shortage in the United Kingdom. Needing 250,000 housing units per year, with the site building industry capable of producing at most 150,000 of those units, government officials and private industry are supporting the massive utilization of factory built housing. Also known as prefabricated homes, manufactured homes, or modular and system built homes.
Earlier this year, investor Legal and Guardian launched a modular housing business, with plans to build around 3000 homes a year from a warehouse in West Yorkshire. The company plans to invest as much as $11 billion into its new homes initiative of building home factories across the United Kingdom, according to The Economist
In that same report, we noted that Caledonian Modular, a subsidiary of U.S. manufactured housing giant, Champion Homes, had recently consolidated U.K. building operations to a single location that will be the largest facility in the country producing factory built housing, that will double production of modular homes.
China Goes Modular
Photo Courtesy of Architectural Journal
In August 2016 an unconfirmed report by The Architects’ Journal noted the city of Birmingham, England had struck a $2 billion deal with Chinese developer, Country Garden, to produce modular housing in the United Kingdom. The first inclination that China would have a prominent role in the surge of modular construction in Great Britain.
In the following report posted 22 December 2016, also by The Architect’s Journal, noted that China has joined the U.K. in it’s “all in” commitment to solving the Great Britain housing crisis via the utilization of America’s creation, manufactured housing.
Housing Association, Your Housing Group, and the China National Building Material Company have announced plans for a joint venture to manufacture up to 25,000 offsite homes a year.
The association has created a joint venture with renewables firm WElink Energy, in a bid to become the U.K’s leading modular housing developer. The partnership will also access technology and financial support from state-owned China National Building Material Company. The Your Housing Group has committed approximately $275 million to the $3.1 billion initiative.
Brian Cronin, CEO of Your Housing Group said: “the announcement of our joint venture is extremely timely. The housing shortage in the U.K. is only going to be addressed by radical innovation and new ways of tackling the age old issues.” He said the joint venture would also look to engage with local authorities and other housing associations to provide off-site manufactured homes.
Five pilot schemes are set to deliver 2,000 homes in 2017, with panels built in Barcelona, Spain. The first scheme, in Liverpool, has already submitted for planning.
Developer Urban Splash reportedly has a target to deliver up to a 1000-units a year of its own modular “hoUSe” product. Earlier this year Urban Splash won planning for 100 apartments and 71 family homes in Salford, designed by ShedKM.
An earlier study by consultancy KPMG found that net savings of 7 percent were possible for off-site construction projects due to shortened construction periods, despite increased construction costs. (Note: The U.S. manufactured housing industry expertise and efficiency will typically reduce construction costs by 15 to 20 percent compared to onsite construction.)
Delaware Residents Forced Out
Photo Courtesy of Delaware Online
Manufactured Home Residents Feel Forced Out of Development – George Makdad and Breanna Waltz are resigned to the fact that they won’t be living in their St. Jones Landing manufactured home park in Magnolia a year from now. What the next door neighbors don’t know is why they are being forced out, according to The News Journal.
The manufactured homeowners living at St. Johns Landing are paying rent for the use of the land and have all received a termination of manufactured home lot lease notification from K-4 Management which states they must vacate a year from the date of the notice. For most, that means August 2017.
“Our rights are being trampled and K-4 is breaking the laws here,” said Makdad, a 12 year resident of St. James Landing. They are “not dealing with us in good faith like the law states.”
The notice of termination states that St. Jones Landing, LLC “has decided to change the use of lands” of the lots currently being leased by tenants. K-4 Management says it is following the law and because of the increasing regulatory burden placed on mobile home parks, “we must find a better use for the land.”
According to the Manufactured Home Owners and Community Owners Act, land use change is described as the community owner’s intention to change the use of all or part of the land on which the community is located. Such a change comes with mandated rules and regulations.
The intended future use, according to K-4 Management owner Andy Strine, is an apartment-style lease project. “This will still be a manufactured home park,” says Strine.
Waltz and some of the neighbors are not satisfied, “Something just does not add up here,” said Waltz who has lived in the park since 2009. “They are uprooting families for their own gain.”
New Hampshire Residents Buy Community
Photo Courtesy of Fosters.com
Dover Residents Purchase Manufactured Home Community – Homeowners in Polly Ann Park recently purchased their 79-unit manufactured home park, making it New Hampshire’s 121st resident owned community (ROC).
Using training and technical assistance from the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s ROC-NH team, homeowners organized and formed the the Dover Point Cooperative in April. The cooperative then negotiated with the park’s owners, Frank and Ann Torr and reached a $3.125-million purchase price. The transaction was finalized Dec. 16, with a mortgage from the Community Loan Fund, according to a report by Delawareonline.
“We can’t thank Frank and Ann (Torr) enough for coming to us about buying the park,” Steve Shaheen, park resident and president of the cooperative’s board of directors, said in a press release. “The same goes for the Community Loan Fund and ROC-NH, who have been with us every step of the way. The residents have really come together to help each other and we’re excited about the future of the Dover Point Cooperative.
ANow that Polly Ann Park is resident-owned, homeowners there are eligible for products and services – like real mortgages – that have not been available to them in the past.
The Community Loan Fund has worked in towns and cities across the state for 33 years, with the goal of connecting families and business owners with the loans, training and advice that allow them to have affordable homes, secure jobs and quality child care.
The first ROC park in the state was established in Meredith in 1984. There have been more than 6,800 homeowners in ROC’s throughout New Hampshire. Dover is currently home to one other ROC – 19 units owned by the Cochecho River Cooperative, which was established in 1989.
