There is a significant change afoot in terms of how American households are prioritizing which debts to pay first.

The long-term assumption has always been that people will pay their mortgage before (more…)

When the North Carolina Housing Coalition gave Susan Fisher, a state representative from Asheville, its Legislator of the Year Award, it marked a new priority in North Carolina housing circles.

The choice of Fisher marks a change in some of the gospel within housing circles. Fisher has championed the reform of our state’s manufactured housing. The underlying principal of her aims should make sense to other “housers“, as manufactured housing provides shelter for the least well off in the state – families make less than half of the median family income.

Still, it is a new direction. Advocates from both inside and outside of North Carolina have resisted seeing the light on manufactured housing for years.

Fisher sponsored and helped to pass H1700, “Prevent Displacement of Manufactured Homes,” which gives park owners a tax incentive to sell their mobile home parks to resident groups.  It covers sales to non-profit groups or even to resident-owned cooperatives.

Chris Estes, the Housing Coalition’s Executive Director, highlighted Fisher’s work on manufactured housing.  It provides shelter for the least well off in the state – families make less than half of the median family income.

Estes framed up Fisher’s work within broader advocacy for manufactured housing. “Mobile homes house 18 percent of the North Carolina residents.” (and one-third of all housing starts). “They are on the largest source of non-subsidized affordable housing in the state,” he added.

Fisher accepted the award but acknowledged that more can be done.  She emphasized its fit with the  goal of homeownership, Perhaps she was reaching out to state leaders attending the Summit.  Sen. Joe Sam Queen, who arrived later and reiterated several longstanding critiques of manufactured housing, remains dedicated to increasing homeownership.

Today the FDIC has apparently drawn up a list of banks that it believes are moving into dangerous territory towards a potential failure. Yesterday, in fact, The Columbian Bank & Trust Company of Topeka, Kansas was shut down. The remaining assets will go into a receivership arrangement. It is the ninth bank this year that has failed. The largest, of course, is IndyMac.

It has been a tough year. We have seen the end of Bear Stearns. We may see the end of Freddie and Fannie, as we currently know them. There may be more to come.

We know why it is happening. Mortgage loans are going bad. Lots of them.

This is why I think manufactured housing has a chance to break through, right now, in redefining its image among housing policy advocates.  That involves examining the underlying motive for our interventions in housing.

But lo, I do not want to dedicate this post to asserting who is at fault for this situation. That is a good (more…)