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This manufactured home in a Danville neighborhood appears the same as its stick-built counterparts. Kentucky-based Next Step worked with Danville officials to create more affordable homebuying options for young families and the region’s workforce.
Danville embraces manufactured housing Danville is making a comeback
after decades of grappling with tobacco, manufacturing and tex- tile job losses. As part of the city’s next phase, a pilot project is creat- ing more affordable homebuying options for young families and the region’s workforce. Earlier this year, a model home
popped up nearly overnight off Franklin Street. The house was built in a factory in about a week and delivered, in two parts, to a lot in walking distance to the popular Tobacco Warehouse and residential district on the Dan River banks. The sales price will be in the range
of $120,000-$135,000 in a town where new stick-built construction starts closer to $250,000. “No one has built a home at that
range for a long time,” says Gary Wasson, the recently retired CEO of the Danville Redevelopment & Housing Authority.
Taking a creative step Last year, Virginia Housing intro-
duced Wasson and Danville officials to Kentucky-based Next Step, a nonprofit connecting builders, developers, lenders and housing advocates to create homeowner- ship options through manufactured homes. Next Step wanted to bring a pilot
project to Virginia by creating a neighborhood of manufactured homes that would appear the same as their stick-built counterparts, both from the road and on a finan- cial statement. The homes would have higher building standards – a CHOICEHome®
, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae MH Advantage® certifica-
tion that ensures stringent HUD code and features of a site-built home.
Educating and informing stakeholders As in many cities, manufactured housing wasn’t allowed in Danville.
But housing authority officials educated and convinced residents, the planning commission, and city council that manufactured homes aren’t what they used to be. “These homes are starter homes
for families, for people who would want to have a yard for the kids to go out and play,” Wasson says. “The idea is that if we can do affordable housing at a higher standard, not only do we help someone get a new home, they get a new home that is energy efficient and lasts as long as a tradi- tionally built home.” Ideally, the Danville pilot will
reinforce for lenders that, when manufactured homes are built to similar-if-not-same standards as stick- built housing, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be valued the same way. Virginia Housing – which offers
financing to Danville buyers – is looking to replicate the model across the Commonwealth.
September 2020 |
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