Local governments across Virginia may soon be about to start considering more manufactured homes as a way to increase affordable housing.
When you hear the phrase "manufactured homes," do you think of trailer parks? Delegate Michelle Maldonado is a Democrat from Prince William County who says that's an outdated image that's no longer relevant in the modern housing market.
"In the past, manufactured homes didn't actually look that great. But today, the technology is phenomenal," Maldonado says. "So, one of the things that helped us as we moved this bill through committee is that we showed pictures of a home, two pictures of what looked like the same home, one was stick-built, one was manufactured. And you couldn't tell the difference between the two."
That bill tells local governments that they cannot discriminate against manufactured homes, which were previously limited to areas zoned for agricultural use. Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg is a Democrat from Henrico County who says opening up more areas for zoning will allow for a wider variety of affordable housing.
"This bill ensures that if something is zoned single-family, you can have a single-family manufactured home. If something is zoned another way, the manufactured homes would have to fit in with whatever that zoning is, but they would be accessible," VanValkenburg says. "And, this is really about ensuring that people have access to the lowest price-point homes."
This week, Governor Abigail Spanberger put her signature on the legislation introduced by Maldonado and VanValkenburg. The new zoning rules will go into effect this summer.
