Countywide : Loans Offered for Prefabricated Homes

A new program to make housing affordable could result in hundreds of manufactured homes being erected across the county over the next decade, an official said this week.

The program, which is scheduled to begin in Laguna Beach, will allow low- or moderate-income families with a deteriorating home or vacant lot to apply for low-interest loans to buy a prefabricated home.

State or federal funds will be used to temporarily relocate the family, demolish the old house if need be and prepare the lot for development.

Previously, the county could use Community Development Block Grant funds to restore an old home but not to build a new one, said Ken Baer, community development representative for the county’s housing and redevelopment office.

“It just provides for safer, more sanitary living conditions for families that otherwise may not be able to fix up these houses,” he said. Officials say a three-bedroom manufactured home will cost an average of $55,000.

The program could be particularly helpful to some of the Laguna Beach residents who lost their homes in the October firestorm, officials say. Laguna Beach was the first city to sign up.

“Definitely, there are some fire people who could apply and be eligible,” city planner David Ebeling said. City leaders are not worried about Laguna Beach being robbed of its eclectic charm by a rash of prefabricated homes, he added.

“These things can be made to look however you want them to look,” he said. In addition, the homes would still have to be approved by the city’s Design Review Board to ensure compatibility with their neighborhoods.

Baer said the first prefabricated home is expected to be erected this summer at Sarah Thurston Park, a rural neighborhood alongside Laguna Canyon Road.

Funded with state and federal money, the Manufactured Housing Project is a joint venture with the Orange County Affordable Housing Clearing House, a consortium of 32 banks that provide low-cost loans for affordable housing.

Cities with populations of more than 50,000 can apply to the federal and state governments to operate their own programs, officials said. Santa Ana, Lake Forest, Anaheim and Orange have already applied, Baer said.

While the county is expecting to process 12 to 18 manufactured homes per year, Baer said the number of prefabricated homes installed will depend on whether residents will like them.

“A lot of people are reluctant when they hear ‘manufactured housing,’ ” he said. “They think of the old mobile homes, and they are not mobile homes.”