REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Manufactured Home Community Funding Analysis
Issued October 19, 2026
Proposals due November 4, 2026 at 5:00 PM PDT
Submit to Gerald Phillips at gphillips@rocusa.org
Update (10/30/2026): Responses to Questions
ROC USA seeks a consultant to help make public funding more accessible to resident owned communities in our funded geography. First we must understand what is permissible under federal guidance. From there, we want a practical review of local plans and promising funding sources, with specific changes and an action plan our team can use.
Counties covered by the local component of project: Fresno, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Mendocino and Santa Cruz Counties (Future work may include the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, and Solano)
ROC USA helps residents of manufactured home communities purchase their communities and govern them as cooperatives. In a resident owned community (ROC), residents generally own their homes individually and the cooperative owns the shared land. The work should reflect this ownership model and address three activities:
- Residents purchasing a manufactured home community and forming a resident owned cooperative.
- Infrastructure projects within an existing resident owned community.
- Adding new manufactured homes on vacant lots in an existing resident owned community.
Review Federal CDBG and HOME eligibility
Assess each activity above separately under federal HOME and CDBG rules using the governing statutes, regulations, and HUD policy guidance. Explain whether it is allowed, allowed with conditions, or blocked, with citations. Include cooperative land acquisition, shared infrastructure, and home purchase, installation, and site work for infill. Address applicant eligibility, transaction structure, matching, and ongoing requirements where they materially affect feasibility. For any statutory or regulatory barrier, identify the provision and draft a targeted redline. For HUD policy barriers or gaps, propose specific revisions to existing guidance or language for new guidance, and explain the change needed.
Draft reusable plan language
For activities found federally permissible, provide adaptable language that HOME Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) and CDBG grantees can include in Consolidated Plans and Annual Action Plans to expressly support ROC activities. Include amendment language where useful, eligibility conditions, and brief instructions for local tailoring. The templates should be consistent with the federal findings.
Suggest practical federal advocacy steps
Provide brief recommendations for advancing the proposed federal changes and encouraging jurisdictions to adopt the plan language through public comments, staff meetings, and education. Summarize relevant published or expected HUD rulemaking and guidance opportunities, including ROAD to Housing implementation where relevant. Identify likely timing and decision makers when available and distinguish confirmed opportunities from anticipated ones.
Use existing guidance and relevant examples, with targeted conversations where they would resolve an important question. ROC USA staff and technical assistance partners will help ground the review in the ROC model.
Review local HOME and CDBG plans and timing
Identify the relevant HOME Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) and CDBG grantees serving the listed counties, including consortia and areas served by state programs. Review their Consolidated Plans, Annual Action Plans, and related program requirements for provisions that help or limit the three ROC activities. Identify the next plan updates, public comment periods, hearings, amendment opportunities, and funding deadlines, with staff contacts and source links. Distinguish published dates from anticipated timing. Summarize the key ongoing compliance obligations, such as periods of affordability, income eligibility documentation, and use restrictions, that would apply to a jurisdiction, ROC USA, or a resident organization after HOME funds are used for a resident acquisition.
Assess promising state and local funding
Identify state and local resources available in these counties, such as housing programs, housing trust funds, housing authority resources, and public loan or grant programs. Agree with ROC USA on a short list of promising sources early in the engagement. For each, assess whether and how it could support the three ROC activities, the main conditions or barriers, current funding availability, and application timing. Note useful ways to combine resources where they would make a ROC project feasible.
Recommend specific changes and local advocacy
For each jurisdiction or funding source reviewed, explain what already works for ROCs and recommend changes where needed. Draft usable language for the appropriate Consolidated Plan, Annual Action Plan, housing element, housing trust fund policy, or program guideline. Identify who can adopt the change and provide a short, prioritized action list with contacts and timing for public comments, meetings, resident education, or other advocacy. Distinguish changes to funding eligibility from changes that establish priorities.
What to provide
- A concise findings memo with a simple HOME and CDBG eligibility table for the three activities, citations, and proposed statutory, regulatory, or HUD guidance changes.
- A concise review of the relevant jurisdictions and selected funding sources, with findings and recommended changes for ROC activities.
- An editable funding and planning calendar with contacts and source links, plus proposed plan or program language and a prioritized advocacy action list for relevant jurisdictions.
- Editable Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan templates for permissible activities, with brief adoption and advocacy recommendations.
- A discussion of the findings and recommended next steps for ROC USA staff on both the federal and local levels.
Proposals
We welcome HUD technical assistance firms and consultants with California housing funding and planning experience, including Consolidated Plans, Annual Action Plans, housing elements, or funding guidelines. ROC USA and its partners can provide background on the ROC model and local context.
Please email a brief proposal covering (4 pages maximum):
- Experience and team (about 1 page): relevant California and federal HOME/CDBG experience, key team members and their roles, and two references for similar work.
- Approach and schedule (1 to 1.5 pages): the approach towards the federal review and the local/state review, the selection process of the most promising funding sources and coordinate with the federal findings, a high-level completion schedule, and confirmation of start date within 10 days of contract execution.
- Fee (about half a page): fixed fee or hourly rate with a not-to-exceed total, plus key assumptions.
- Conflicts of interest (a few sentences): any relationships with manufactured home community owners, operators, or resident organizations.
- Resumes and work samples should be available upon request
Selection and timing
Relevant experience (30 points total; 15 points for California experience and 15 points for Federal experience), approach (25), cost (20), team qualifications (15), and references (10) will guide our selection of the proposal offering the best value.
| Milestone | Date |
| Written questions due | Monday, October 26, 2026 |
| Responses to questions | Friday, October 30, 2026 |
| Proposal due date | Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 5:00 PM PDT |
| Interviews (if held) | Week of November 9, 2026 |
| Anticipated award date | Friday, November 20, 2026 |
| Anticipated contract start | Monday, December 7, 2026 |
Send questions via email to Gerald Phillips by October 23rd. ROC USA will email responses to every firm that submitted a question. Late proposals will not be considered.
ROC USA may reject proposals, waive minor irregularities, interview firms, and negotiate scope, fee, and terms. This RFP does not commit ROC USA to award a contract or pay proposal preparation costs.
ROC USA is an equal opportunity organization and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability in contracting or the provision of services.