Study outlines role of manufactured homes in NYS housing crisis

Albany, NY More than 20 million Americans live in manufactured housing, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s more than in public housing and federally subsidized rental housing combined.

Since manufactured homes make up a significant part of the nation’s housing stock and provide a viable affordable housing option, the Rural Housing Coalition of New York (RHC) believes manufactured homes should play a larger role in discussions, policies and plans to address the ongoing housing shortage.

The Rural Housing Coalition commissioned a report titled “The Role of Manufactured Housing in New York’s Affordable Housing Crisis” that lays out policy recommendations based on 30 years of data collected from 1989-2019.

“There are 192,890 manufactured housing units in New York State – making up 2.4% of the state’s total housing stock,” said Mike Borges, executive director of the Rural Housing Coalition. “However, in rural areas, that percentage jumps to 10.3% of housing stock – more than 100,000 manufactured housing units. The report identifies Saratoga, Dutchess, and Ulster Counties as having the highest concentrations of manufactured housing communities in the state.”

The study was funded by a grant from Enterprise Community Partners and completed by the Center for Impact Finance at the University of New Hampshire. The report gleaned data from existing public documents to inform policymakers on the conditions, locations and demographics of Manufactured Housing Communities (MHCs) in New York State.

Top recommendations of the report were:

• Better enforcement and compliance with existing laws and regulations regarding the registration of manufactured housing communities with the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance.

• The research uncovered a significant decline in mobile home park registrations in recent years – but the parks are still there. Until 2019, NYS Housing and Community Renewal (HCR) managed the registration of these parks, but in 2020, the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance took on the task of managing park registrations. The report showed that the “number of registered parks has declined from 1,800 to 1,200” – and that information is missing on about one-third of the manufactured home communities in New York.

• Legislation to support expanded opportunities for residents to purchase their manufactured housing communities in the case of sale of the property regardless of any change of use.

The rights of manufactured homeowners who rent space in a manufactured home park in New York State are covered under Section 233 of the Real Property Law, also known as the “Manufactured Homeowners Bill of Rights.” At the end of the 2023 session, the NYS Legislature passed a measure to give manufactured homeowners the right of first refusal when the park in which they live is put up for sale regardless of land use changes. The bill will be sent to governor Hochul for consideration.

Legislation that would foster and fund the purchase of development rights of manufactured housing communities using open space and farmland conservation programs as a model;

Across New York State – and the country – large national investment firms are buying up mobile home parks, dramatically raising fees, and evicting people who can’t pay the lot rent, even though they own their homes. To help preserve locally-owned MHCs as an affordable housing option, the report calls for the creation of a state-funded program to offset the cost of purchasing the development rights of MHCs. Successful programs to preserve open space and farmland could serve as a model.

Increase mortgage recording taxes on MHC sales to for-profit entities to establish a resident displacement fund.

When a manufactured home community is sold, residents can’t easily move their homes, even if they can find an alternative site. Accordingly, many people are forced to abandon their homes and start from scratch. The report proposes increasing mortgage recording taxes on MHC sales to for-profit entities to establish a resident displacement fund.

Help low- and moderate-income homeowners replace dilapidated manufactured homes.

The report calls for an increase in funding for the Mobile and Manufactured Home Replacement Program administered by HCR from the current $5 million to $10 million, and an increase on the amount allocated per home from $100,000 to $200,000.  

“As state policymakers continue to tackle the affordable housing shortage in New York, we urge them to work toward a solution that addresses the needs of the whole state and not just downstate,” said Borges. “That solution should include ways to preserve manufactured housing communities as an affordable housing option.”

The Rural Housing Coalition of New York is a statewide organization dedicated to revitalizing rural New York by strengthening housing and community development providers. The coalition supports rural housing and community development providers through organizational capacity development, training and technical assistance, and raising public awareness and advocacy.

Review the full report as a PDF here – ruralhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-RHC-Manufactured-Housing-Community-Report.pdf .