Date: 2007-06-25
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 2139. the Manufactured Housing Loan Improvement Act of 2007. It is virtually identical to legislation that passed the House last year. only it was called the act of 2006. and it passed by 4126. Obviously. it was a very popular bill. The bill that we are considering today would modernize the FHA title I manufactured housing loan program. which insures loans for manufactured homes owned on leased land. for lots used to site manufactured homes. and for a combination of manufactured homes and lots. The program is different from the insuring of manufactured homes under title II of FHA. in which the manufactured home is sited CC on land also owned and mortgaged under the loan. As the gentleman from Indiana stated. in 1992 some 3.000 loans were insured under the FRA title I manufactured housing loan program. However. last year this number dropped to around 1.500 loans. Clearly this legislation seeks to address the factors that have been widely cited as the reasons for the steep decline in the number of insured loans. These include vague underwriting standards. a portfolio cap on title I loans. a guarantee that is not sufficient for acceptance in the secondary market. loan limits that have not kept up with inflation. and. actually. they havent been adjusted since 1992. and a resulting reduced private sector loan origination participation. During the Financial Services Committee markup of this legislation. Congressman BACHUS offered and the committee accepted wording that would * authorize the GAO to assess how the Secretary 6f Housing and Urban Development utilizes the FHA manufactured housing loan insurance program and other programs administered by HUD to mitigate the risk to manufactured housing residents and communities resulting from tornadoes. Every year. an average of 800 tornadoes sweep across the United States. resulting in more than 80 deaths. more than 1.500 injuries and millions of dollars in property damage. One of natures most powerful and violent storms. large tornadoes often record winds with speeds in excess of 250 miles an hour. Florida and parts of my district were ravaged by these tornadoes earlier this year. which reminded us that natural catastrophes can strike with little warning. forcing communities to confront a loss of infrastructure and. unfortunately. sometimes a loss of life. Many residents of homes have a place to go in the event of a tornado. whether it is a basement.or an interior room. Manufactured housing residents do not have a basement and they often do not have an interior room. Despite rapid advances in tornado warning technology. residents of manufactured housing communities often do not have adequate access to proper shelter. That is why the House passed the Tornado Shelters Act. which was signed into "law in 2003. That bipartisan bill authorized communities to use community development block grant money to construct or improve tornadosafe shelters located in manufactured housing park areas. Unfortunately. it is not used enough. Often in the face of a tornado threat. it is said we can do two things: pray and prepare. Pray it wont happen again and prepare for the next line of twisters. While the residents can pray. our government and this Congress can do much to help them prepare. As we improve the title I manufactured housing loan programs. I hope we. can do everything in our power to ensure that residents of manufactured housing c6mmunities have adequate protection from natural catastrophes such as tornadoes. H.R. 2139 will facilitate greater access to manufactured housing. and I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.