Energy Efficient Manufactured Home Act of 2015

Summary: Energy Efficient Manufactured Home Act of 2015 This bill authorizes the Department of Housing and Urban Development to carry out a program to provide grants and loans to assist low-income owners of manufactured homes constructed before December 31, 1994, in decommissioning their dated homes and replacing them with Energy Star-qualified manufactured or modular homes.  Grants or loans may be made only to a low-income owner of a dated manufactured home who has used that home as a primary residence on a year-round basis for at least the preceding 24 months. Each household may only receive one grant or loan under the program.  The bill sets forth requirements with respect to: (1) ownership of the land on which the new manufactured or modular home is to be sited, and (2) the decommissioning of a dated home. 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Energy Efficient Manufactured Home 
Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR REPLACEMENT OF DATED MANUFACTURED HOMES WITH 
              ENERGY-EFFICIENT MANUFACTURED AND MODULAR HOMES.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may 
carry out a program under this section to provide grants to assist low-
income, very low-income, and extremely low-income owners of dated 
manufactured homes for the replacement of such dated manufactured homes 
with Energy Star-qualified manufactured or modular homes.
    (b) Grants.--
            (1) Eligible entities.--The Secretary may provide grants 
        under this section only to--
                    (A) State housing finance agencies;
                    (B) units of general local government; and
                    (C) qualified nonprofit organizations.
            (2) Competition; priority.--The Secretary shall provide 
        grants under this section through competition that provides 
        priority to applicants for such grants that, in accordance with 
        criteria established by the Secretary--
                    (A) demonstrate that providing a grant to the 
                applicant would result in substantial energy gains and 
                returns on investment on replacement of dated 
                manufactured homes;
                    (B) will use grants in areas having the 
                infrastructure or planned infrastructure necessary to 
                replace dated manufactured homes;
                    (C) will act in partnership with providers of high 
                quality affordable lending products that enable 
                sustainable homeownership; or
                    (D) will supplement assistance provided to eligible 
                owners of dated manufactured homes pursuant to a grant 
                under this section with funds from other sources, and 
                provide such assurances as the Secretary considers 
                necessary to ensure that such supplemental amounts are 
                available for such purpose.
            (3) Use of funds.--A grantee shall use amounts from a grant 
        provided under this section only to provide assistance to 
        owners of dated manufactured homes in accordance with 
        subsection (c).
            (4) Failure by grantees to act.--If a grantee fails to use 
        any portion of grant provided under this section during the 36-
        month period beginning on the date of receipt of the grant 
        amounts--
                    (A) the unused amount of the grant shall revert to 
                the Secretary; and
                    (B) the Secretary shall make such amounts available 
                under the competition required under paragraph (2).
    (c) Assistance.--Assistance under this subsection shall be 
assistance designed to enable the owner of a dated manufactured home to 
afford to replace or decommission such manufactured home, subject to 
the following conditions:
            (1) Form of assistance.--A grantee may provide assistance 
        under this subsection to the owner of a dated manufactured home 
        only in the following forms:
                    (A) A grant or loan for use toward the purchase of 
                a new Energy Star-qualified manufactured or modular 
                home. The Secretary shall establish such requirements 
                for loans made with assistance provided under this 
                subsection, and servicers of such loans, as necessary 
                to ensure that such loans are high quality affordable 
                lending products that enable sustainable homeownership.
                    (B) A grant for the decommissioning, and any 
                related costs, of a dated manufactured home.
            (2) Income and primary residence requirements.--A grant or 
        loan under this subsection may be made only to the owner of a 
        dated manufactured home who--
                    (A) is a low-, very low-, or extremely low-income 
                family; and
                    (B) has used such manufactured home as a primary 
                residence on a year-round basis for at least the 
                preceding 24 months.
