The Mobile Home Park Dilema

Over the past couple of weeks, Everett Herald political columnist, Jerry Cornfield and reporter David Chircop have been writing about the precarious position many mobile home park dwellers find themselves in when the park owners decide to sell the property the homes are sitting on and the efforts of certain state legislators to come to their rescue.

In his piece from January 28th, Chircop writes about Mariner Village Mobile Home Park, a seniors-only park south of Everett that was sold to a group of investors in August of last year. Chircop writes,

"A representative with Fort Maier Homes, a Maryland homebuilder, recently approached Snohomish County planners, asking questions about traffic circulation, an early step in the development process. The representative also submitted mock-ups of a subdivision map with 363 townhouses, 38 cottages and 176 senior apartments. Tiscareno Associates, a Seattle architecture firm that has designed new townhouse developments in Everett, Bothell, Kent and Redmond, drafted the maps." Chircop adds, "Richard Beresford, of Mariner Village Mobile Home Park, LLC, says plans to develop aren't solid, and that they may choose to preserve the park."

The story points out that it is common in this state for the residents of these parks to own their mobile homes but only rent the land on which it sets. This arrangement leaves them increasingly vulnerable to the lucrative development market. When the park is slated for closure, the residents are forced to relocate. In many cases the mobile homes are too old to move, leaving the owners with no choice but to pay to have them demolished. In some cases residents could still be saddled with mortgage payments after tearing down their own homes. Chircop introduces us to Tony Carnaghi:

""I'm sick," said Carnaghi, 64, who paid $20,000 for a mobile home at Mariner Village in May. Carnaghi and his wife left Maine this summer to settle in Washington for its milder winters and to be close to his stepson and six grandchildren in Bremerton. They had just hung up the last photo on their wall when they learned of the possible development." ""Where do you go from here? You put your last dime into a place that you thought you were going to stay for the rest of your life ... "said Carnaghi, his deep voice trailing off."

The Carnaghis and other residents of the Mariner Village Mobile Home Park are far from alone in this situation. Between 2006 and 2008, 10 mobile homes in Snohomish County are slated to close, displacing 533 families, according to the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. Statewide 36 parks, with 1,342 households, are scheduled to close in that time frame, according to the department; which brings us to Rep. Brian Sullivan (D-21st LD):

According to back-to-back columns from Jerry Cornfield on January 28th and January 30th state lawmakers, led by Rep. Sullivan, are looking into ways to help ease some of the potential hardship created for these mobile home park dwellers when they are faced with the eviction notice. Cornfield points out that Sullivan has introduced HB 1621 which would provide for a one year window of exclusivity for the residents of a mobile home park to secure a financing stream to purchase the park before it could be sold to outside investors. However similar legislation has been struck down in the past as unconstitutional on the grounds that it might limit the property rights of the park owners. Already the Manufactured Housing Communities of Washington, a group representing owners of 500 mobile home parks in the state, is lining up in opposition to this measure. Cornfield writes of Sullivan, "Sullivan said he "tried to craft this bill so maybe we can get around the constitutional question. I admit it's still a little fuzzy at this point." Cornfield writes about a group in Snohomish County, SOS Homes:

""We're not asking for anything but a fair chance. We'd pay the market rate," said (Kylin) Parks (president of SOS Homes, a coalition of mobile park homeowners associations in Snohomish County), who helped Sullivan model the bill on laws in New Hampshire and Minnesota." ""We don't want to take any property rights away, she said.” We just want a chance to save our homes.""

Another bill, HB 1668, co-sponsored by Sullivan, would require park owners to increase the minimum lease option to tenants from one year to five and, Cornfield points out, "Lawmakers and the governor also want to put $4 million into the fund used to help residents relocate from shuttered parks. That fund is now empty. The money, if available, can be used to move a mobile home to a new site or demolish it if there is nowhere for it to go."

As a sort of exclamation point to this post, I reprint this Letter to the Editor from today's Everett Herald:

"I live at Evergreen Estates, a mobile home community in Lynnwood. I have lived here for over 14 years. I was dumbfounded to get a notice terminating my residence because the land had been sold for commercial use.

Lynnwood Properties, LLC has given us one year to move or sell our homes or pay to have our homes demolished.

They were kind enough to list the relocation assistance address and phone number on their notice. We who live here have applied for relocation assistance funds; only to find out that there is no money remaining in the relocation assistance fund.

All of us who reside here have medical problems, are retired, low-income or have no extra money.

Most of us have tried to sell our homes. I have run ads in the paper and had my home on Craig's List. Once people find out my mobile home has to be moved, they have no interest in buying. They are closing so many communities in Snohomish County that we cannot find a place to move our home, even if we had the money. I have sent letters to several mobile home communities requesting information regarding available open spaces, along with a photograph of my home and a self-addressed, stamped, return envelope. I received a few back, stating they have no open spaces. Most did not even answer my request.

The assessor's office has been no help, as zoning has changed in Lynnwood. The value of our homes has dropped to almost nothing - great for claiming a loss on your taxes, but not for selling.

The remaining residents will ask the new owners for assistance, but there is no guarantee that they will help us.

All of us here feel left out in the cold; we are sick, old, tired, scared and nervous wrecks. We need help.

PAT HAYES
Lynnwood"

Regardless of the outcome in the state legislature, I am guessing this issue won’t stop there with Sullivan who has already announced a run for Snohomish County Council later this year. With the issues of over-development and affordable housing always at the forefront in the largely rural county, Sullivan can only enhance his standing with the Progressive community there by becoming the champion of this cause.

Peace,
Chad Shue
Vice-chair, Democracy for Snohomish County