Doublewide Dudes

In today's episode of the Double Wide Dudes Podcast, we're speaking to Dr. Van Williams, founder and CEO of The Proactive Realty Income Fund.Tune in to learn how he's working to address the affordable housing crisis by creating and restoring communities made possible by investor and individual fund programs through his organization.

Peter Calthorpe joins us to discuss Transit Oriented Development and its importance in creating affordable housing. It was a fascinating discussion on how we can create more housing and reduce transportation costs at the same time.If you enjoyed this podcast you may want to explore more at the following links:You can learn more about Peter at https://www.hdrinc.com/person/peter-calthorpePeter Calthorpe's TED talk on building better cities can be seen at https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_calthorpe_7_principles_for_building_better_citiesInformation from the Congress for the New Urbanism is at https://www.cnu.org

This episode we are joined by Bart Cochran, founder and CEO of LEAP Housing. LEAP Housing is a nonprofit dedicated to developing and the preservation of affordable housing up there in Idaho. And they provide all sorts of services that lead to greater housing stability in their community. For more information about LEAP Housing, please visit https://www.leaphousing.org

This week we explore affordable housing issues unique to aging adults and folks with disabilities. We talked with Jane Paccione, Director of Collective Impact at the San Antonio Area Foundation. Her primary assignment at the foundation is managing the SALSA initiative (Successfully Aging and Living in San Antonio) which helps over 40 community nonprofits work together to improve the quality of life for older adults in the San Antonio Area.Jane received her undergraduate degree in sociology as well as her graduate degree in public administration through the University of Texas at San Antonio.The following are links where you can learn more about this topic:Collective Impact: https://saafdn.org/collective-impact/San Antonio Area Foundation: https://saafdn.orgSALSA Initiative: https://saafdn.org/nonprofits/key-investment-areas/salsa-initiative/ViaTrans: https://bexar.tx.networkofcare.org/aging/services/agency.aspx?pid=VIAMetropolitanTransitVIATransAccessibleServices_687_1_0disABILITYsa: https://www.disabilitysa.org/Merced Housing: https://www.mercedhousingtexas.org

This week, we chat with Leilah Powell with LISC San Antonio about what LISC does locally and nationally to support communities through affordable housing and other programs. LISC’s Mission is to “Together with residents and partners, we forge resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America–great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families.”You can get a transcript of this podcast on our website: https://findmymobilehome.com/how-lisc-works-to-impact-affordable-housing/To learn more about LISC - San Antonio, visit https://www.lisc.org/san-antonio/To learn more about Leilah Powell, visit https://www.lisc.org/san-antonio/who-we-are/our-team/To learn more about the national organization, visit https://www.lisc.org/To connect with Leilah Powell, you can email her at lpowell@lisc.org

We sat down with folks from the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC) to talk about opportunities homebuyers have to make their home buying more affordable. We were shocked to learn about one program that could literally save a home buyer thousands of dollars over the term of their home loan that we had no idea existed.To learn more about TSAHC and the opportunities available to you visit https://www.tsahc.org

We sat down with Veronica Soto, the San Antonio Neighborhood and Housing Services Department Director, to get her perspective on the Affordable Housing crisis locally. She shared with us the challenges, as well as the great opportunities, to address affordable housing in our hometown.You can learn more about what San Antonio is doing about affordable housing at https://www.sanantonio.gov/NHSD

San Antonio is about to get its first "housing first" solution. What is "housing first," how is it different, and most importantly, does it work? Join us as we talk about Towne Twin Village with Dr. Chris Plauche.For find more information on Towne Twin Village at https://hfcommunitas.org/You can get a full transcript on our website at https://findmymobilehome.com/towne-twin-village-a-housing-first-solution/

