The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Thursday announced that it has awarded $225 million to 17 groups across 26 states as part of its Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) program that was launched earlier this year.
The $225 million was initially announced by the White House in February. The funds will go to “preserve and revitalize manufactured housing and manufactured housing communities (MHCs) across the country, including rural, suburban, urban, tribal, and disaster impacted areas,” HUD explained.
“This is an historic investment — as the first federal grant program specifically for residents of manufactured homes,” said Adrianne Todman, the acting secretary of HUD. “Manufactured housing provides an affordable path to homeownership for many families. This funding builds upon HUD’s commitment to advancing housing innovation and reduce housing costs.”
The Biden administration has mentioned manufactured housing as a major element of its plan to increase housing stock and reduce associated costs across the country.
Recent data illustrates that while manufactured housing has shown signs of faster appreciation compared to traditional site-built homes, the average price is still hundreds of thousands of dollars lower than traditional single-family homes.
“Funding announced today will support low- and-moderate income homeowners and residents in manufactured units and MHCs with critical investments such as repairs and rehabilitation of existing homes, accessibility upgrades, infrastructure improvements, mitigation strategies to increase resilience, resident services including eviction prevention and housing counseling, and support with transitioning existing MHCs to resident-managed communities,” HUD explained.
The funding will also address the desires of community residents seeking to redevelop their existing MHCs, which includes “replacing aging and inadequate units with new affordable homes, expanding existing manufactured housing communities, and acquisition of properties for the creation of resident-managed communities,” HUD said.
The department added that the PRICE program was extremely competitive, outstripping its expectations for demand.
“Applications were submitted from more than 175 entities proposing eligible activities benefiting communities across 43 states, representing a wide variety of demographics, geographics, and population sizes,” the department said. “Successful applicants demonstrated a commitment to supporting the long-term affordability and stability of manufactured housing, while deeply involving community members in their anticipated work.”
ROC USA was the biggest beneficiary of the program, with $38.1 million in funding going to impact its communities across 12 states. The full list of awardees is available in HUD’s announcement.
