A little-noted bill sent to the U.S. Senate could make it easier for people living in mobile home parks to pay for infrastructure improvements in their community while playing a bigger role in their financial security, proponents say.
The $500 million Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) program would provide grants to manufactured home parks owned by residents to pay for improvements and services. Money would also be available for cooperatives, non-profits, local and state governments, credit unions and other housing agencies; and could support acquisitions, including purchases by residents.
Joe Cicirelli, director of the Housing for Cooperative Development Institute, calls the move “a game changer.” The non-profit organization helps transform manufactured residential parks into cooperatives.
Success Story: Private investors buy up mobile home parks. These inhabitants of Wareham fought back.
“The residents are just starting to catch up, policy is just starting to catch up and we’re really just trying to level the playing field,” Cicirelli said.
The program would impact 3,500 households that are nonprofits or cooperatives and open up the opportunity to take ownership of the 20,000 households that are in manufactured homes in Massachusetts, according to the development agency.
How is the PRICE program a game changer?
The bill comes amid a national trend of private equity firms and real estate mutual funds buying up mobile home communities and then increasing rents.
The shopping spree is fueled by billions of dollars in government-backed, low-interest loans.
Under Massachusetts’ Right to First Refusal statute, residents have the opportunity to make an appropriate offer and buy their communities for themselves. But they don’t have access to those subsidies or cheap loans, making it difficult for them to compete fairly with private companies.
More: Residents Fight To Own Pocasset Mobile Home Park: A Judge Will Rule
Nationally, 80% of people living in mobile homes earn less than 80% of the region’s average income, Cicirelli said.
“It will be difficult for residents to make millions of dollars,” he said.
Locally, residents of Pocasset Mobile Home Park are engaged in a legal battle at Barnstable Superior Court, trying to buy their park, while Crown Communities LLC also wants to buy it.
Residents of Royal Crest in Wareham were recently able to foil an attempt by a private Arizona Legacy community to buy their park and instead acquire it themselves.
How can PRICE funding make a difference on Cape Cod?
The government money would help repair outdated infrastructure that abounds in mobile home parks. That could be anything from septic systems, electrical panels, road surfacing and tree removal.
The private owners of parks often postpone maintenance because “every dollar that goes into infrastructure is a dollar out of the owner’s own pocket,” Cicirelli said.
Locally, he said he could envision the bill improving the lives of residents of the Pocasset Mobile Home Park in Bourne. Built in the 1950s and 1960s, the park has many problems, including abandoned houses and trees in need of maintenance.
Earlier: Final arguments in Pocasset mobile home park trial for October
Those improvements would cost about $1 million.
The residents’ association is in a legal battle in Barnstable Superior Court to buy their community. If a favorable ruling clears the way for resident property, the group could tap into federal money to help pay for infrastructure improvements.
Federal funding would ease the burden on residents who currently have to fund such projects with their lot rent alone.
“It would lower their land rent and that helps them build wealth,” Cicirelli said.
Where is the PRICE account now?
Last month, the House Appropriations Committee voted to include the program in the FY23 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Funding Bill.
Senate will begin aligning its version of bill after Labor Day with House version, Cicirelli said. He said nothing is likely to be finalized until after the midterm elections.
“These are all volunteers in their communities doing their best,” Cicirelli said of the residents who wanted to own their parks. “They don’t get paid and they do it to make their communities better.”
Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @zanerazz.
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