            (3) Destruction and replacement of dated manufactured 
        home.--
                    (A) In general.--A grant or loan under paragraph 
                (1)(A) may be made only if the applicable dated 
                manufactured home will be--
                            (i) destroyed (including appropriate 
                        recycling); and
                            (ii) if replaced with a manufactured or 
                        modular home, is replaced in an appropriate 
                        area (as determined by the applicable State 
                        agency) with an Energy Star-qualified 
                        manufactured or modular home.
                    (B) Third-party verification requirements.--The 
                Secretary shall establish such third-party verification 
                requirements as are necessary to ensure that the 
                requirements of subparagraph (A) are met. Such 
                requirements shall provide that compliance with the 
                requirement under subparagraph (A)(i) to destroy a 
                dated manufactured home may be evidenced by means of a 
                photograph of the destroyed manufactured home or of the 
                lot where the manufactured home was located showing 
                that the lot is vacant or the replacement home.
            (4) Prohibition on previous assistance.--A grant or loan 
        under paragraph (1)(A) may not be provided to any owner of a 
        dated manufactured home that was or is a member of a household 
        for which any member of the household has previously been 
        provided a grant or loan pursuant to this subsection.
            (5) Control of home site.--As a condition of receipt of a 
        grant or loan under paragraph (1)(A) for the purchase of a new 
        manufactured or modular home, the land on which new 
        manufactured or modular home is to be sited shall be--
                    (A) owned by--
                            (i) the owner of the dated manufactured 
                        home to whom the grant or loan is provided; or
                            (ii) a limited equity cooperative, a 
                        nonprofit organization, a unit of local 
                        government or agency thereof, or a public 
                        housing agency; or
                    (B) leased by the owner of the dated manufactured 
                home to whom the grant or loan is provided under a 
                land-lease agreement having a duration not shorter than 
                10 years, which may include a lease from a community 
                land trust or nonprofit housing corporation or a 
                proprietary lease (perpetual or renewable as a matter 
                of right) by a cooperative or homeowner association 
                that is owned or controlled by the homeowners.
            (6) Requirements for decommissioning grants.--A grant under 
        paragraph (1)(B) for the decommissioning of a dated 
        manufactured home may be made only if--
                    (A) the dated manufactured home for which the grant 
                is made will be destroyed (including appropriate 
                recycling);
                    (B) proof of, or adequate assurances for, 
                decommissioning of the dated manufactured home is 
                provided before the grant funds are paid, and the 
                Secretary shall provide that such proof may include a 
                photograph of the destroyed decommissioned home or of 
                the lot where the decommissioned home was located 
                showing that the lot is vacant or the replacement home;
                    (C) the owner agrees to repay the full amount of 
                the grant if the home is not decommissioned within 90 
                days of receipt of the grant funds; and
                    (D) no member of the household of the owner of the 
                dated manufactured home for which the grant is provided 
                has previously been provided a grant or loan pursuant 
                to this section.
    (d) Administration.--
            (1) Controls and procedures.--Each grantee that receives a 
        grant under this section shall establish such fiscal controls 
        and accounting procedures as are sufficient, as determined by 
        the Secretary, to ensure proper accounting for disbursements 
        made from the funds and fund balances. Such controls and 
        procedures shall conform to generally accepted Federal 
        accounting principles, as determined by the Secretary.
            (2) Coordination with state agencies.--A grantee of a grant 
        under this section may coordinate efforts and share funds for 
        administration with State and local agencies and nonprofit 
        organizations involved in low-income housing programs.
            (3) Administrative expenses.--A grantee may use not more 
        than 10 percent of the funds provided under a grant under this 
        section for administrative expenses involved in the grantee's 
        program for making grants and loans under subsection (c).
