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RESEARCH TOOLS › MRSC Index › Planning - Mobile homes, manufactured housing

MRSC Index A topical index to MRSC's information resources.

Planning: PL 8.3750 - Mobile homes, manufactured housing

Expand Section Electronic Documents (6 Results)

Expand Section Paper Documents (5 Results)

  1. "Manufactured housing: a new era dawns," by Mike Sheridan. Urban Land. September 2007, p.146-148
    Request this document | Document Date: 9/07

  2. Ordinance No. 2626 - Provides that manufactured homes be treated as single detached homes subject to conditions in compliance with SB 6593; amends definitions
    Request this document | Document Date: 04/06
    Jurisdiction: Marysville

  3. "Regulating manufactured housing," by Welford G. Sanders. Urban Land, January 1996
    Request this document | Document Date: 1/96

  4. "Mainstreaming factory housing: mainstreaming manufactured housing is zoning codes is simpler, fairer, and more effective in avoiding substandard development," by John L. Gann, Jr. Urban Land, June 2001
    Request this document | Document Date: 6/01

  5. Ordinance No. 1957 - provides for the siting of manufactured homes pursuant to RCW 35A.21.312 and Chapter 256, Laws of 2004
    Request this document | Document Date: 2/06
    Jurisdiction: Bothell

Expand Section MRSC Library Catalog Documents

Expand Section Featured Inquiries (2 Results)

  1. Can cities and towns still restrict the placement of manufactured or mobile homes based upon their age and size?
    SB 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 25.21.684, 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.

  2. Must modular homes be allowed in areas of a city that are zoned for residential development in the same manner as manufactured and mobile homes?
    Yes. The operative provision is RCW 35A.21.312, which, in relevant part, states:

    A code city may not enact any statute or ordinance that has the effect, directly or indirectly, of discriminating against consumers’ choices in the placement or use of a home in such a manner that is not equally applicable to all homes. Homes built to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5401-5403 standards (as amended in 2000) must be regulated for the purposes of siting in the same manner as site built homes, factory built homes, or homes built to any other state construction or local design standard. …

    Note that the federal law provisions above referenced (42 U.S.C. Sec. 5401-5403) relate to manufactured homes.

    RCW 35A.21.312 and other similar statutes were amended in 2004 to require that cities and counties “regulate manufactured homes built to federal manufactured housing construction standards no differently than they regulate other types of homes.”

    Modular homes are defined in RCW 46.04.303 to include “factory-assembled” structures. RCW 46.04.302 defines “mobile home” and “manufactured home.” RCW 35A.21.312 lists “factory-built homes” in the same manner as “site built homes” and other types of homes (including manufactured homes since 2004, as above referenced). RCW 35.63.160 provides additional provisions related to designated manufactured homes and new manufactured homes.

    Therefore, with respect to regulating – which would include zoning regulations – placement or use, cities may not discriminate against consumers’ choices in the placement or use of modular homes in a manner that is not equally applicable to manufactured homes, “… site built homes, factory built homes [i.e., modular homes], or homes built to any other state construction or local design standard.”

Expand Section Subject Pages (2 Results)

  1. Local Land Use Regulation of Manufactured Housing
    This page provides information about local land use regulation of manufactured housing including relevant statutes/legislation, documents and case law
  2. Manufactured Homes Regulation - What Can Cities Do?
    A question and answer narrative which addresses issues concerning how and to what extent cities and towns in Washington State may regulate the construction and location of manufactured housing