Manufactured home bill gets owner, industry backing

Associations representing industry and homeowner interests said Wednesday that they’ve come together in support of bills that would modernize Florida’s manufactured housing laws.

The joint announcement from the Federation of Manufactured Homeowners of Florida (FMO) and the Florida Manufactured Housing Association comes after the bills — HB 1339 by Rep. Clay Yarborough and SB 998 by Sen. Travis Hutson — were altered to add protections for tenants’ privacy, clarify HOA governance requirements and increase the amount of housing available.

Updating to the 40-year-old manufactured home statutes has been a longtime priority for both parties, though they haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on what those updates should include. That’s led to dead bills in Sessions past.

“FMO and FMHA have been negotiating legislation since 2014 in recent times,” FMO President Jerry Durham said. “This resulted in two bills in 2015 and 2016 becoming law as amendments to FL Statute Chapter 723. Other years circumstances prevented negotiated bills from completing the process to become law.

“In 2020, both parties believed our positions on certain portions of the bill were too far apart. Thanks to the interventions of Senator Ed Hooper and Representative Yarborough the parties were able to reach an acceptable agreement.”

Regarding the teamup, FMHA Executive Director Jim Ayotte said, “It is not uncommon for industry associations to disagree on public policy positions and how legislation can impact their members. But what is equally beneficial is when the two groups can come together to discuss how good public policy can benefit all of the impacted parties and support resolution together.

“This legislation will ensure that manufactured housing communities can adapt to changing market conditions to continue to provide retirees, young families and Florida workers high-quality, affordable residential communities.”

Yarborough’s bill cleared the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday with a unanimous vote. Hutson’s was advanced by the Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee on Monday and now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.