The Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee on Feb. 21 heard an update on Vermont’s Manufactured Home Improvement and Repair program (often shortened to MER or MUR), which provides three types of awards to preserve and improve manufactured housing: home repair awards, park infill awards and foundation awards.

Scott Charland, housing program coordinator, told the committee the program was created with $4 million in ARPA funds in 2022 and has since received additional allocations. "The initial $4,000,000 went down pretty quickly," Charland said. Subsequent appropriations and acts have expanded funding and the program will reopen for applications next month, he said.

Program design and results

Charland described the program’s three award streams: home repairs (up to $18,000 per owner-occupied home for repairs and accessibility work), park infill awards (up to $20,000 for lot reclamation and site work) and foundation awards (up to $15,000 to prepare a site and tie down a home). The program partners include the Housing Division, the Vermont State Housing Authority and the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO).

"Homeowners can receive up to $18,000 for repairs, or accessibility projects that ensure that occupants remain healthily housed," Charland said. He added that the program provides technical assistance for applicants and maintains a list of contractors who have previously done MER-related repairs to address contractor-availability challenges.

Charland gave the committee cumulative program results: more than 330 home repairs completed, roughly 32–34 infill lots completed, almost 60 foundations, about $7,000,000 obligated, more than 900 applications and 54 site visits. Emergency repair reserves have been set aside each year to respond to heating or structural failures while the formal application windows are closed.

Funding ask and codification

Charland and Director Sean Gilpin said the department is requesting steady base funding of $2,000,000 in the governor’s budget and proposed codifying the program in statute so it can be sustained year to year. "Turning it into a program that we can rely on would be phenomenal both for the recipients and for our staffing," Gilpin said.

Committee members pressed staff on contractor availability and eligibility rules. Several senators noted the program’s focus on registered mobile-home parks and asked whether communities like Williston Woods — owner-occupied lots not listed in the registry — could access MER funds. Housing staff said they will review eligibility and consider interim options.

Ending

The committee asked department staff to provide the committee with more detail on the FY funding request and to consider short-term eligibility options for communities that function like parks but are not listed on the registry. The program office said it will reopen a funding round next month and encouraged residents who need immediate emergency assistance to contact CVOEO for help.