Crittenden Manufactured Housing Newsletter

Nonprofit Finances Affordable Housing Development

By Crittenden Publishing
Monday, April 5, 2004

New innovations and advances in technology in the manufactured housing industry are making it even easier for manufacturers to design homes to blend into virtually any neighborhood, an important feature for urban infill projects. The possibilities are particularly important in states like California, where ever-rising home prices continue to break records, making homeownership a mere pipedream for most families. According to the California Manufactured Housing Institute, MH represents 6% of new homes sold in the Golden State each year and the association projects the number will continue to increase as customization options become more available and wide used.

Oakland Community Housing Inc., a nonprofit developer of affordable housing based in Oakland, Calif., has turned to Marlette, a division of Shult Homes, to design and build four single-story detached homes for its E Street Homes development, a four-unit infill project in East Oakland. Marlette impressed OCHI with its quality, reasonable priced homes and high level of service. The 1,300 s.f. three-bedroom/two-bath HUD-code homes will be available to two lower and two median-income families, who will be chosen out of a pool of pre-qualified potential buyers. Sky Dufaux, OCHI project manager for E Street, expects the homes' value to fall in the $370T range, based on neighborhood comparisons. That's a more affordable option than the state's median home sales price of $417,500.

The Nehemiah Corporation of America, a Sacramento-based nonprofit focused on increasing homeownership for diverse populations, financed the low-interest, 12-month, $270T loan for the acquisition and predevelopment costs of the project, through its Nehemiah Community Reinvestment Fund. NCRF and OCHI aim for a completion date between late July and September.

If the project is successful, OCHI plans to build 30 similar homes, and Nehemiah hopes to remain as part of the team. NCRF targets markets in the West and Midwest and is working with several borrowers on possible deals to continue its "Moving People from Homelessness to Homeownership" initiative.

Manufactured homes make sense for scattered, smaller in-fill lots in urban and suburban areas because site builders often prefer large developments. As a result, MH builders have virtually no competition in this area.

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