OLYMPIA – Mobile home owners are on the verge of getting some help.
They could gain power in disputes with their landlords, get loans to preserve their communities and receive aid in relocating when their parks close.
These successes are now sewn into policy and budget bills lawmakers intend to pass before adjourning next week.
If achieved, owners and their advocates said this political trifecta signals that legislators are waking up to the difficulties confronting thousands of residents in mobile home parks statewide.
“It’s not all that I had hoped for, but it will help,” said Susan Doran, a resident of Manor Height Estates, a mobile home park near Lynnwood.
Mobile home park residents came to Olympia in January to press lawmakers for solutions to what they saw as three emerging problems:
* A lack of enforcement of resident complaints against landlords regarding leases and park rules;
* A surge in sales and closures of mobile home parks; and
* A lack of money to assist those forced to relocate because of closures.
The biggest victory lies in imminent passage of House Bill 1461 putting the office of the Attorney General in charge of resolving complaints.
The House of Representatives and Senate each passed slightly different versions. Lawmakers in both chambers said they do not foresee problems reaching agreement.
Under the bill, the attorney general can investigate complaints from mobile home park residents and compel landlords to abide by the terms and conditions of leases.
Violations could lead to fines.
Today, residents log complaints with the Office of Manufactured Housing in the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. The agency has little more than the power of persuasion to settle disputes.
“This is fabulous. CTED never did enforce, all they did was collect complaints,” said Ishbel Dickens, an attorney with Columbia Legal Services. She is one of the leading advocates for owners of mobile homes and manufactured housing.
State Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, said he’s worked 10 years to push the program into the Attorney General’s hands.
Park residents tend to be older and living on fixed incomes and typically cannot afford a lawyer to represent them in disputes with a landlord. This will level the field a bit by having the Attorney General there for consumer protection, he said.
“This is a monumental victory for people in mobile home parks,” he said.
The biggest disappointment came with defeat of a bill intended to give residents a chance to buy their mobile home park before they reach the open market. Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, introduced legislation providing homeowner associations a 90-day window of opportunity to close such deals.
The bill was a response to a wave of park sales and closures.
Sixteen parks closed last year, 18 parks are in the process of closure this year and four are slated to shut down by this time in 2008.
All told, 1,444 households will be affected, according to the Office of Manufactured Housing.
Many park owners sell because the land is more valuable when developed into tract housing, condominiums or commercial developments.
Sullivan said his bill offered a ray of hope and no guarantees.
“We’ll never be able to save all the mobile home parks because of the huge market demand for the property,” he said.
The House and Senate are proposing $4 million be set aside in the capital budget for loans and grants to assist tenant groups trying to buy their parks.
“The preservation money will be very, very important but it’s still just a drop in the bucket,” Sullivan said.
Dickens said it is a step in the right direction but “is not as responsive as it could be given how dire the situation is.” She said she’ll push Sullivan’s bill next session.
When a park closes, those forced to move are eligible for as much as $12,000 in relocation assistance from the state. Those funds can cover the expenses of moving a home or destroying it.
The state fund for those payments ran out of money last year.
Gov. Chris Gregoire and the House are proposing to replenish it with $2 million in each of the next two fiscal years; the Senate is recommending half as much.
Even if the higher amount is approved, it may not cover everyone waiting for assistance today.
As of Monday, 248 people had submitted receipts for reimbursements totaling $2.02 million. That’s up from November when the state-managed list had names of 160 families seeking $1.44 million in assistance.
Dickens said relocation funding is a bandage for the problem and preservation is the ultimate solution.
“At least some legislators definitely do see the problem and are doing their best to fix it,” she said.
“They’re all trying to do the right thing.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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