ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Chair of the Senate Housing Subcommittee, and Amy Klobuchar (both D-MN) announced over $20 million in federal funding for the Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP) to preserve affordable housing in manufactured housing communities and support Tribal communities across the Upper Midwest. This funding, awarded through the Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) grants, will ensure long-term housing affordability, infrastructure improvements, and community redevelopment for residents in historically underserved areas.
The funding will support MHP’s D.R.E.A.M. Initiative (Driving Resilience, Equity, and Affordability through Manufactured Housing), benefiting six Resident-Owned Communities of manufactured housing in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as 28 Tribal communities across the Upper Midwest.
“Without a safe, decent place to live, nothing else in your life works. Manufactured housing communities are a critical source of affordable homeownership for families, but they’ve been historically overlooked and under supported,” said Senator Smith. “This investment will help preserve affordable housing, strengthen infrastructure, and support a variety of communities in Minnesota and across the Upper Midwest. By ensuring long-term affordability, we’re giving people the stability, security, and opportunity they deserve.”
“Safe and affordable housing is essential for families and the health of our communities, but right now, for far too many, the housing market is inaccessible,” said Senator Klobuchar. “This grant provides critical resources to improve long-term affordability, upgrade infrastructure, and expand access to quality housing where it’s needed the most.”
“Manufactured housing is an essential component of our nation’s housing system, providing stability for over 22 million Americans,” said Anne Mavity, Executive Director of MHP. “MHP is eager to expand our community development work to preserve this vital housing resource. We are thrilled HUD has entrusted us with these funds to help manufactured home communities thrive.”
“This PRICE grant represents a powerful opportunity to address long-standing challenges in manufactured housing communities,” said Victoria Clark-West, Executive Director of Northcountry Cooperative Foundation. “Through collaboration with MHP, we’re excited to deliver meaningful improvements that will enhance quality of life and preserve housing security for thousands of residents.”
The D.R.E.A.M Initiative will fund critical infrastructure improvements, support community ownership transitions, and rehabilitate existing homes to ensure safe, affordable, and sustainable housing options. Targeted investments include:
- Infrastructure Improvements: Funding to repair and replace essential infrastructure like roads and utilities in existing Resident-Owned Communities.
- Community Ownership Support: Assistance for communities transitioning to resident ownership to ensure long-term affordability.
- Tribal Housing Rehabilitation: Grants for Tribes to rehabilitate owner-occupied and rental manufactured homes, improving living conditions and resilience against natural disasters.
The funding will directly impact resident-owned communities in Moorhead, Fairmont, Fridley, and Worthington in Minnesota and Tribal Nations across the state will benefit from investments aimed at addressing disparities in housing affordability and access.
Manufactured housing is a critical source of affordable homeownership for low- and moderate-income families, particularly in rural and Tribal areas where other housing options are limited or cost-prohibitive. This funding will help boost affordable homeownership and ensure the residents of manufactured housing communities have access to safe, stable, and affordable homes for decades to come.
This funding is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE), which was created in 2022 and aims to address housing affordability and challenges nationwide by investing in manufactured housing. Senator Smith cosponsors the PRICE Act, led by Senator Cortez Masto (D-NV), which would permanently authorize the program, and she has supported funding for the program to fund neighborhood upgrades, home improvements and preserve affordable housing for communities nationwide.
Senator Smith has long championed solutions to America’s housing crisis. She teamed up with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce the Homes Act, a comprehensive piece of legislation that would level the playing field against corporate housing investors while building and maintaining over 1.3 million affordable homes. She co-leads a bill to tax private equity companies if they own large numbers of single-family homes and use the proceeds to build millions of housing units for low-income households. She also cosponsors bills to ban hedge funds from owning single-family homes, restrict tax breaks for big corporate investors that buy up homes, and a bill that supports the PRICE Program, which aims to preserve long-term affordability of manufactured home communities. Finally, just last week, after Minnesota residents spoke out about the predatory practices of Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELP), a multi-billion dollar real estate corporation, Senator Smith wrote a letter to the CEO urging the company to stop putting their shareholder profits ahead of hardworking Minnesotans.
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