The United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives are currently battling over who loves affordable housing more than the other. It is a battle royale where the winners could well be hard-working Americans searching for their share of the American Dream of homeownership. Unfortunately, if no bill passes, the losers will be the same group of people.
As the White House grounds are being set up for a ticket of UFC cage fighting matches, maybe we could toss in a couple of bouts between politicians. Want an amendment to one bill or the other, strap on the gloves and let the silly S.O.Bs duke it out. Personally, I’d buy the pay-per-view.
If you are not really interested in seeing old politicians in tight garb slap fight each other, there is one thing the Administration could do without anyone coming to blows – make municipalities answer for zoning ordinances passed for discriminatory purposes and targeted to keeping people who might reside in certain residential structures (like MH) out of their city.
The Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968) is a federal law that prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.
Zoning ordinances should be subject to the Fair Housing Act and the Department of Housing and Urban Development should vigorously enforce compliance. Our industry is subject to the Fair Housing Act and so should cities, counties and states.
Zoning is (and will likely always remain) within the province of local and state governments. The decision of whether to place an ammonia processing facility adjacent to a school is inherently local. However, the decision to deny zoning to a manufactured home or a manufactured home community because the city has a bias against the types of people that may reside there is federal. And it is wrong!
If legislation eventually gets through this politically-screwed up Congress (and, yes, we sincerely hope it does), it will likely include incentives for cities that adopt appropriate zoning and a study on affordable building practices. Incentives are voluntary and studies often take years to complete.
One thing the Senate bill versus House bill battle has done is place today’s modern manufactured home in the center of the ring. Lawmakers, opinion makers, regular folks are looking into an affordable housing solution that has actually been around for decades.
This acknowledgement, in fact, might actually be the biggest takeaway of this entire legislative process.
But for those that choose to restrict the placement of our homes because of blatant discrimination against the folks who may choose to live their lives there – it’s time to put on the gloves and step into the ring.
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