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The Fair Housing Act (FHA") was passed in 1968

OREGON'S 2011 SUBMETERING LAW
BY
PHILLIP C. QUERIN, LEGAL COUNSEL MANUFACTURED HOUSING COMMUNITIES OF OREGON (

The Manufactured Housing Landlord-Tenant Coalition met again this month to discuss a number of issues as we head into the 2015 Oregon Legislative Session that is just over a month away.

Lengthy Discussion on Competing Sales Conflict"

The 2015 Oregon Legislative Session convened this month with House and Senate Committees beginning their work the first week in February.  There are a wide variety of issues the Oregon Legislature will be dealing with - many being repeats from previous sessions such as education funding and taxes that never seem to go away.

The Manufactured Housing Landlord-Tenant Coalition continues to work on possible legislation.  The group has been meeting since June 2014 - at least once a month to address a variety of issues.  The issues have been significantly narrowed down as we rapidly approach the end of these negotiations.  The odds are that there will either be a compromise bill (typically know as the coalition bill) or we could face some nasty political battles on some onerous legislation.  The coalition provides a venue for both landlords and tenants to work through selected issues.  In general the coalition's work tends to be better thought out than most of the knee jerk legislative proposals we see from individual legislators. 

The biggest challenge of any negotiation process is the end - reaching a final compromise.   We all know, compromise is something that is not easily accomplished in today's political environment.  Perhaps the best sign of a successful compromise is when both sides are unsatisfied with the final product.  Having worked on coalition bills since 1999 most times both sides grumble their way to agreement.  I suspect this year will be no different.

Over the last six months MHCO has posted updates on the issues we have been working. There are now four issues in the proposed 2015 Coalition Bill.  Many of these issues are complicated and consume pages of proposed legal language.  We will spare you that in this report but will try to convey the key substance of each issue.  The following is a summary of where those issues stand in very broad brushstrokes:

1. Unpaid Taxes on Abandoned Homes

The County Tax Collector and the Oregon Department of Revenue have agreed to cancel all unpaid property taxes and special assessments as provided under ORS 311.790.  There is no limit on the market value of the home or limit on the amount of tax to be canceled.

In general, in order to obtain the tax cancelation of unpaid taxes on an abandoned home the landlord will be required to file an affidavit with the county tax collector stating that the landlord will sell the property in an arms length transaction to an unrelated buyer who intends to occupy the property in that facility.  Once the home is sold by the landlord another affidavit or declaration with the county tax collector would have to be filed stating that the landlord has sold the property, the sale price and description of any costs incurred by the landlord to improve the property for sale.

MHCO will create these affidavits as new MHCO Forms for community owners or managers to utilize. 

This is an issue MHCO has wanted to address over the past ten years.  We are very happy that the issue is finally resolved and the unpaid taxes on an abandoned home will be completely eliminated.  This will impact nearly every community in the state of Oregon.  

In addition, on a separate issue there will also be and increase in the yearly fee paid by community owners paid to Oregon Housing and Community Services.  The department will charge $50 for communities with more than 20 spaces and $25 for those communities with less than 20 spaces.  Under ORS 446.525 the special assessment levied annual upon each manufactured dwelling will increase from $6 to $10.  This  $10 assessment is to be paid by the tenants.

2. Habitability - Ground Support, Natural Gas and Garbage Cans

This issue has been significantly altered since it was first introduced last summer. 

One of the main concerns the residents have is being able to cancel a rental agreement or lease if the foundation of their home is partially washed away.  The proposed language is: For manufactured dwellings only

Last week the Manufactured Housing Landlord Tenant Coalition held it's final meeting.  Some changes were made to the In Park Sales Conflict" issue but the other three issues remained substantially unchanged from our meeting in January. 

The MHCO Board of Directors has reviewed the proposed coalition bill and voted unanimously to support the proposed legislation.  Phil Querin is working on some last minute adjustments to the "In Park Sales" section of the proposal.  The coalition proposal will go to Legislative Counsel early this week to be drafted into a House Bill. 

MHCO has been working on bi-partisan support for the proposal.  There will be Democratic and Republican sponsors.   All this should make it easier to pass the proposal this spring.  In all likelihood the public hearing for this bill will be in March.

Here is a brief summary of the proposed legislation:

1. Unpaid Taxes on Abandoned Homes

This issue was MHCO's top legislative priority for the 2015 Legislative Session.  We are very happy with the agreement that we were able to reach which nearly eliminates all unpaid taxes on an abandoned home.

In general

On Monday, March 9th the Oregon House Revenue Committee held a Public Hearing and Work Session on HB 3016 - also known as the Manufactured Housing Landlord Tenant Coalition Bill.  The House Revenue Committee voted unaminsously to pass the bill to the House Human Services and Housing Committee. We expect to have one  public hearing and work session in this committee before the bill (hopefully) moves to the Oregon House floor for a vote.

In February the MHCO Board of Directors unanimously voted in support of the proposed legislation.