    (e) Reporting.--
            (1) Secretary.--Upon the conclusion of the second fiscal 
        year for which grants under the program under this section are 
        made and the conclusion of each of the next successive four 
        fiscal years, the Secretary shall submit a report to the 
        Congress describing the impact of the program, which shall 
        include information regarding--
                    (A) the number of dated manufactured homes 
                decommissioned;
                    (B) the number of new manufactured and modular 
                homes purchased;
                    (C) the incomes of families assisted;
                    (D) the number of assisted families, disaggregated 
                by State and ZIP Code; and
                    (E) the number of new Energy Star-qualified 
                manufactured and modular homes that were sited on land 
                held under each type of tenure described in subsection 
                (c)(5).
            (2) Grantees.--The Secretary shall require grantees 
        receiving grants under this section to submit such reports as 
        may be necessary for the Secretary to ensure compliance with 
        this Act and enable the Secretary to comply with the 
        requirement under paragraph (1).
    (f) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions shall apply:
            (1) Dated manufactured home.--The term ``dated manufactured 
        home'' means a manufactured home constructed before December 
        31, 1994. In establishing requirements regarding demonstrating 
        the date of construction of homes, the Secretary shall take 
        into consideration the difficulty of producing evidence of the 
        date of construction of homes manufactured before 1976.
            (2) Energy star-qualified.--The term ``Energy Star-
        qualified'' means, with respect to a manufactured or modular 
        home, that the home has been designed, produced, and installed 
        by an Energy Star-certified entity in accordance with Energy 
        Star guidelines issued by the Secretary of Energy for 
        manufactured or modular homes, as applicable.
            (3) Low-income family; very low-income family; extremely 
        low-income family.--
                    (A) Low-income family.--The term ``low-income 
                family'' means a family having an income that is not 
                greater than 80 percent of area median income, with 
                adjustments for smaller and larger families, as 
                determined by the Secretary, except that such term 
                includes any family that resides in a rural area that 
                has an income that does not exceed the poverty line (as 
                such term is defined in section 673(2) of the Omnibus 
                Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)), 
                including any revision required by such section) 
                applicable to a family of the size involved.
                    (B) Very low-income family.--The term ``very low-
                income family'' means a family having an income that is 
                not greater than 50 percent of area median income, with 
                adjustments for smaller and larger families, as 
                determined by the Secretary.
                    (C) Extremely low-income family.--The term 
                ``extremely low-income family'' means a family having 
                an income that is not greater than 30 percent of area 
                median income, with adjustments for smaller and larger 
                families, as determined by the Secretary.
            (4) Manufactured home.--The term ``manufactured home''' has 
        the meaning given such term in section 603 of the National 
        Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 
        1974 (42 U.S.C. 5402) and such term includes any structure that 
        meets such definition without regard to when it was constructed 
        or manufactured. Such term includes single- and multi-section 
        manufactured homes.
            (5) Modular home.--The term ``modular home'' means a home 
        that is constructed in a factory in one or more modules--
                    (A) each of which meet applicable State and local 
                building codes of the area in which the home will be 
                located; and
                    (B) that are transported to the home building site, 
                installed on foundations, and completed.
            (6) Qualified nonprofit organization.--The term ``qualified 
        nonprofit organization'' means any private, nonprofit 
        organization (including a State or locally chartered nonprofit 
        organization) that--
                    (A) is organized under State or local laws;
                    (B) has no part of its net earning inuring to the 
                benefit of any member, founder, contributor or 
                individual;
                    (C) complies with standards of financial 
                accountability acceptable to the Secretary; and
                    (D) has among its purposes significant activities 
                related to the provision of decent housing that is 
                affordable to low-income families.
            (7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Housing and Urban Development.
            (8) State.--The term ``State'' means the States of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
        Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Trust Territory 
        of the Pacific Islands, and any other territory or possession 
        of the United States.
            (9) Unit of general local government.--The term ``unit of 
        general local government'' means a city, county, town, 
        township, parish, village, or other general purpose subdivision 
        of a State, or a consortium of such political subdivisions.
    (g) Regulations.--The Secretary may issue any regulations necessary 
to carry out the program under this section.
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--For grants under this 
section, there is authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2016 through 2025.