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Work group considers easing zoning barriers to manufactured‑home ownership
Summary
Members discussed a study request to explore whether Virginia should encourage fee‑simple manufactured‑home subdivisions or otherwise remove local barriers so homeowners can convert manufactured homes from chattel to real property. Advocates said expanded fee‑simple options would increase affordable homeownership; industry representatives urged new
The Local Land Use and Community Living Work Group discussed a staff and member request to study whether state law should affirmatively encourage manufactured‑home subdivisions or otherwise limit local barriers that prevent owners from treating manufactured homes as real property.
"In Virginia, we don't have a system that holistically tracks and identifies where all of our mobile home communities are," Delegate Elizabeth Guzmán Maldonado told the group, summarizing the policy request she asked the housing commission to study. She said a primary goal would be to allow localities, if they choose, to create zoning and subdivision options that permit fee‑simple ownership for manufactured homes so owners can secure mortgages and build equity. Maldonado emphasized the proposal would be optional for localities and would not force conversions of existing parks.
Advocates said such changes could expand affordable homeownership. Christie Marrow of the Virginia Poverty Law Center said manufactured homes remain one of the most affordable paths to ownership and that limiting local restrictions could enable infill development and smaller‑lot subdivisions. Randy Grumbine of the Virginia Manufactured and Modular Housing Association said his organization supports fee‑simple ownership options and urged that policy should preserve chattel options where useful (for example, placing a home on encumbered family land without transferring the land deed).
Work group members asked for concrete models and cited state examples. Chair Delegate Bulova suggested the group examine statutes in other states such as Florida, which some members noted has language requiring that HUD‑code manufactured homes meeting structural standards be allowed in residential districts. Members asked staff to produce draft statutory language and a short comparative analysis of local code barriers and zoning language used elsewhere.
Why this matters: manufactured homes are a lower‑cost option for many Virginians; enabling fee‑simple ownership or removing local zoning barriers could increase affordable homeownership, but any change must preserve consumer protections and allow localities discretion.
