The planned midweek Masthead blog post topic changed rapidly, here are one of the reasons. In a non-MH LinkedIn group, the following image was posted.
I posted in part the following: "Mindful that thousands in this field of affordable housing are tied to gov't programs, shouldn't we ask ourselves what causes the lack of affordable housing in the first place?”
Some economists believe that in America, "whatever you subsidize, you get more of it." please comment on each point, thanks."
It will be interesting to see how those who collect Section 8, or who do LIHTC deals respond to that query! We already are starting to see early feedback on the above.
Harvard, not Tony Kovach, says there is a looming affordability issue. Okay, what are the causes, and what are we doing about it?
Ladies and gents – my fellow MH professionals – in America, isn't it often well intended but misguided federal or state/local policies that cause the economic malaise and the need for affordable housing in the first place?
As you may know, housing in Detroit, MI is affordable, but the city is bankrupt and neighborhoods are being bull dozed. You can buy stick built housing (needing work, of course) in some places for under 10k, home site and all. But these are in often blighted neighborhoods and distressed properites.
In more time than it took America to win a two-major-fronts conflict during World War II, the Feds have just completed the latest report on the Keystone Pipeline. It says what many suspected, no real environmental risks associated with the plan. How much of our tax dollars or money borrowed from U.S. job killing communist China was spent on that study?
How many states in the U.S. might be like North Dakota – where unemployment is under 3%, and labor can make $15-16 an hour at starting jobs at McDonald's or WalMart – if not for federal/state/local policies?
We have a huge advantage here at MHProNews, because we get input and comments from publishing, from our consulting and from my being at so many live industry events. One gem of an insight was made by an MHC owner to me who said, "Our biggest Competition is now subsidized housing programs. What are we as an industry doing about it? It is costing us tens of billions of dollars a year."
Wow!
What an insight! Frankly, this is a topic that state and national MH Associations ought to dig into. We can't just focus on HR 1779 and S. 1828, as important and must do as those efforts are. That would be like putting all of your investment dollars into one stock; if you do, you better hope like heck the investment goes well.
We must diversify our efforts. We need parallel paths.
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Subsidized housing is – ought to be – a huge issue for us. We could be heroes to legislators and public officials, ones that create jobs in our factories and better neighborhoods for residents. Why should the feds/states/cities pour billions into projects that turn into the next Cabrini Green disaster story?
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Policies that kill jobs and harm our economy ought to be near top of mind for any business owner or committed professional.
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Remarketing that works for lenders and home owners ought to be near top of mind for us. Remarketing will continue to be a mantra for us, until enough pros band together and FIX the ISSUE. This is a no-brainer, one that will drive profits! Want more financing at lower rates? Help lenders and customers exit with good remarketing.
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Image building, branding and related strategies ought to be near top of mind for us.
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Education of the public along side our peers in our industry ought to be near top of mind for us.
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Teaming up. As one of the C-Suite leaders who called today said, we ough to team up with other groups/associstions on as many issues as we can, to advance our agenda. The same point could be made within our industry, we can all do a better job of teaming up within our own ranks to acheive a goal.
All of these things and more are impacting our factory built home industry and thus are impacting you or any investor, employee or worker in your business!
In the shadows, there are games being played in offices and locations here and there in our great land. We won't talk about that today.
What we will ask you to look at is the point that Ross Kinzler made, see the screen capture below.
Ross is right. Come to the Tunica Show, and see what you may have missed at Louisville. They are two entirely different events in different regions, but they have some powerful connections.
FYI, I look forward to hearing Ross' routinely insightful comments this Sunday -Tuesday at the Winter Meeting/Legislative Session of MHI in Arlington VA, outside of Washington DC.
What I like about Ross' comment is that he has less than zero connection to the Tunica Show. But he is to be commended for his motivation to see our industry grow and prosper! That happens when pros – like you – read, go and grow.
We showcased as a Featured Article this month a column about a community turn around project, linked here. We then posted it in a non-MH Group on LinkedIn, where it has sparked a nice discussion. Example.
The point is that we can change our image, and we can do so profitably. We can get social and other media to give us our dues. But we have to make the efforts. We need to invest in those efforts, a little time, a little money. The rewards will multiply back to us manifold.
We need to See it Big. We have lots of opportunities as an industry. We need to look at what is happening all around us, and say, “we can serve that, and that, and that too…” Then, we need to take the steps to make it happen.
This is plenty to chew on for the day.
Your thoughts? Guest replies are welcome. You'll see a number of them about the Louisville Show and more, linked on our Industry Voices guest column. Or comments off the record are welcome too. ##
(Image credits, #1, 3 and 4 above Linkedin and #2 MHProNews)
L. A. 'Tony' Kovach
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Business and Public Marketing & Ads: B2B | B2C
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