Housing has been front and center during the 2025 Legislative session, no more so than in the ongoing battle over a so-called rent stabilization bill that would cap annual increases at 7 percent.
Less noticed is a bill sponsored by Rep. April Connors, R-Tri-Cities, that would treat manufactured homes like real property instead of vehicles. The change could dramatically lower the cost of ownership.
The impact would be limited to start. Connors’ bill would apply to manufactured homes in parks where residents own the land, called “cooperatively owned” parks.
There are 30 – going on 31 – such parks in the state, with about 1,700 homes.
That number is growing, potentially magnifying the impact. An unidentified park in Kennewick is reportedly a candidate for No. 32.
If approved, House Bill 1191 would allow owners to use traditional mortgages instead of personal loans, akin to car loans.
Unlike the rent stabilization bill, which split along party lines, Connors’ bill enjoys bipartisan support. It passed unanimously in the House and secured 105 endorsements and no objections when it was heard in the Senate.
It is currently awaiting final vote on the Senate Floor, after which it will go to the governor to be signed into law.
It is a companion of sorts to the rent stabilization bill, House Bill 1217.
That bill passed in the House with Democrats uniformly in favor and Republicans uniformly in opposition. The Senate Housing Committee passed it on a divided vote. It is pending in the Senate Ways & Means Committee
Connors acknowledged the rent bill is a challenge, but said her legislation offers a small but meaningful step toward addressing Washington’s critical housing shortage by making it easier to buy, sell and finance manufactured homes.
A mobile home park for 55+ residents in west Kennewick. Bob Brawdy/ bbrawdy@tricityherald.com Broad support
Rent stabilization is a priority for housing advocates, who note it would apply to manufactured home owners who lease sites in parks.
However, Connors’ manufactured housing bill is a welcome addition to efforts to tackle housing costs.
“We’re very much in support of this bill because it provides better financing options for manufactured homeowners,” said Rachael Myers, executive director of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, which represents the state’s Association of Manufactured Home Owners.
Other supporters include Habitat for Humanity-King & Kittitas Counties, the Tri-Cities Regional Chamber of Commerce, an association of Washington credit unions, anti-tax advocates and several religious organizations
Connors’ bill would allow owners of homes in parks owned by residents to ask the state to cancel vehicle licenses. Legally, they would be considered real property — the same as homes built on site — and eligible for the same mortgages.
For owners, that could mean lower house payments since mortgage interest rates are less expensive than personal loans.
There were about 260,000 manufactured homes in Washington in 2024, or 8 percent of the state’s housing stock, according to Office of Financial Management estimates.
The 1,700 homes in 30 cooperatively-owned parks would be eligible to start, said Victoria O’Banion, marketing and acquisitions specialist for the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, a nonprofit based in Olympia.
O’Banion leads efforts to organize resident-led buyouts of parks through its Resident Owned Communities program or ROC Northwest. She wholeheartedly endorses dropping the vehicle titles whenever possible.
Most of Washington’s resident-owned parks are centered on the west side but there are a few on the east, in Wenatchee, Union Gap and Spokane Valley.
She said House Bill 1191 would make manufactured homes a viable and affordable option for first time buyers, low-income households and others shut out by soaring housing costs.
Her focus is on leading resident buyouts, but she would love to see parks developed for and by their residents.
“You have beautiful, flat land in the Tri-Cities. I would love to build you a beautiful manufactured housing community from the ground up,” she said. “I want to build parks and provide home-ownership opportunities.”
Valley Quality Homes, a manufactured and modular home dealer, 900 S. Ely St. in Kennewick. Bob Brawdy/ bbrawdy@tricityherald.com 15,000 factory-built homes
OFM estimates show about 15,000 factory-built homes in the Tri-Cities, or 11 percent of all homes in Benton and Franklin counties. The heaviest concentrations are in unincorporated areas.
About 6 percent of homes in both Kennewick and Pasco were manufactured, according to OFM data. Nearly 3 percent of Richland homes and 13 percent of West Richland homes were manufactured.
Washington law generally prohibits land use rules that discriminate against manufactured homes.
In recent years, manufactured homes as a share of new housing are dropping. Only 40 of the nearly 1,300 new homes added in the market in 2024 were manufactured, according to the Tri-Cities Association of Home Builders figures.
O’Banion traces this to the high cost of financing and the fast rising cost to rent lots in privately-owned parks.
A real estate for sale sign in the front yard of a manufactured home in a west Kennewick mobile home park. Bob Brawdy/ bbrawdy@tricityherald.com Mortgages cost less
The math behind Connors’ bill is straightforward: Mortgages cost less than personal loans manufactured home buyers typically use.
Interest rates vary by credit score and the circumstances of the borrower, but O’Banion cited her own borrowing experience to highlight the difference between financing a home and a vehicle.
The mortgage interest rate on her home is about 3 percent. It’s five points higher for her vehicle.
In contrast, she said she has a client who bought her manufactured home using high-interest credit cards in 2016.
“She wouldn’t have been able to buy her house any other way. This would give her a traditional mortgage,” O’Banion said.
Connors said she was motivated to push the bill after meeting with O’Banion and learning that other states have moved to treat manufactured homes the same as site-built ones. .
A real estate agent when she’s not in Olympia, Connors said helping owners of manufactured homes qualify for lower-cost mortgages may not solve the housing crisis, but it’s a step that will help the people most affected, including first-time and low-income buyers.
Connors said it won’t just open doors to more affordable financing.
Treating manufactured homes as real property rather than vehicles makes them eligible for down payment assistance programs that serve first time buyers. They’re currently shut out.
Home equity loans, re-finances and second mortgages, options homeowners use to meet various financial goals, would be extended to manufactured homes if they were treated as real property instead of vehicles.
O’Banion said it puts homeowners on more equitable footing.
“If a tree falls on your house and the insurance only pays so much, you can refinance and get the $30,000 you need and rebuild. If a tree falls on a manufactured home, they’re homeless,” she said.
The Washington Department of Commerce calculates the state needs one million new homes over the next 20 years to meet current and future growth.
More than half are needed for the state’s poorest residents, a shortage that drives homelessness across the state.
