Hastings Supports Manufactured Housing

Manufactured housing provides a vital part of the Hastings Community’s affordable housing stock. Nation-wide. Manufactured homes are the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing. Nearly 1,400 Hastingsites currently live in over 800 manufactured homes in our community. Typically, the median income for households living in manufactured homes is about half the median household income of site-built homeowners.

Despite these types of homes being a vital part of our community’s affordable housing offering, manufactured homes face several significant challenges. Most manufactured homes are financed as personal property and use “chattel” loans. These types of loans, unfortunately, can be more expensive with higher interest rates and have a higher risk of losing the property, similar to having a car reposed, rather than a site-built home being foreclosed.

Additionally, older manufactured homes require significant repairs or enhancements to make them livable and suitable to the environment, including energy efficiency and being in flood-prone areas. Also, there is a higher prevalence of elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities who live in manufactured homes. Oftentimes, these homes and the manufactured home communities do not have adequate sidewalks, ramps, accessible parking, and other amenities that are necessary for these residents to live a convenient and comfortable life.

Finally, the infrastructure that serves these homes (e.g. water and sanitary sewer) is usually privately owned and maintained and is not built to the typical standards that public infrastructure is kept at. Because of this typical situation and the deferred maintenance of these vital systems, reliable water and sewer is limited. This is especially problematic for reliable water to fight fires that may happen in a home and manufactured home community.

Because of the importance of these types of homes to the community’s meeting affordability needs and the struggles that the manufactured home owners and the owners of manufactured home communities face, the City of Hastings is partnering with the community owners and other community agencies to apply for the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) Competition. A summary sheet can be found here. The complete Federal Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) can be found in the document section to the right.

City staff, the manufactured home community owners, and the community partners are quickly researching to determine what the needs are, the costs, and the application materials. Please consider following this page or check back often to find more information on the proposed grant application.