(This is the second in a series of articles on disaster preparedness in manufactured home communities)

For manufactured home communities, emergency management experts recommend putting together a committee of residents, with the following minimum responsibilities:

• Working with management to develop an evacuation or shelter plan
• Setting up an emergency notification system for the community
• Conducting community education programs on disaster readiness
• Setting up evacuation practice drills
• Training residents on securing their property before evacuating
• Maintaining a list of residents with special needs
• Identifying members of the community with special skills, such as nurses, doctors or others trained in CPR or medical assistance, who could help in an emergency
• Preparing contact lists for relatives and next of kin

Question.  Following your article on screening for criminal history, I’m needing some help digesting all the Do’s and Don’ts.  Are there any recent visual aids that might help?

The financial markets thus far in 2016 have proven unpredictable, yet have simultaneously offered very attractive opportunities for income property owners looking for capital. While the stock market and oil prices have continued to plunge over the past several weeks, very few experts predicted that major interest rate indices would be retesting historic lows as they have.

The financial markets thus far in 2016 have proven unpredictable, yet have simultaneously offered very attractive opportunities for income property owners looking for capital. While the stock market and oil prices have continued to plunge over the past several weeks, very few experts predicted that major interest rate indices would be retesting historic lows as they have.

Question: An occupant lives in a home that is sub leased from her father. The father, who is the official tenant on the lease, does not live in the home. The occupant (sub lease tenant) has been in the house since the beginning of January. The occupant was asked at the time to complete and submit a criminal background check, but refused. So the occupant is living there as an unauthorized person. The father has given the occupant (his daughter) an eviction notice. They went to court, and the judge told them to come back in two weeks. This morning the occupant gave the community owner a money order for February rent. What should the community owner do with the money order. Should it be returned? Should the community owner issue a 24 hour notice since the occupant is there without another person in the home having signed a rental agreement? Or should the community owner give a no cause eviction?

There are three steps in a good disaster plan: planning, prevention and recovery. Knowing what to do in each step can help you reduce injuries and damage to your community. This article discusses the planning segment of disaster preparedness.

(CAVEAT: The information below is general in nature and is not intended as legal advice for any particular situation. This is a complicated area of the law and you should consult with an attorney with regard to a specific case.)

What is Section 8 housing?

Section 8 housing is a government assistance program that awards housing vouchers to certain low-income families to help with housing payments. The programs are administered through local housing authority organizations, which differ from county to county throughout the state.

Question. As a manager, do I have the ability to terminate the tenancy of a current resident who committed a crime outside of the community?

Question. I understand that there are certain regulations dealing with our ability to sell formerly abandoned homes. How will this affect me?

Background. On April 4, 2016, the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) issued its “Office of General Counsel Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transactions” (hereinafter, the “Memo”). The full text of the 10-page Memo can be found here. Not surprisingly, it follows the June 25, 2015 ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court, in the Texas Dept. of Housing vs. Inclusive Communities case, which upheld the much-debated concept of “disparate impact” under the Fair Housing Act, as amended (the Act”).