The lowellsun informs MHProNews Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is supporting legislation to establish a dispute resolution process between residents and owners of manufactured housing communities, streamline community rules approval, and require certificates verifying the water and sewer systems are in working order. Appearing before the Joint Committee on Housing at the state house, she says numerous complaints have come to her office concerning malfunctioning water and sewer systems. Owner with his family of Garden Homes Estates in Wareham, Mass., and president of the Massachusetts Manufactured Home Association, Jeff Hallahan says the legislation could threaten the business: “It’s a daily challenge to operate our communities safely and efficiently to keep rents down.” Noting inspections could run as high as $85,000 annually, he says the MHCs are a form of unsubsidized affordable housing, but that the association does support the dispute resolution proposal. “The idea of out-of-state out-of-touch ownership and management, I think is the exception,” Hallahan says.
