MFH News and Views: Senate Passes H.R. 3700, Clearing Way for Section 8 Vouchers For Purchase of Manufactured Homes, FMEA Rolls Mobile Homes To The Rescue in West Virginia.
Now passed by the U.S. Senate and awaiting Pres. Obama’s signature, the 114th Congress successfully passed HR 3700, the Housing Opportunities and Modernization Act of 2016.Thereby creating new housing opportunities for low-income individuals with Section 8 Vouchers. Meanwhile in the Mountain State, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has reportedly provided an unspecified number of mobile homes for those recently displaced by West Virginia’s disastrous floods.
Those are two of the more critical manufactured housing stories in the news for the past couple of weeks, now let’s drill down on the specifics…
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Section 8 Vouchers & Manufactured Housing — MFH News and Views has confirmed an MHI Facebook post in which the U.S. Senate has passed H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunities and Modernization Act of 2016. This legislation, will for the first time allow Section 8 Vouchers to be used for the purchase of manufactured homes. Previously these vouchers were only available for rental properties. According to Youth Today, President Obama is expected to sign HR 3700 into law in the near future. When enacted, the Section 8 Voucher Program will allow low-income individuals, families, public housing residents, retirees and the disabled new homeownership opportunities – including the access to safe and affordable manufactured homes. At present, there are over 2 million people who have qualified for the Section 8 rental program, which now includes homeownership options for those, heretofore rental subsidy participants.
FEMA’s Mobile Homes roll to the rescue, again — The FEMA deployment of mobile homes following natural disasters began in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew that hit Florida in 1994. Most of those utilized were used travel trailers and smallish used mobile homes. Following Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005 FEMA estimated they needed over 100,000 temporary homes, but there were only about 14,000 total mobile homes and travel trailers on sales lots in the US; FEMA ordered 120,000 of these homes from manufacturers, nearly $2.7 billion worth of travel trailers and mobile homes from 60 different manufacturers; and the production lines cranked into overdrive. Only a small fraction of these units were actually utilized as temporary housing in the Katrina disaster, resulting in FEMA accumulating a large inventory that has been utilized in dozens of disaster areas in the intervening years since. According to West Virginia’s Metro News, “flooded out residents in parts of Kanawha County and Greenbriar County,” will be receiving mobile homes as temporary housing, but noting that, they “will not be arriving in West Virginia immediately.” Explaining, “It is a process that goes step by step,” explained Jim Homstad, media relations manager for FEMA.”
Note: To register with FEMA by phone, call 1-800-621-FEMA. For those with online access, try DisasterAssistance.gov.
MFH ANALYSIS: As prefabricated housing comes to the rescue again, this time in West Virginia, many in the manufactured housing industry applaud the recent passage of HR 3700 – though remain somewhat surprised – considering the ongoing failure of this Congress and the current administration to include prefabricated structures in the ongoing discussion of America’s affordable housing crisis. The Section 8 voucher action was the result of dozens of entities and individuals supporting the inclusion of manufactured homes within this program for the past 10 years. Perhaps now, our elected bureaucrats, a.k.a. government elected officials and their nepotistic counterparts will actually address the other issues that Americans desperately want and need, in a slightly more … timely manner. None of the actions being advocated will result in any contingent liabilities for any of the decision makers.
Hopefully, these actions represent a prelude to other important legislation that will give millions of hardworking middle and lower income citizens the opportunity to realize the uniquely American dream of quality affordable homeownership. Of which, today’s modern manufactured home are the only form of housing to epitomizes the realization of that lofty dream. Endorsement by the U.S. Senate for the “Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act” legislation that the U.S. House of Representatives passed over two years ago and action by the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) to amend unintended discriminatory rules of the Dodd/Frank legislation, would result in many Americans enjoying manufactured homeownership.
