MHCO Announces New Member Benefit - Rental Assistance Program

The members of MHCO now have the benefit of offering their qualified manufactured home community residents a rent subsidy under the Oregon Mobile Home Rental Assistance Program. This brings the participation of this private rent subsidy program to over 500 Oregon manufactured housing communities. The success of the program speaks for itself. In the three years since its inception, this privately funded program has already helped many qualified low-income manufactured home community residents. The subsidy is similar to the government sponsored Section 8 program, for which all needy community residents are also encouraged to apply. However, the waiting list for Section 8 may be years long in some areas. That is where this program fills the void. It provides rent subsidies to qualified very low- income tenants who are on the waiting list for Section 8. The Oregon Rental Assistance Program (Oregon RAP) closely follows the federally funded Section 8 rental assistance program guidelines, using the same very low-income qualification guidelines. Who Pays the Rent Subsidy Provided to the Resident? The manufactured home community owner agrees to provide the monthly rent credit to qualified very low-income park residents. Rent is never decreased or reduced. A rent credit" is given on the rent statement each month. The program guidelines provide that qualified mobile home owners receive a 10% monthly rent subsidy. In rare cases