Golf Carts, Storm Surge, and a Divided Mobile Home Community

Posted on June 22, 2010 by Scott Gordon

I'm posting links for my blog readers to two articles from last Sunday's Sarasota Herald -Tribune and a story that was summarized in a recent edition of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association's newsletter.

  • The first article from the Herald-Tribune focuses on the tragic consequences of an accident involving a golf cart.  I've covered this topic in the past but I remain very concerned that many residents in the communities we work with still do not understand that golf carts are vehicles and not toys. 
  • With one hurricane (and the third named storm) spinning in the Eastern Pacific and several systems having already been investigated in the Atlantic, the second article in Sunday's Herald-Tribune is extremely timely.   It details the devastating effects of storm surge, which causes more deaths than any other feature of a hurricane.
  • The battle being fought between neighbors at the Americana Cove manufactured housing community in Pinellas County is the subject of the third article from the St. Petersburg Times.   We've spoken at our seminars on many occasions about the issues facing the residents at Americana and there are no easy answers in this situation.

We'll get back to discussing how Senate Bill 1196 will impact resident-owned communities in my next entry.    In the meantime, I hope you find these articles interesting and informative.

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Proposed U.S. Energy Bill May Benefit Mobile Home Owners

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Scott Gordon

I received an email earlier this week from Jim Ayotte, the Executive Director of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association, about a bill passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill is H.R.5019, the "Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010," and contains an amendment that promotes the purchase of new "energy efficient" manufactured homes by providing a $7500 rebate to homeowners of mobile homes or manufactured homes built before January 1, 1976 who purchase a new "Energy Star-qualified" replacement manufactured home.  The bill also provides an additional $2500 grant for decommissioning the older home.

Jim's email advised that the U.S. Senate could be considering this legislation as early as this week and stressed the importance of contacting our Senators immediately to urge them to vote in favor of the Senate's companion bill, which is S. 1320 and to include the Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency provision.  

Since the FMHA estimates that there are about 350,000 manufactured or mobile homes in Florida that were built prior to 1976, the passage of this legislation could significantly benefit both homeowners and ROCs.

I am including a link to a sample letter that can be signed and then faxed or mailed to your Senators.   Jim's email noted that this letter must be faxed or mailed because emails with attachments will not be delivered.

If you wish to send this letter to our Florida Senators, their contact information follows:

The Honorable Bill Nelson--716 Hart SOB, Washington, DC  20510 Fax: (202) 228-2183

The Honorable George LeMieux--356 Russell SOB, Washington, DC 20510 Fax (202) 228-5171

Of course, letters sent to Senators in the home states of our "snow birds" would certainly be appropriate. 

This is a great opportunity to make a difference and benefit our communities.

 

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