Congressman Frost Leads Fight Against Wall Street to Defend Affordable Housing Communities

Congressman Frost Leads Fight Against Wall Street to Defend Affordable Housing Communities

Watch the full press conference HERE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Maxwell Frost has introduced the Promoting Residential Ownership of (PRO) Manufactured Home Communities Act, legislation to promote affordable housing and fight back against profiteering Wall Street investors by helping residents purchase and own their parks.

This introduction follows a press conference, held Friday, in Florida at the former site of Lake Downey Mobile Home Park alongside Florida State Senator LaVon Bracy Davis, Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe, and housing advocates where Rep. Frost highlighted the urgent need to protect manufactured housing residents from greed-driven skyrocketing costs, hostile eviction, and unlivable conditions.

There are over seven million occupied manufactured homes in the United States. Many of the residents who occupy these communities are older than 55, veterans, and on fixed incomes. In recent years, institutional investors have rapidly expanded their ownership of manufactured home parks, 25% of all units in the United States. They are raising rents and fees while reducing maintenance and services. Florida has the most private equity owned parks in the nation.

The PRO Manufactured Home Communities Act incentivizes states like Florida to adopt and strengthen "opportunity to purchase" policies that go beyond existing laws. It increases Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for states and localities that do enough to support resident ownership and helps pay for downpayment assistance.

"Manufactured housing should be an opportunity for affordable homeownership, not a profit center for Wall Street," said Rep. Frost. "To tackle the housing affordability crisis facing the nation, we must combat institutional investors having the upper hand in bidding for property. This bill gives manufactured home residents a fair shot to own their communities which will prevent eviction and keep costs low."

"Ensuring residents have a real opportunity to purchase their manufactured housing community is one of the most powerful tools available to protect low-income homeowners and preserve this critical source of affordable housing. We applaud Representative Frost's leadership in advancing policies that level the playing field, give residents a fair shot at ownership, and strengthen the systems needed to make that ownership possible." - Emily Thaden, CEO of ROC USA

"During a housing and affordability crisis, this bill would give residents of manufactured housing communities a meaningful opportunity to purchase the communities they call home," said Alys Cohen, director of federal housing advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center. "Manufactured home owners face high fees, and deficient or unsafe community infrastructure. We thank Representative Frost for introducing legislation that will give these homeowners a fair shake when they try to purchase their communities."

The PRO Manufactured Home Communities Act is endorsed by: ROC USA, National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), Private Equity Stakeholder Project, MHAction, Americans for Financial Reform, National Manufactured Home Owners Association (NMHOA), National Housing Law Project, National Low Income Housing Coalition

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