The White House has announced a series of moves to increase the production of manufactured housing in the United States. The initiatives are intended to both preserve and rehabilitate existing manufactured home communities and ease barriers to the construction of new units.

The moves include a $225 million funding opportunity for existing communities, overseen by HUD. The Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) will support the preservation and revitalization of manufactured housing communities, including the replacement of dilapidated homes, assistance for repairs and upgrades, and improvement of infrastructure such as stormwater systems.

In response to the growing trend of corporate investors buying manufactured housing at the expense of longtime residents, the White House has also announced the ongoing creation of a Mortgagee Letter that, once finalized, will “create a new program to preserve affordability for existing residents of manufactured housing communities.” Under the program, resident cooperatives and other mission-orientated borrowers will be given enhanced access to loans to acquire or refinance communities.

Finally, the FHA will increase loan limits for Title I Manufactured Housing programs. Once an important avenue for financing manufactured homes, the program has been rendered dormant in recent years by low loan limits. By increasing the limits, officials hope the program will “better serve low- and moderate-income and first-time buyers of manufactured housing whose financing needs have not been well-served by the private market.”

“Manufactured housing is a critical source of affordable housing, especially for low-income, rural, and Native American households, and offers a potentially lower-cost pathway to homeownership,” a statement from The White House read. “More than 20 million Americans currently live in manufactured housing, which is the largest form of unsubsidized affordable housing in the country. Manufactured housing provides an essential path to increasing overall housing supply and offers significant savings over site-built housing.”