Virginia is looking to ease restrictions on manufactured housing, part of a bid by Gov. Abigail Spanberger to bring down housing costs.
Spanberger signed half a dozen bills Tuesday promising to bring additional housing development in the state. That includes a package that aims to ease development of manufactured housing communities and protect residents in these homes from fees.
Speaking at a manufacturing plant for Cavco in Rocky Mount, Spanberger defended the success of the housing affordability agenda that has led to a spate of new laws and a set of executive orders this year.
“Virginia is taking concrete steps to tackle the housing crisis—expanding supply, protecting tenants, increasing transparency, and making sure that manufactured housing has the same standing under Virginia law as any other home,” Spanberger said.
These legal changes may have repercussions for the Virginia housing market. Median list prices in the commonwealth have climbed 34.4% since 2019, according to data from Realtor.com®. The Realtor.com State-by-State Housing Report Card gave Virginia a B- last year.
Manufactured affordability push
The package of new bills contains several zoning and oversight provisions for manufactured housing. HB655 legalizes manufactured housing by-right statewide to all areas where site-built housing is allowed. It also blocks zoning or land use restrictions that treat manufactured housing differently from other homes.
Spanberger also signed HB1463, which makes it easier to place new manufactured homes in valid parks. A third bill, HB374, is aimed at blocking sudden fee increases for owners of manufactured homes by requiring rental agreements to detail fees and cost increases.
HB375 allows residents right of first refusal to purchase a park if the owner decides to sell. That allows residents to band together and work with nonprofits or government entities to purchase the land.
All of the bills had bipartisan support in the House of Delegates.
“Zoning laws across Virginia have sometimes treated manufactured housing as something ‘less than’—blocking it from neighborhoods where traditional site-built homes have always been welcome,” Spanberger said in a statement. “This has left families with fewer options and a housing market that doesn’t work for them.”
Spanberger also signed a law to create a new revolving-loan fund to spur mixed-income housing production. HB196 places it under the Department of Housing and Community Development and Virginia Housing Development Authority. The two-year program must incentivize construction or rehabilitation of low- and moderate-income residences.
A final bill, HB356, requires more annual reporting on housing policy changes by localities with populations over 3,500.