Vancouver officials contemplate mobile park zones to boost affordable housing

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — In the midst of what they have declared a homelessness emergency , Vancouver leaders are contemplating adding a mobile home park zone.

At Vancouver City Council’s workshop on Monday evening, city officials weighed several housing code changes that could boost the number of affordable homes in the area.

In the meeting, Principal Planner Bryan Snodgrass estimated that half of Vancouver’s mobile homes are found in single-family zones while the remainder are found in multi-family zones that allow single and multi-family housing. However, Snodgrass said the city doesn’t have an “explicit set” of standards for mobile homes.

A new proposal would create a district for mobile home parks and preserve the 16 pre-existing MHPs in the city, but with some potential limitations.

“The biggest challenge in legally citing tiny homes is issues of foundation and hooking up to utilities,” Snodgrass said. “A tiny home essentially still would require to be one to meet those as mentioned — foundational and connection standards — but also to locate on a lot that’s in the size range allowed by single-family zones.”

City Councilor Sarah Fox requested additional information on whether the proposal would allow for “tiny home villages,” which would be similar to Vancouver’s Safe Stay communities . The communities provide temporary shelter to people facing homelessness and offer shared facilities such as restrooms and kitchens.

Fox noted that shared facilities could reduce the cost of mobile homes in a village, and therefore help the city in its goal of increasing access to affordable housing.

But land value is another factor to consider.

“I know part of the reason around rezoning would be to ensure that the land value isn’t greater than what the current use is, thus encouraging the developers to sell and have a new development come in so I’m assuming quite a bit of outreach needs to happen between now and then as well,” Fox said.

In response, the principal planner said the Community Development Department would contact property owners before any potential zone changes. The city still needs to determine the economics of an MHP district.

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