In a conference this weekend in Roanoke, Virginia, a very important conversation was taking place about how to keep older residents in the state in their homes.

According to WVTF, the topic, along with others, was discussed at the Virginia Governor’s Conference on Aging. Currently, there are one and a half million Virginians over the age of 60 – a large number of which are located in the southwest portion of the state.

“The population faces a number of challenges, but none more taxing than the geographic makeup of the area,” said Nancy Brossoie, with the Center of Gerontology at Virginia Tech.

“This is an area of our state that is full of hills and hollers, and if you’ve ever been in a holler you don’t get cell service in a holler. In fact, people live so far off the beaten track that even getting home-based services to their homes is very difficult.”

And one organization at the event was looking to manufactured housing as a viable solution.

The Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizens is looking to repurposed older manufactured homes to create a senior community for the population in the Southwest portion of the state.

“We would take these mobile homes [sic] as we acquired them or purchased them,” says executive director Regina Sayers.

“We have renovated those; turned those so that they are handicap accessible, and they have ramps and everything on them, and make them a truly much better home than what some of our seniors in our communities are living in.”

Conference officials say that they hoped the conference would help make Virginia the most age-friendly state in the country.

 

Manufactured Housing – a Helping Hand, an Economic Boom

As MHProNews and MHLivingNews continue to make the case for manufactured housing as a viable solution to hope for the American Dream of home ownership, it also represents an opportunity for those headed into, or already, in retirement to downsize into a quality residence at a reasonable price. And some in the industry see the opportunity clearly.

“When the National Association of Realtors chief economist says there are more buyers than existing homes available on the market, that should be a huge signal to manufactured and modular home professionals,” said Stan Posey, sales manager at Sunshine Homes of Red Bay, AL.

“We build residential style homes that target the site-built customer,” Posey said. “Some of our retailers and communities are doing very well by targeting the site-built customer.”

And, the topic received national exposure recently, as manufactured housing industry veteran, Paul Bradley President of ROC USA appeared on NBC Nightly News in a segment on manufactured home communities.

The feature focused on those 55 and over, who are downsizing in retirement and choosing manufactured home communities as an option.

“The recent media coverage is not only great for ROC USA and its affiliates across the country, but for the entire manufactured housing sector,” said Bradley.

“These stories have focused on positive developments in and perceptions of manufactured housing,” he said. “Whether that’s in resident-owned communities or not, we all benefit from coverage that combats the stigma too often associated with these homes and worse, the hard-working people who live in them.” ##

(Image credits are as shown above, and when provided by third parties, are shared under fair use guidelines.)

 

Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.

 

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