Agenda 11/27/2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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October 26, 200 ~ Medicaid continued... provider rates, enrollment and long-term care round out the list of reasons for Medicaid expenditure growth in the past year. While there was talk at the federal level of moving some of the prescription drug responsibility to Medicare, which does not pay the prescription drug costs for its beneficiaries, Rowland said that discussion fell silent after Sept. I 1..:- Work group weighs making manufactured homes a 'by-right use' in single- family districts AVirginia Housing Study Commission work group was scheduled to conSider a proposal to require localities to treat manufactured houses as single-family dwellings and to make them "by-right" in all single-family districts as this issue of Update went to press (Oct. 25). The Manufactured and Modular Housing Association, which put forth the proposal, contends that the proposal will promote affordable housing. The study was established by SJ437, which directed VHSC to study manufactured homes as a way to promote affordable housing. The text of the proposal is as follows: 15.2-2290.1 Certain manufactured homes deemed same as site-built homes "Localities adoptYng and enforcing zoning ordinances under the l~vvisions of this am'de shall provide that any ~ multi-sectioned manufactured home on an individual lot and on a permanent foundation with masonry skirting shall be defined in all wning ordinances as a single family dwelling, and shall be permitted in any zoning distn'ct that permits singte family dwellings constructed to the fJniforrn State*vide BuiMing Code, subject to development standards that are equivalent to those cq~licable to a site- built single-family dwelling with the same or equivalent zoning distn'cts. ' Manufactured housing is defined as structures built under the 1976 Department of Housing and Urban Development Manufactured Housing Code, which preempts local code standards, and is commonly referred to as "HUD Code Housing." These units have white HUD stickers, showing conStruction in compli- ance with the HUD rules. The sticker preempts local building code compliance for the structures. Modular houses are those structures that are assembled on the site and ar~ubject to local building codes. The league is concerned about the proposal for a number of reasons. Localities should retain the authority to decide how to accommodate and promote affordable housing. This is a land-use issue. The proposal would be a mandate from the state that takes away another piece of local government authority. Requiring manufac- tured houses in all single-family districts is not a useful way to promote affordable homing. The proposal appears to further the interests of the manufactured housing industry more than it promotes more affordable housing. The proposal appears to exclude the traditional house trailer by using the term "multi-sectioned manufactured home." The term, however, is not defined, and therefore would include the traditional double-wide, in addition to structures that look like stick- built houses. This raises the issue of whether such housing actually furthers affordable housing, because, unlike stick- built housing, some types of manufactured homes decline in value over time. The proposal does make manufactured houses subject to the same zoning limita- tions to which all other single-family homes are subject, such as minimum/maximum floor area ratios, setbacks, minimum square footage and similar rules. Housing in an historic district would also presumably be subject to the historic district rules. Some protection is provided by these factors. However, in a number of localities, manu- factured houses are not allowed in the more expenSive single-family areas today. With- out enacting new safeguards, such as FAiRs, that authority would cease if the law passes. The current § 15.2-2290 requires localities to allow manufactured homes in agricultural zoning districts where agricul- tm'al activity is the dominant use. There- fore, the subject has already been broached, in that limited context, in the state code. The proposal would be a major expansion of the existing law.