Friday, April 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros is holding out an olive branch to the manufactured home industry.
Cisneros Thursday morning promised nearly 1,000 representatives of the Manufactured Housing Institute that the federal government will work "in partnership" with local governments to pave the way for more manufactured homes throughout the nation.
During his hour-long speech at Caesars Palace, Cisneros stressed that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has four priorities to increase the number of manufactured homes.
* Raise public awareness and promote favorable policies regarding manufactured homes.
* Establish national safety standards for manufactured homes.
* Improve access to obtain available financing by persuading lending institutions to look more favorably on loans for manufactured homes.
* Open up dialogue to attempt to relax zoning codes which restrict the placement of manufactured homes.
Long viewed as "trailer park box homes," Cisneros noted that the improved manufactured homes of today should be viewed as a viable component of the nation's housing industry.
"If people could just leave their stereotypes at the door, and look at how much manufactured homes have been improved in recent years, then they would see what a great option they are," he said.
Cisneros noted that despite fears that an aging population of baby-boomers would lead to a glut of For-Sale signs on homes throughout the nation as more elderly people move to smaller dwellings that require less maintenance, the percentage of Americans who own their own homes have increased during the administration of Bill Clinton.
"We inherited a rate of 54 percent," Cisneros said. "Now we're at 61 percent and by the year 2,000, we hope to be over 67 percent."
But hidden in those favorable statistics is the sad reality that 70 percent of traditional white families own their own homes compared to only 43 percent of black families.
Cisneros said that by increasing the availability of lower priced manufactured homes, more minority Americans will be able to afford to become homeowners.
"The quality of manufactured homes has improved markedly in the past 20 years," Cisneros said. "Each one goes through a rigid inspection process."
But the biggest advantage to owning a manufactured home, Cisneros stressed, is the price: an average of only $33,500.
"This price puts manufactured homes within the reach of most lower income buyers in America," Cisneros said. "The success of the manufactured home industry means that a lot of American families who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford a home can become homeowners."
Cisneros said he and other federal officials plan to work with local officials on a unified strategy to increase the number of manufactured homes in America, and he asked representatives of the industry also to work with local officials.
"As a former elected official, I can tell you that a city mayor has a thousand things on his mind, and sometimes the big, important goals take a back seat to all the other little things," said Cisneros, who was mayor of San Antonio from 1981-89.
But by working together, Cisneros said, local and national officials can help assure that "economic prosperity is within the reach of all Americans in the aftermath of the Cold War."
One of those who applauded Cisneros' speech was Alice Shurtleff, manager of the Las Vegas Mobile Home Park.
"I very much enjoyed listening to him," Shurtleff said. "I wish he would go tell our county commissioners that we should change our zoning laws to allow more manufactured homes."
In Clark County, zoning laws do not allow manufactured homes to be built in residential single-family-housing districts. Manufactured homes are commonly placed in mobile home parks.
"They (manufactured homes) are no longer the little boxes that they used to be," Shurtleff said. "Because of regulations, often they are better constructed than stick-built homes."
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