As the new chairman of the National Communities Council, I would first like to thank the members of the NCC for giving me this tremendous honor, and I pledge to work diligently on their behalf in advancing the cause of affordable housing for all Americans. As the only national organization representing community owners, operators and developers, the NCC plays a vital role in advancing the interests of not only the industry but also the affordable housing market. I am very excited about working on the many challenges being faced by our members in providing quality homes and communities.

Of the many challenges facing the industry, obviously lending issues continue to be a pressing concern for us all. It has been and continues to be a priority issue for MHI and the NCC, and I plan on keeping the spotlight on the issue until the problems of expanding available sources of chattel financing are resolved. MHI has been working diligently over the last few years to restore confidence in manufactured housing chattel lending by working closely with the asset-backed securities (ABS) market on Wall Street and implementing such programs as Lender Best Practices (LBP), Truth-in-Invoicing Practices (TIPS) and working with the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI) to reduce lending fraud.

The NCC has also been working closely with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to restore leasehold mortgage financing in communities. Reforming the FHA Title I program for home-only financing will also be a top priority for MHI and the NCC in the next session in Congress. Modernizing the Title I program will be critical to providing the industry a crucial source of financing in case of another downturn, which the program failed to do during the current recession. Much remains to be done on the financing front and the NCC will be at the forefront of those efforts with your help and support.

As a member of MHI’s Existing Homes MLS Task Force, I’m pleased to report that that task force is making progress in the creation of a national MLS to assist in the resale of manufactured homes, especially those in communities. As we all know, the lack of an organized resale market is a major Achille’s heel of the industry and creating a national MLS will be vital to restoring health to community lending. This is an exciting project that will be a priority for MHI and myself over the coming year.

The Community Attributes Task Force, which I also sit on and is co-chaired by NCC Past Chair Rick Rand and Financial Services Division Past Chair Marty Lavin, is working diligently on a system that will also improve lending in communities by helping lenders identify the attributes of a community that impact chattel loan performance. However, I want to emphasize that it is not a community rating system. It is a collection of attributes that do not lead to a specific conclusion about the community since each lender evaluates the attributes differently. Many lenders already have subjective systems and this will bring much needed objectivity to the process.

In 2005, we should also see resolution to our lawsuit challenging EPA’s policy for those community owners that submeter and bill for water obtained from another regulated water system. If successful, it could lead to elimination of the expensive duplicative testing that many community owners must now perform. The NCC will continue to be involved in the plethora of legislative and regulatory issues in Washington. There is certainly no shortage of issues impacting community owners.

As an NCC member, if you have any thoughts or issues you would like to raise, please feel free to contact me at nsmith@sskcommunities.com.

I look forward to working with you over the coming year.

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