LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERVISORS OK “ COUNTY MOBILE HOME PROGRAM ” TO PUT AFFORDABLE MANUFACTURED HOMES WITHIN REACH OF HOMELESS
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has recently unanimously approved a motion to pursue a plan, calling it the County Mobile Home Program, that would utilize manufactured homes to address the affordable housing crisis in sprawling Los Angeles County.
The hope is to close the gap between owning a home and homelessness by sprucing up existing mobile home parks, finding properties to build new manufactured home communities, and finding financing within reach of lower-income families and the homeless.
“Mobile homes offer a unique opportunity to diversify the housing stock in Los Angeles County,” said Supervisor Kathyrn Barger, co-sponsor of the motion with Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.
“My motion, which was unanimously adopted by the Board of Supervisors, creates a County Mobile Home Program to add another tool in our ongoing effort to address the housing crisis,” she said. “Specifically, the motion enhances outreach and education of existing home finance programs.”
Barger’s idea for more and better mobile home parks gained traction in September when the Board approved her plan as a way of exploring mobile homes as a viable option for affordable housing, and directing a comprehensive analysis and make recommendations for an affordable mobile home model.
The report came back to the Board highlighting four main components:
- Getting the word out to mobile home park operators and managers about existing state and other government agency programs.
- Preserving mobile home parks and improving their quality of “livability.”
- Creating opportunities for mobile home parks to be developed.
- Expanding existing county programs to include possible funding for mobile home programs.
The motion allows officials to take up to $1.5 million from the future County Housing Acquisition fund to buy properties for the purpose of developing mobile home parks.
One of the things supervisors agreed to under the program was to hire a real estate consultant who would research and identify opportunities for developing a new mobile home park or, at least, preserving an existing mobile home park, with required approvals, permits, environmental impact reports and plans.
It also requires the executive director of the Community Development Commission to look into the feasibility of the CDC’s annual notice of availability as a way of funding mobile home projects.
Supervisors want the CDC to explore public-private partnerships. They also want the commission to find nonprofit housing developers willing to work with the county in developing or preserving mobile home parks.
SOURCE: SCV News.com
