Build Back Better

We need your support to help secure hundreds of millions in funding for ROCs

Contact Your Senators

Call or email your Senators and ask them for their support for the two investments in ROCs:
The $500 million Manufactured Homes Infrastructure Grant program (Section 40003)
The $750 million Housing Investment Fund (Section 40004)
Find Your Senators
In 2021, the ROC Association, ROC USA® and Network TA Providers worked very diligently to get funding for infrastructure improvements in Resident Owned Communities (ROCs) into the Build Back Better (BBB) bill. The BBB bill includes is a $500 million grant fund for community infrastructure – including water, sewer, storm-shelters, community centers and solar projects – specifically in ROCs like yours.
 
This has been the highest priority for ROC leaders for many years and we are so close! It also includes a second source of funds that can be used by Community Development Financial Institutions (like ROC USA® Capital) to make loans for both acquisitions and improvements by resident owners. You likely know from the news that the full BBB bill is in trouble due to negotiations breaking down between the White House and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) just before Christmas.
 
However, the two ROC parts of the BBB bill can still be saved! Sen. Manchin is working on a smaller bill and there are calls for breaking the BBB bill into its parts. Either way, now is the perfect time to weigh in with your two U.S. Senators – be they Republican, Democrat or Independent! A call or an email from you asking for them to support the two ROC bills could be the difference!
 

Here’s what you can do:

  1. Identify your two U.S. Senators. Here’s an easy way to do it.
  2.  Call or email them and ask them for their support for at least the two investments in ROCs.
    • The $500 million Manufactured Homes Infrastructure Grant program (Section 40003)
    • The $750 million Housing Investment Fund (Section 40004). Both are in the affordable housing section of the BBB bill.
It is that easy. Please consider having multiple Members make the quick call or email. ROC leaders need to be heard. Resident Owned Communities are good places for infrastructure investments like these because your community is forever secure. 
 
If you have any questions, please email  and , ROC USA’s government affairs consultant. Please make those calls or emails as as soon as possible. 
 
Thank you! 
Natividad Seefeld, Chair, Policy & Advocacy Committee, ROC Association
Paul Bradley, President, ROC USA

SAMPLE lETTER TO YOUR SENATORS

Dear Senator [Insert Senator],

I live in [name of your ROC], a resident-owned manufactured home community in [city and state]. 

I am writing today to ask for your support of two key provisions in the Build Back Better Act that will have direct impact on communities like ours.  We are a limited equity Resident Owned Community which ensures our community, and others like ours, will remain affordable and secure for current and future generations. 

The housing part of Build Back Better includes two investments to help us make our communities safe and resilient. 

First, please place give special attention to the Manufactured Homes Infrastructure Grant program in the final reconciliation bill.  These HUD CDBG funds will directly support safe drinking water and sewer improvements, storm-shelters, and solar projects in our communities.  These are infrastructure investments in low- and moderate-income communities that will benefit from the fact that we – the homeowners here – own the land on which our homes sit as a co-op. 

Second, please support the Housing Investment Fund, which also specifically names Resident Owned Communities as eligible affordable housing projects. 

Manufactured Home Communities (MHCs) have become an essential source of unsubsidized affordable housing.  Today, there are 45,600 MHCs that are home to 2.7 million homeowners (and some renters) in 49 U.S. states.  More than 75% of owners of manufactured homes are low-income.  In co-op communities, a near majority is very low-income, earning less than 50% of Area Median Income.   

Since MHCs were historically financed as privately owned investment properties and viewed as a temporary housing, most MHCs have aging and failing infrastructure that is putting the health and safety of low-income homeowners at risk.  Many MHCs need water, sewer, electric, drainage, and road upgrades along with weatherization, energy efficiency improvements (including street lighting and solar arrays) and storm and emergency shelters that double as remote learning sites and community centers.

The country needs more ownership opportunities that are affordable and economically secure.  That’s possible in healthy and socially vibrant Resident Owned Communities.

Thank you for your leadership on Build Back Better.  I urge inclusion of these critical provisions in the final reconciliation package.

Sincerely,

[Your Name and Address]

Tell your Neighbors!

Download and print a flyer to display in your ROC to encourage your neighbors to contact your senators!

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