As the agency is set to finalize the GSEs’ (government-sponsored enterprises) Duty-to Serve (DTS) rule, he urges Dir. Watt to require “the GSEs to significantly increase their support of manufactured housing through the purchase of chattel loans.”
Citing Census Bureau statistics, he says the income of manufactured homeowners is almost 50 percent less than that of all homeowners, and that MH accounted for approximately 12 percent of all new single-family homes sold in the U S. in 2013. He writes, “Of this, manufactured housing represented more than 80 percent of all new homes sold under $125,000, 64 percent of new homes sold under $150,000 and 35 percent of new homes sold under $200,000.”
He states because MH are financed as chattel—70 percent of all MH are thus financed—buying an MH can be expensive. He writes that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says that the cost of an MH sited in a manufactured home community (MHC) could be as much as 50 to 500 basis points more than a site-built home.
If the proposed DTS rule requires the GSEs to create a secondary market for chattel loans, the opportunity for homeownership will increase for many more working class families.
For comments on the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposed GSEs Duty to Serve rule by Michael A. Parham, JD, click here. ##
(Photo credit: David Scott.house.gov–Rep David A. Scott)
