Officials say grant could give boost to Southside mobile home communities

Mobile home parks and manufactured home communities throughout Henry County and surrounding areas could be eligible for infrastructure repairs, some for the first time in years.

Representatives of the West Piedmont Planning District Commission held two informational meetings this week to detail their plan to secure millions in rehabilitative funding through a Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement, or PRICE, grant.

The commission is looking to apply for a $13 million piece of the $225 million pool of grant funding.

The PRICE grant is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s initiative to improve mobile homes or manufactured home parks. Its goals include bolstering the housing supply and weather-proofing and repairing structures, among other things.

“Roofing, plumbing, doors, anything that we would do in a normal home rehabilitation,” said Chasta White, the commission’s housing programs specialist, adding that infrastructure repairs are likely to impact multiple units. “We’re looking to do paving, well and septic tank updates … broadband in some areas. We’re looking to do lighting, curb and gutter, painting, all kinds of infrastructure repairs.”

Water and lead testing are among the health-related infrastructure issues the commission hopes to tackle. This includes conducting lead risk assessments on participating units.

Renovation funds are only for low-income families, as defined by HUD.

The commission operates in an area that includes Henry County, Martinsville, Danville, Pittsylvania County, Patrick County and Franklin County. Based on its current plan to seek a minimum of $13 million, the commission expects to distribute at least $1 million to each locality.

These funds would be earmarked for renovations, based on a current estimate of $10,000 for work on a single unit. Owners who rent out participating units are required to keep the units at HUD’s definition of affordable. HUD currently defines affordable housing as no more than 30% of monthly income going toward rent and utilities.

The remaining grant funding would mostly be for infrastructure projects, according to White. Cities like Danville and Martinsville might have different needs than counties, she said, which is why the infrastructure funds wouldn’t be split evenly across the board like renovation funds are.

“They don’t have to travel as far to provide water and sewer taps,” White said. “So we didn’t want to split the infrastructure costs evenly, only because some may not need as much infrastructure as others.”

Although the commission will choose projects based on applications, officials have an idea of the need throughout its coverage area based on past studies.

“We’ve been going out, site by site, and asking owners if this is something they would be interested in, letting them know what we’re looking to do,” White said, adding that, to date, they have had around 12 commitments throughout the region.

White added that they have yet to select any units for renovations. “Even though it is first-come, first-served, we want to give priority to those with low to moderate income.”

The commission has until June 5 to submit its application, although the group speculates that HUD could give an extension. Since grant awards won’t be announced until the fall, the commission has yet to confirm its own application process for home and park owners.

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