How Climate Change Threatens Manufactured Housing

Manufactured housing, often described as mobile homes (despite the high cost of relocation for these units), offers some of the most affordable housing in many parts of the country. 

But with climate disasters posing growing threats to residential communities, manufactured home residents face some of the highest risks, writes Sarah Amandolare in Nexus Media News. “Across the U.S., biased zoning has sited many manufactured housing communities in precarious ‘fringe environments,’ such as floodplains and fire-prone urban edges, according to Zachary Lamb, a climate adaptation researcher at UC Berkeley.”

As Amandolare explains, climate change is now causing more destructive weather events in these areas, forcing communities to find ways to keep residents safe or relocate without raising the cost of living. A Vermont program in the Tri-Park Cooperative, a resident-owned mobile home community, could provide a new model for assisting homeowners with relocation. “Tri-Park residents each pay the same monthly rent to the co-op for their lot – an amount that won’t change for those who relocate – and the cost of their new homes will be covered by Vermont’s new Flood Resilient Communities Fund, rather than FEMA.” The program is administered by Vermont Emergency Management and was allocated $14.75 million by the state in 2022.