Advocating for better homes and neighborhoods

Reinvestment Partners is seeking to promote reinvestment in manufactured housing. This is a popular form of affordable housing for many people. One in six North Carolinians lives in manufactured housing. There are issues -- from lack of consumer protections to issues around asset building-- but also plenty of opportunities.

Legislative Advocacy

Reinvestment Partners participated in several legislative efforts to help residents of manufactured housing. Two bills passed in the North Carolina General Assembly in 2008:

Park Acquisition and Rehabilitation

Reinvestment Partners has partnered with two other groups to create the first non-profit owned manufactured housing park in North Carolina. Through funding from BB&T and grants from several sources, the park provides affordable housing for fourteen families in Burnsville, North Carolina.

Control the Land, Control Your Destiny

We are articulating a wider political agenda through research on manufactured housing: Reinvestment Partners believes that manufactured housing can become a significant tool within the housing stock that is affordable to working families. Our agenda seeks to address the systemic shortcomings of the land-lease park by giving residents more control over the land where their homes are located.

This can be achieved through a variety of structures. Non-profit owned parks are one way. Resident-owned cooperatives are another.

To get there, we need more actors to participate in manufactured housing. This includes foundations, county governments, state housing finance agencies, planners, and banks.

Media

Reinvestment Partners’ work is highlighted in Bob Geary’s profile of a park threatened by closure in Raleigh, North Carolina. Subsequently, a rezoning application is denied and the park is saved.

Research and Policy

Reinvestment Partners is developing policy materials to articulate the pathways to reform in this sector: