Five plenary sessions featuring leaders in the field, including:
Twelve breakout sessions covering a breadth of manufactured and affordable housing topics, including:
The 2018 I’M HOME Conference, from December 3-5, is jam-packed with great content and plenty of networking opportunities. The at-a-glance agenda will be updated periodically so please check back soon for the most up-to-date information including session content & speakers.
All times and content outlined below are subject to change.
Pre-Conference Site Visit
Sponsored by Affordable Housing Resources
For this year's I'M HOME Pre-Conference Site Visit, we will be touring two affordable housing projects developed by Affordable Housing Resources in Nashville. We will be visiting an in-process, below market value rental project developed with factory-built homes and a 15-year old homeownership community developed with manufactured housing so conference participants can see how well these homes blend into a site-built community.
Sponsored by Wells Fargo
Keynote Address
Introduction by:
Keynote Address by:
New Research on Loan Shopping Experiences of Manufactured Home Owners
Presentation by:
Panelists:
Speakers:
This session is a crash-course in manufactured housing. Speakers will discuss the opportunities that manufactured housing offers and its importance in the broader affordable homeownership landscape. This session is tailored to first-time participants, those relatively new to the field and anyone who wants a refresher course.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to get involved with the politics of manufactured housing? This session brings together advocacy experts from around the country to share their experiences of effective policy change. The session is meant to be highly interactive, with attendees sharing their experiences in this space and posing questions to the panelists and their fellow attendees about their advocacy experiences and how to craft an advocacy campaign.
This session will focus on the use of factory-built homes to revitalize neighborhoods while creating homeownership opportunities for low-income families. With the cost of developing site-built homes skyrocketing, factory-built homes are a viable option for economies of scale, especially when developing scattered vacant lots.
Networking Breakfast Sponsored by the Center for Indian Country Development
Morning Plenary Manufactured Housing in Indian Country: A Conversation with Tribal Leaders
Native American homeownership can be a pathway to economic prosperity and community development in Indian Country yet significant challenges remain. This panel will discuss the ways tribal leaders can maximize their resources to create more homeownership opportunities on reservations. We’ll look at various strategies outlined in the Tribal Leaders’ Handbook on Homeownership, created by the Center for Indian Country Development (CICD) to provide leaders of Native American communities with resources and support for achieving homeownership on Native lands.
Manufactured housing is increasingly at risk of displacement due to poor protections for homeowners. Panelists, including residents from Lowry Grove, Minnesota and Portland, Oregon, will discuss their experiences facing displacement and their efforts to save their communities from closure. They will also discuss the local and state policies that helped or hindered their case.
This session explores how the diverse partners participating in the SmartMH Program are preparing individuals and families to make one of the most important purchase decisions of their lives. Hear from manufactured housing retailers, lenders and housing counselors working in the field who are helping prepare and educate manufactured home buyers so that they can make smart, informed choices.
This session will explore best practices and lessons learned from a successful program that Family Promise of Grand Rapids, Michigan piloted in which families participating in transitional housing programs directly transition to permanent housing in the form of manufactured homes.
Lunch
Sponsored by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency
Lunch Plenary The Role of State Housing Finance Agencies in Expanding Homeownership
State Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs) play a critical role in expanding access to homeownership for low-and moderate-income communities. Hear from leaders from four state HFAs on their innovative programs to support homeownership.
Nashville and the surrounding area is facing rising housing costs and the challenges of affordable housing is impacting families across the region. Local housing and community development experts will identify the unique issues and address the potential opportunities.
Access to quality financing options means lower costs for manufactured housing residents. Lenders from across the country will provide updates on new products to finance housing giving manufactured homeowners greater choices in their financing options.
Manufactured housing can play an important role in post-disaster recovery. Hear from state emergency management officials on how we can better plan for and recover from floods, hurricanes and other disasters.
This October, the I'M HOME Communications is leading a campaign to reduce the stigma of manufactured housing across the board, engaging with local politicians, potential homebuyers, and existing community members. This session will go over the campaign's results and explore the next steps of this important conversation.
In more than 20 states, owners of manufactured homes in MH communities have been buying their communities for economic security, community engagement and the chance to build home equity. We will learn more about how these communities work through the experience of resident leaders and explore market and policy-based efforts to support them.
Net Zero Housing? Energy Efficiency and the Future of Manufactured Housing
Residents of manufactured housing often spend more on energy costs than those who live in site built homes. But it doesn’t have to be that way, manufactured housing can be energy efficient, cost-effective and a healthier option for families. This session will explore current models of energy efficient homes, and how families may lower their energy bills along the way.
Morning Plenary
Everything is Local: The Role of Local Government in Manufactured Housing
Local government plays a vital role in manufactured housing, whether through zoning decisions, federal government disbursements and planning opportunities. This panel will discuss the ins and outs of how local decisions influence where manufactured housing is placed, and how long it can stay.
Lightning Talks: Best Case Practices from the Past Year
This year, our Working Group Session will feature Lightning Talks—five-minute presentations that allow speakers to share exciting ideas, highlight transformative innovations, and showcase victories and game changers in manufactured housing. Following the Lightning Talks, the I’M HOME Network working groups will have discussion followed by a brief survey. If you want to hear about the biggest ideas in the I’M HOME Network, or join one of our five working groups (Communications, Community Preservation, Homeowner Engagement, Policy, and Single Family Finance); don’t miss this session!
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