It has been a busy spring for the National Communities Council. The NCC has always been known for its advocacy work on behalf of community owners, and currently our number one legislative priority is reform of the FHA Title I chattel lending program, which continues to move forward in both chambers of Congress. We expect H.R. 4804 to be marked up in the House Financial Services Committee in the coming days, while the Senate Housing Subcommittee had a hearing on S. 2123 in April. There are not many legislative days left before the mid-term elections, but we still have an opportunity to achieve reform this year and bring more lending to the home-only market. If you have not already contacted your senators and congressman, please make sure you do it today.

Beyond the legislative arena this spring, the NCC’s National Resident Relations Forum in Las Vegas in April was a huge success. Over 150 community owners, regional managers and on-site managers attended the Forum the day before the National Congress and Expo and heard from their peers on a wide array of resident relations topics, while getting some outside perspective on customer service from Michael Drago of J.D. Power and Associates and Steve Jandrell of CapGemini, an organizational change management firm. I’d like to thank Bob Blatz of American Land Lease for heading up the planning committee for the Forum. At our Summer Meeting in July, we will be discussing the focus of next year’s Forum.

The Congress and Expo in Las Vegas was also where the NCC premiered its new DVD, “Manufactured Home Community Living,” which hopefully you all have seen by now. This excellent, four-minute video is targeted at the consumer and promotes the community lifestyle and its affordability. The DVD is being presented in a streaming video format on the NCC’s new website, www.mhcommunities.org, which has also just launched and has a wealth of resources for both the community owner and the prospective resident, including a locater of NCC member companies. I encourage you to visit the site and give us your feedback on the features you would like to see on the site.

Another highlight of the Congress and Expo was the keynote speech by real estate mogul Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Lifestyle Properties and several other REITs. Sam gave an insightful speech on his outlook for the economy, the industry and manufactured home communities in particular in an engaging and thought-provoking manner. Sam speech was another reminder as to why the Congress should not be missed!

As always, feel free to contact me with your thoughts and concerns at nsmith@sskcommunities.com

Nathan Smith, PHC
Partner, SSK Communities
Chairman, National Communities Council