SUMMARY OF HB 3016, WITH AMENDMENTS, REGARDING MANUFACTURED HOME PARK TENANCIES: The Manufactured Housing Landlord/Tenant Coalition Bill

Introduction: The Manufactured Housing Landlord/Tenant Coalition, which has had a negotiated compromise bill in every session since 1997, is the source of HB 3016. The coalition consists of MH park residents, landlords, manufacturers, and other interested parties. It met 11 times between May 2014 and February 2015, for three hours each, to negotiate this bill. There are no known opponents of the bill.

A. THE PRINTED BILL: Three fixes" to the 2014 Opportunity to Purchase bill

H.R. 650 Clears Key Hurdle in U.S. House

The House Financial Services Committee today passed H.R. 650, bipartisan legislation to protect the availability of financing for manufactured homes.  Introduced by Representatives Stephen Fincher (R-TN), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Andy Barr (R-KY), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), the bill protects the ability of manufactured home customers to buy, sell and refinance manufactured homes, the largest form of unsubsidized affordable housing in the nation.

H.R. 650 is cosponsored by 41 members of the House of Representatives.  Click here to see the current cosponsor list.  In addition to MHI, H.R. 650 is supported by the National Association of Realtors, Mortgage Bankers Association, and the National Association of Federal Credit Unions.

During the Committee's consideration of the legislation, the bill's champions discussed the importance of H.R. 650 to working families across America. Representatives Fincher (R-TN), Pearce (R-NM), Neugebauer (R-TX), Sinema (D-AZ), Barr (R-KY), Hensarling (R-TX), Hill (R-AR), Stivers (R-OH), and Love (R-UT) spoke in favor of the bill during the debate. Representatives Ellison (D-MN) and Waters (D-CA) spoke in opposition to the bill.  Click here to watch the bill debate (starts at 4:09).

In his remarks, Representative Fincher emphasized the bipartisan efforts to move the bill through the process: "This is not a Democrat or a Republican issue, it is an affordability of housing issue for rural America. We cannot forget about rural America - these are my constituents and many of yours."

The final Committee vote was 43 in favor and 15 opposed.  Click here to see the Committee Roster of the vote.  The bill was considered at the first markup of the 114th Congress to make changes to the Dodd Frank Act. Ten other bipartisan bills - all designed to help strengthen the economy and consumer choice by relieving harmful regulatory burdens imposed by Washington - were also passed.

H.R. 650 is now ready for consideration by the full House of Representatives. In addition, a companion bipartisan bill (S. 682) has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Donnelly (D-IN), Toomey (R-PA), Manchin (D-WV), and Cotton (R-AR).

Yesterday afternoon the coalition bill (HB 3016) passed out of the House Human Services and Housing Committee late yesterday afternoon on a unanimous vote.  Representative Parrish (R - West Linn) will carry the bill.    I expect the bill to pass out of the House later next week.  This legislation contains language that eliminates the landlords responsibility to pay past due taxes when he or she purchases an abandoned home in their community.  The past due tax on abandoned homes" is MHCO's top legislative issue for this legislative session.   After trying to address this issue for the past 12 years we are thrilled that we are finally moving forward on an issue that is important to every community in Oregon.

Unfortunately

On Monday morning the Oregon House of Reprentatives unanimously passed HB 3016 - the manufactured home landlord-tenant bill. This legislation contains the elimination of past due property taxes on an abandoned home when the community owner wants to purchase the abandoned home. This is MHCO's top legislative issue. We now move on to the Oregon Senate.

The last two weeks in the Oregon Legislature have been hectic.  Yesterday was the deadline for bills in their originating chamber to move out of that chamber.  In other words, House bills need to be out of House Committees and Senate bills had to be out of the Senate.  This results in a large number of legislative proposals not moving forward which almost always is a good thing.  The ten days leading up to this deadline is intense with lots of last minute proposals struggling to move out of committee.

HB 3016 Coalition Bill - Sails Out of Oregon House

There are three legislative proposals MHCO has been closely monitoring and lobbying.  The first is the coalition bill with the language on past due taxes on abandoned homes (HB 3016).  MHCO enthusiastically supports this bill - it is our top legislative priority.  As reported earlier this week the this legislative proposal passed out of the Oregon House of Representatives on a unanimous vote (60-0) in favor. 

HB 2564 - Rent Discussions

Unfortunately, the issue of rent in manufactured home communities received traction in both the House and Senate over the past 10 days.  In the House a proposal on inclusionary zoning (HB 2564) started to attract some discussion on rent and indirectly rent control.  HB 2564 lifts the  statewide preemption on inclusionary zoning (ORS 197.309) in Oregon.  As the discussion on this legislation moved forward it attracted interest in repealing the statewide preemption on rent control (ORS 91.255).  The House did NOT add that language, but it was tangentially mentioned in the House floor debate.  Here are three excerpts from the HB 2564 House floor debate that are concerning:

• Rep Gallegos (D-Hillsboro)  - Colleagues while I am supportive of 2564