Friday, October 2, 2026
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The Olympia City Council is exploring ways to preserve manufactured home communities by addressing land use concerns not covered by the state of Washington's rent stabilization law.
At a study session held on Tuesday, July 29, Olympia Housing Program Senior Specialist Christa Lenssen discussed the state's newly enacted House Bill 1217, which introduces measures for rent stability and tenant rights, as well as protections for manufactured home communities.
Under the legislation, landlords are restricted from increasing rent by more than 5% annually and are prohibited from raising rents during the first 12 months of tenancy.
While the bill focuses on rent-related protections, it does not address land use concerns or prevent the redevelopment of manufactured home parks.
Community Planning and Economic Development Director Susan McLaughlin said manufactured homes are allowed in various zones under Olympia's flexible zoning code.
But the underlying issue is that property owners can redevelop their land according to zoning allowances, potentially replacing manufactured home communities with apartments, townhouses or commercial developments.
Lenssen noted while the city has a specific manufactured home park zoning designation, only two parks are currently zoned that way. The rest are located in zones, such as high-density residential or general commercial, which allow a broader range of development types.
She asked the city council if they wanted to pursue zoning policy work related to manufactured home communities, noting the approach had strong support from affected residents.
Council member Dani Madrone cautioned against zoning as a solution for protecting manufactured home communities.
"That is a significant down zone, which impacts property value. We might get challenged on that in one way or another by the owner of the property," Madrone said.
Instead, she advocated for exploring alternative strategies, including voluntary easements or deed restrictions that removed the development rights, with compensation for lost property value.
"That is where you find the middle ground in terms of protecting land from development, or in this case, more development, and the property owners made whole in that loss," Madrone said.
She said it works in the farmland preservation space or habitat protection space.
"It would be interesting to see a similar model for this," Madrone said.
She acknowledged that Olympia could not fund a solution, but suggested engaging the Washington State Housing Finance Commission to develop a statewide program addressing manufactured home communities, an issue affecting communities across the nation.
She also recommended investigating how other cities are addressing manufactured home community preservation related to zoning and other creative options.
"I feel like there's like a tidal wave of manufactured home communities that are going to be in crisis when we come to this issue of the land being sold out from underneath them, but I don't know that we can solve it easily on our own," Madrone added.
Council member Clark Gilman expressed skepticism about zoning as an effective protection for manufactured home communities. He proposed alternative strategies, including land trusts, development rights, tenant opportunity to purchase, and even suggested social housing models where the city could provide land and infrastructure for a manufactured or modular housing community.
The council members expressed concern about manufactured home communities, recognizing them as housing spaces primarily occupied by seniors and working-class residents with limited incomes.
Council member Robert Vanderpool specifically noted the importance of ensuring stability for those residents, particularly people who are not working and have limited financial resources.
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jimlazar
While the Council is talking about this, one of the lowest-cost housing options in the City is about to be closed down.
This is the BMC Trailer park (trailers and motorhomes, not manufactured homes) at 2640 Martin Way just East of Phoenix St. This is a bare-bones RV park, with older trailers and a lot of blue tarps. But it allows people a place to park their RV legally for about $500 per month, a fraction of the cost of renting an apartment.
You can see it at: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.0465046,-122.8631043,114m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDcyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
This property is in the middle of a redevelopment permitting process with the City, to construction traditional apartments on the site. The new building will be nicer looking, higher quality housing. But it will be more expensive, and the current residents will have to remove their RVs.
There are not many places for them to go. I am unaware of any effort by the City to anticipate the needs of the current residents. A recent meeting of the Site Plan Review Committee on the redevelopment project made no mention of any accommodation of the needs of the current residents.
This is normal. When cruddy old housing is redeveloped into nicer, newer housing, there are new and better places to live. But they are more expensive than the cruddy old housing that is eliminated.
I'm glad to see that the City is concerned about the future of mobile home parks (these are mostly double-wide units, and quite nice homes). But there is also a need to think about the people living in simple RV parks like the BMC Trailer Park. Others with trailers and single-wide units include the VIP Community off Martin Way at Burr, the Coach Post on Kaiser Road, and several other simple RV parks that provide low-cost basic housing opportunities for some of our lowest-income residents.
Friday, August 1, 2025 Report this
BigOlBoloz
We live in Friendly Ridge in West Olympia. Restrictions on raising the rent no more than 5% a year is a welcome relief for those of us on fixed incomes. However, if we wish to sell our home, the new owners have to pay the higher "market rate," as much as $1400 a month. This effectively locks us in our home with little chance of selling. There's excess available homes for sale in Friendly Ridge due to this extremely high lot rent. The owners are making the situation worse by putting in dozens of new manufactured homes (and cutting down lots of shade trees to do this), making it even more difficult for people to sell their homes. There should be a restriction on the lot rent overall, whether for existing lot renters and new owners alike.
Friday, August 1, 2025 Report this