We connected with Becky Gray of Chaffee County, Colorado, to talk about the impacts a lack of sustainable housing has on a community. Gray is the Director of Housing in Chaffee County and a graduate of both Rogers State University and Pittsburg State University.Some helpful links related to our conversation include:http://chaffeecounty.orgwww.wearechaffee.orghttps://www.facebook.com/HPACChaffeeCounty https://www.housingcolorado.org/default.aspx

It sounds too good to be true, but it is legit. There are several grants available to potential homeowners to help them buy a home.For this podcast, we are joined by Kelly Fleck, who is the Homeownership Manager for Next Step, where she leads her team in implementing comprehensive factory-built housing homebuyer education and counseling training program. Kelly graduated from Morehead State University and has over 20 years of experience in affordable housing.If you are interested in down payment assistance programs visit Next Step’s down payment assistance finder.https://nextstepus.org/downpayment/

Matt Fast from LEAP Charities joins us this week to talk about Renter Owned Communities, how they are different than most mobile home parks, and why they make a difference in the lives of mobile home owners.Are they a good idea? Are they sustainable? And what do they have to do with Sustainable Affordable Housing? Oh, and what in the world is "athirdability" anyway? We answer these questions and more on this Doublewide Dudes podcast.You can learn more about Matt Fast and Leap Charities at:https://www.leaproc.org/ orhttps://www.leaphousing.org/

We sat down with Ben Navarro this week to discuss Fannie Mae's "Duty to Serve"initiative which is how Fannie Mae is fulfilling Congress's mandate for Fannie Mae toparticipate in helping three underserved markets.Supporting these three markets should help create the availability of moreaffordable housing without government subsidies. As you listen to the podcast, youcan learn how sustainable affordable housing availability can be affected by manythings, things as simple as standards written for lenders for particular loan types.Ben Navarro manages Fannie Mae's activities related to their single-familymanufactured housing "Duty to Serve" plan.Ben received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and a Masterof Public Policy from Georgetown. He has been in the financial services industry since2006, working for various organizations including Capital One and the FDIC.Ben has been in his current role at Fannie Mae since 2018, working on things likethe launch of the MH Advantage loan product, and the modification of several ofFannie Mae's manufactured home (MH) policies along with the necessary research andoutreach about Fannie Mae’s programs for manufactured homes.Helpful Links:Find out more information about Fannie Mae's "Duty to Serve": https://www.fanniemae.com/about-us/what-we-do/homeownership/duty-serveFind out more information about Fannie Mae's appraisal guidelines for MH Advantage qualified homes here: https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/originating-underwriting/appraisers/appraising-manufactured-homesFind more information about titling manufactured homes as "real property" here: https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/originating-underwriting/titling-manufactured-homes-real-property

While the affordable housing crisis is thought to be a big city problem, it is actually a problem justabout everywhere. Today’s guest, Stacey Epperson, has been working to provide affordable housingto rural America for decades, and we were lucky enough to have her as a guest on our podcast.Stacey Epperson has 30 years of experience in affordable housing development. She is thefounder of Next Step Network, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing affordable housing to those whoneed it. Next Step’s mission is to help people achieve home ownership through factory-built housing.Over these last three decades, she has built national networks and mission-driven nonprofitsworking with leaders in the manufactured housing industry, lending institutions, working to provideenergy efficient homes and better loans to support home buyers.You can learn about Next Step at:https://nextstepus.org/

This week we met with Rick Jacobus about Inclusionary Housing. Inclusionary housing is a wayto work with developers to create affordable housing alongside of market rate housing in a waywhere ideally the neighbors, the community, and the developer all “win.”Mr. Jacobus has a broad background perfect for helping us explore inclusionary housing. He isthe principal of Street Level Advisors, a consulting firm specializing in inclusionary housing strategies. Mr. Jacobus has a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and a Master of City Planning degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He also has decades of experience working with cities on affordable housing and other community issues. Mr. Jacobus is founder of Cornerstone Partnership, a national initiative focused on building more inclusive communities, served as a fellow at CoMetrics and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and is a partner in Burlington Associates in Community Development. He is a lecturer at UC Berkeley and is Senior Program Officer for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.Street Level Advisors: http://streetleveladvisors.com/Cornerstone Partnership: https://groundedsolutions.org/

