More progress on H1700 for Displaced Parks

North Carolina’s proposed legislation (H1700) to protect residents in park closures moved one step closer to becoming law on Friday.  The bill left Judiciary II and now moves across the Legislature Chambers into the Senate.

This bill, sponsored by Susan Fisher of Asheville, would provide park owners with an incentive to sell their properties to resident-owned cooperatives or to non-profit managed ownership groups.

A sticking point between advocates and industry was resolved in committee.  The issue at hand was a rider attached to the bill that required park owners to mail notification letters to each park tenant in the event of a closure.  This would have been in addition to existing state law that requires advance notice of 180 days in the event of a closure.

Representatives in the house Judiciary II committee agreed to language that requires that park owners inform the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency.

This brings the NCHFA into the scope of actors participating in park closures.  Advocates are attracted to this change because it may bring dividends later.  If notification makes NCHFA more aware of the scope of problems facing residents of manufactured housing parks, it follows that they will be more open to creating financial products for park acquisition or even unit financing in years to come.

Chris Parrish, a Board Member of North Carolina’s Manufactured Housing Institute, supports the changes, too. Parrish owns a first class land-lease community, Parrish Manor, outside of Garner, North Carolina.  His motives may be benevolent, or merely pragmatic.  Certainly, he runs his own park in a way that reflects well on his concern for families.  Then again, his support could stem from a perspective that says that park acquisitions by non-profits in North Carolina are, at best, years away from being a viable alternative.