In Oregon, the recently passed House Bill 2008 adds a number of new responsibilities for manufactured home community owners when residents are required to relocate.

According to KTVZ, the bill increases the fees MHC owners are required to pay residents if they require residents to relocate, and mandates the Office of Manufactured Dwelling Park Community Relations to recalculate those relocation fees annually and in line with inflation.

Representatives Julie Fahey (D-Junction City) and Pam Marsh (D-Ashland) were the co-chief sponsors of the bill.

“Despite being called mobile homes [sic], these homes are not actually easy or affordable to move,” said Fahey.

“If it is even possible to move a home, it can cost thousands of dollars. This bill provides more financial stability for the residents of these communities.”

Aldo included in the bill is the requirement for community owners, upon a community sale, to notify the states’ Manufactured Communities Resource Center and make adjustments to co-op membership requirements, allowing MHC non-profit co-ops to better take advantage of a federal Rural Development program. Information on the Rural Development program is linked here.

With more than 1,000 manufactured home communities in the state, Marsh says that 62,000-sited homes serve as a vital affordable housing option for many working individuals and families.

“In my community, I have seen how financially disastrous these events can be in the lives of hardworking people,” said Marsh.

“At a time when affordable housing is at a premium in communities throughout Oregon, this bill provides needed protections.”

House Bill 2008 passed the house by a 54 to six vote, and will now move on the Oregon Senate.

As Daily Business News readers are already aware, the state of Oregon has been a hotbed of activity for manufactured housing over the last year, including a discussion about affordable housing in Portland, Oregon, and four “surprising facts” raised by OregonMetro’s Craig Bebbe.

The panel discussion at the Metro Regional Center shared hopeful signs for preserving and possibly even expanding access for manufactured housing and manufactured home communities in the future.

Bebbe called manufactured homes “Oregon’s largest source of unregulated affordable housing.”

That story is linked here. ##

 

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