The Housing Stock Upgrade Initiative program was conceived to upgrade or replace mobile homes and manufactured homes that have long outlived their designed life span. The objective of the project was to identify and integrate sufficient resources, incentives, and savings necessary for homeowners to replace rural substandard housing, specifically obsolete manufactured homes or MMHATs (mobile homes, manufactured homes and trailers). The goal was to create options and pathways, with a simplified approach, that are financially realistic to the homeowner, while identifying potential risks and liabilities.
Results
In November 2013, NeighborWorks Umpqua, an OS project partner, received a grant for over $450,000 from the Meyer Memorial Foundation that would jump start the reHome Oregon project in Curry County, and eventually beyond.
June, 2015- Curry County’s Health Impact Assessment won a national award at the Health Impact Assessment National Meeting in Washington DC.
The recognition was for an health impact assessment project that improved community health and well-being. This project was selected because the health information and personal stories included in the assessment helped decision-makers change a state affordable housing policy that excluded residents of manufactured housing. The assessment also helped NeighborWorks Umpqua, the community developer implementing the pilot project in Curry County, to make the case for funding. To date, Meyer Memorial Trust has committed almost $1.5 million to repair and replace substandard manufactured homes in Curry.
The Health Impact Project (a joint project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts) made a very moving short film about the project for the HIA National Meeting. Watch the video: http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/multimedia/video/2015/health-impact-assessment-helps-families-replace-unsafe-manufactured-housing
Read more about the Curry County project on the Oregon Health Impact Assessment program website: www.healthoregon.org/hia