The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) today issued the first-ever round of awards from a pioneering state program designed to improve health and safety conditions for mobilehome owners, preserving a significant source of affordable homeownership in California and improving quality of life for low-income residents.

The $111.7 million awarded so far through the Manufactured Housing Opportunity & Revitalization Program (MORE) will support 25 projects in every corner of the state, including four tribal communities, is expected to help improve conditions for 1,233 households.

California has more than 5000 mobilehome parks, and HCD and local enforcing agency partners are responsible for maintaining these communities in a safe and healthy condition. Many of these parks were constructed decades ago and have aging infrastructure or homes in need of substantial repairs or replacement. Preserving this more affordable housing resource is a critical component of meeting the state’s housing needs. MORE is the only known comprehensive state-sponsored program that provides funding to help mobilehome park owners and homeowners in these communities make critical health and safety repairs to infrastructure systems, and to repair or replace individual mobilehomes and ensure residents have a safe place to live.

“Mobilehome parks are a critical resource for providing low-income Californians the security of homeownership, but a lack of economic resources too often allows mobilehomes and park infrastructure to fall into disrepair, sometimes subjecting residents to dire conditions,” said HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez. “This model program will allow for infrastructure and home improvements that extend the life of these much-needed affordable properties and improve quality of life for those who reside in them.”

The MORE program funds a variety of activities intended to keep mobilehome parks a safe and affordable homeownership option. MORE funds can be used for the acquisition, conversion to resident organization ownership, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and replacement of mobilehome parks, as well the remediation of health and safety deficiencies in both parks and individual mobilehomes.

While HCD cannot make grants directly to individual residents, MORE allows the Department to provide funding for local public entities, resident organizations, and qualified nonprofit housing sponsors to create programs that assist individual mobilehome owners. MORE is an over-the-counter program, meaning applications are reviewed and—if they meet eligibility—awarded in the order they were received. Given that many MORE applicants were new to HCD programs, all applicants were provided pre-application technical assistance to help them develop a successful application.

Nearly $19.6 million remains to be awarded in the near future. For a complete list of MORE awardees, please visit Manufactured Housing Opportunity & Revitalization Program (MORE) page.