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25 <br /> 1 trusted ambassadors and paying them for their work. She said they help to get the word out on <br /> 2 top of inserts. <br /> 3 Bonnie Hammersley asked the Board to send questions to Greg Wilder so he could <br /> 4 direct questions to the appropriate staff member. <br /> 5 Chair Price said that the community is welcome to continue to bring concerns and <br /> 6 questions to the Board and that this item will be back on June 7t1 for continued discussion. <br /> 7 <br /> 8 <br /> 9 b. Manufactured Homes Action Plan <br /> 10 The Board tabled a discussion on the Manufactured Homes Action Plan. <br /> 11 <br /> 12 BACKGROUND: For many years, there has been interest in addressing the vulnerability of <br /> 13 residents living in manufactured home communities (MHC) in Orange County. In 2016-2017, <br /> 14 the County, Towns, and local housing partners formed a manufactured homes work group to <br /> 15 begin to discuss and evaluate opportunities and obstacles to addressing the needs of <br /> 16 manufactured home community residents. There are one hundred manufactured home <br /> 17 communities in Orange County housing over 2,000 households. About half of manufactured <br /> 18 homes need minor repairs, and about 28% need major repairs, with only a small percentage, <br /> 19 3.2%, economically infeasible to repair. Most residents are of low-income, making it difficult to <br /> 20 fund needed repairs. Also, many of the MHCs are under threat to be redeveloped, in particular <br /> 21 the MHCs closer to town centers where market demand is high. <br /> 22 <br /> 23 The Manufactured Homes Action Plan is designed to provide a plan to address the <br /> 24 redevelopment threats facing manufactured home communities in Orange County. The Plan is <br /> 25 a collaborative effort between the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, and Orange <br /> 26 County that outlines specific objectives, strategies, action steps, partners and resource need to <br /> 27 address the redevelopment threat facing manufactured home communities. The other <br /> 28 participating jurisdictions adopted the Action Plan strategies last month — the Town of Carrboro <br /> 29 on April 5, 2022, the Town of Hillsborough on April 11, 2022, and the Town of Chapel Hill on <br /> 30 April 27, 2022. <br /> 31 <br /> 32 Housing and Community Department staff from the local governments will play a leading role in <br /> 33 implementing the strategies and action steps listed in the plan, while also collaborating with <br /> 34 many Town and County departments and community partners. <br /> 35 <br /> 36 This plan recognizes manufactured housing is an important source of naturally occurring <br /> 37 affordable housing serving diverse populations, including vulnerable community members. It <br /> 38 uses resident engagement as the foundation for the strategies proposed. <br /> 39 <br /> 40 Bonnie Hammersley asked the Board to table discussion on the item due to a staff <br /> 41 member's inability to be present for the meeting. <br /> 42 Chair Price said that she still had one person signed up to speak, so she would allow <br /> 43 public comment on the item. <br /> 44 <br /> 45 PUBLIC COMMENT: <br /> 46 Emily Bane said her parents developed two mobile home parks, in 1972 and 1986. She <br /> 47 said all of her homes are on one or better individual lots with septic systems. She said there is <br /> 48 no available water and sewer. She said having affordable housing requires water and sewer. <br /> 49 She said very few mobile home parks have available water and sewer. She said regarding the <br /> 50 previous item on the Longtime Homeowner Assistance Program, it would be helpful to have <br /> 51 information in Spanish. She said some of her residents have lived in her family's parks since <br />