Featured Inquiry (06/23/08)

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Question:

Can cities and towns still restrict the placement of manufactured/mobile homes based upon their age and size?

Answer:

SSB 5524, recently adopted by the state legislature, now prohibits cities and towns from restricting the placement of mobile or manufactured home in existing mobile or manufactured home park based on the age or size of that mobile or manufactured home. The relevant language of this legislation is as follows:

A city or town may not adopt an ordinance that has the effect, directly or indirectly, of restricting the location of mobile homes or manufactured homes in mobile home parks or manufactured housing communities, as defined in RCW 59.20.030, which were legally in existence before the effective date of this section, based exclusively on the age or dimensions of the mobile home or manufactured home. This does not preclude a city or town from restricting the location of a mobile home or manufactured home in mobile home parks or manufactured housing communities for any other reason including, but not limited to, failure to comply with fire, safety, or other local ordinances or state laws related to mobile homes and manufactured homes.

The House Bill Report on this bill provides the following explanation:

Current statutes (RCW 35.21.684, 35A.21.312 and 36.01.225), which allow jurisdictions to place age and design criteria on manufactured housing, apply only to housing to be sited in new mobile home parks or manufactured housing communities, or to be sited outside of mobile home parks and manufactured home communities.

(Emphasis in original.)

The Senate Bill Report indicates that this was an affordable housing issue (“Single wide mobile homes are an important source of affordable housing.”) SSB 5524 became effective on June 12, 2008.