This week we talk to John Weldy about energy efficiency and home affordability. We learnhow smaller homes tend to be more energy efficient, but they are penalized by currentenergy efficiency measuring systems, which make it hard to compare energy use from hometo home.The good news is, there are a couple of easy ways to know whether or not a new home willbe more energy efficient than similar models, and we talk about how consumers can protectthemselves as well as how local governments can adjust their building codes to put smallerhomes on equal footing as larger homes when energy efficiency requirementsMr. Weldy is a Purdue graduate and has been in the factory-built housing industry for 26years now. He's been the Director of Engineering with Clayton Homes since 2005. {Fortransparency, please note we are an independent manufactured home dealer that sellsClayton Homes products.}https://www.claytonhomes.com/He's a registered professional engineer on the civil and structural side in 39 States. He holdsInternational Code Council Certifications for residential inspections for all disciplines. Justfinished serving on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's ManufacturedHousing Consensus Committee, where he was the chairman of the Technical Systemsubcommittee as well as the chair of several taskforce groups. He's an active member of theManufactured Housing Institute and on the board of Systems Building Research Alliance.Relevant links to today’s conversation include:Information about ISO 14001 registration: https://www.claytonhomes.com/studio/what-is-iso-14001/Information on the Home Energy Score [HES] developed by the Department of Energy: https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/downloads/home-energy-scoreInformation on the Home Energy Rating System [HERS] developed by the Residential EnergyService Network: https://www.hersindex.com/hers-index/what-is-the-hers-index/Information on the Energy Star program as well as information on Clayton’s Energy SmartHome Package: https://www.energystar.gov/https://www.claytonhomes.com/studio/saving-big-with-green-energy-smart-home-packages/Finally, information from CPS Energy about energy efficiency in your home: https://www.cpsenergy.com/en/my-home/savenow/energy-saving--tips.html

This week we talk to Randy Shaw about the YIMBY (Yes! In My Back Yard) movement and its necessity when it comes to sustainable affordable housing. Randy points out it is not just the poor who are negatively affected by a lack of affordable housing, but people under 30 and seniors are both having a hard time findingaffordable housing right for them.Randy is the director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic in San Francisco, one of the leading providers of housing for homeless single adults. He is the author of "Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America". He also edits for beyondchron.org and is a vocal advocate for the YIMBY movement.

Carla Potts, Deputy Director of Housing Development of Northeast Community Action Corporation (NECAC), joins us today to discuss their ASPIRE program, a joint initiative to reduce prison recidivism while increasing the available affordable housing.We cover how ASPIRE trains people in Missouri’s correctional facilities in skilled and semi-skilled trades by building new homes inside of prison walls. These homes are later transported to a property and purchased for the cost of building and installing the home. Hear how ASPIRE is aimed at helping people with affordable housing while at the same time helping people in prison learn skills they want to learn to enter the job force at a decent wage after release from prison.NECAC is following the model set forth in South Dakota’s Governor’s House project.http://necac.org/

This week we talked with Dr. Christine Drennon, housing expert and professor atTrinity University. We discovered a lot of challenges in making housing affordable,how the current models of affordable housing have not yet proved themselves assuccessful, and some opportunities we all have to work toward sustainable affordablehousing for all.You can learn more about Dr. Christine Drennon, today’s guest, here: https://inside.trinity.edu/directory/cdrennonOrganizations mentioned in this interview include: Trinity University- https://new.trinity.edu/San Antonio Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force- https://www.sanantonio.gov/HousingTaskForceSan Antonio Heron- https://saheron.com/Alamo Community Group- https://www.alamocommunitygroup.org/Habitat for Humanity – San Antonio- https://www.habitatsa.org/