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Manufactured
Housing Links
"Not
Many Lots," Editorial, Raleigh News & Observer, July 11, 2005
"Mobile
Home Parks Dwindle," Raleigh News & Observer, page A1, June 26, 2005
Manufactured
Housing Owner and Tenant Organizations
News
Stories - NC Counties Struggle to Clean Up Abandoned Mobile Homes
Map
of Vacant Units Per County
Legislation
to Clean Up NC's Abandoned Mobile Homes
"Bills
Aim at Trailer Blight," Raleigh News & Observer, page A1, April
10, 2005
Legislative
Summary of S913 and H1288
Text
of Senate Bill S913
Text
of House Bill H1288
NC
Association of County Commissioners' Legislative Bulletin, April 21,
2005, including analysis of H1288
NC
Association of County Commissioners' Legislative Bulletin, March 31,
2005, including analysis of S913
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Trainings for community development agencies
on transforming manufactured housing communities
March 15, 2006 - Fayetteville
July 12, 2006 - Winston-Salem
For more information or to
register now,
choose one of the above
trainings
Winter
2005 Popular Government Cover Story Transforming Trailers Into Assets
This
cover story discusses the growth of
manufactured housing and its
importance
in providing affordable housing.
The
article also
identifies issues affecting
consumers and the community.
Finally,
it recommends the rehabilitation
of
land-lease communities as a
community
development strategy to provide
safe,
affordable neighborhoods.
Manufactured
housing is an important
source of affordable
housing
throughout the
country and even more so
in the rural South, where
the majority of manufactured
homes
are located.
In
North Carolina, manufactured
homes make up
16.4 percent of living
units and house more
than 1.3 million people.
During the 1990s,
manufactured
housing accounted for 40 percent
of the
new housing starts in North
Carolina.
The
nation needs to recognize
manufactured
housing as a legitimate option for
homeownership
and an avenue for building
vibrant neighborhoods and
communities.
The nation also needs to
realize that redevelopment
and nonprofit management
of “land-lease communities” -
communities
where the homeowner owns the home
but rents the lot - can play a role
in promoting community
development;
creating safe, clean
neighborhoods; and
building homeowner wealth.
North Carolina’s abandoned
manufactured homes pose a threat to the health and safety of our residents.
In
2000, there were more than 80,000 vacant units in North Carolina. The North
Carolina Association of County Commissioners estimates 40,000 of those units
were abandoned.
Many of North Carolina’s
poorest citizens live in manufactured housing communities that lack regulatory
tools to protect their families equivalent to those found in stick built
communities. Abandoned units put our most vulnerable and valuable population -
our children - at risk. The state’s poor families deserve better. Acting
now will allow North Carolina to avoid this problem before it grows in
scale. The costs associated with abandoned trailers are not going away,
and in fact will only get worse as existing housing stock ages.
House and Senate Bills now
under consideration in the N.C. General Assembly's 2005-06 Session have
bipartisan support to give counties the legal authority to remove abandoned
units. The bills compensate counties for up to $750 of the cost of
removing homes. The bills' recovery fee costs purchasers just $300 per
section - only $3.22 per month per section on a typical mortgage. For this
small price, buyers will invest in the improvement of their communities.
The absence of blighted units will make our towns safer and more attractive to
economic development.
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