Affordable manufactured homes

Kudos to the Boulder County commissioners for putting money where their mouth is on affordable housing. However, I can’t help but think they are channeling the Little Dutch Boy, desperately trying to prevent a bigger catastrophe by sticking a finger into just one leaky hole in the rapidly disintegrating dam of affordable housing.

The realities of mobile/ trailer/manufactured housing bring into sharp relief all the major issues that together contribute to the current housing crisis. These issues also go to the heart of any shared understanding of ourselves as the “Boulder Community.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge is the inherent tension between treating housing/shelter as a fundamental human right or as an opportunistic commodity. This divide is most acute in mobile housing because the owners and renters do not usually own or rent the land their house is on, which in turn has led to a white-hot market for buying such land and jacking prices. Check out Mobile Home University, especially some of its discussion boards, to get a sense of how the market view of this kind of housing is from the commodity side. Boulder is not immune to this literal land grab.

The manufactured housing crisis also highlights the growing split between the wealthy and the not-wealthy, a division that is perhaps more staggeringly obvious here than many other places. Closely related to wealth stratification is the fact that this split is falling largely (but not entirely) along ethnic and racial lines. Boulder’s laudatory statements about growing diversity will inevitably be so many empty words without addressing our housing divisions based on wealth and/or identity (in which manufactured homes must play a critical role).

There also remains an incalcitrant and fairly obvious bigotry against those who choose to or must live in manufactured/mobile communities. Stereotypes of “trailer trash” are not only tolerated, but also used to justify increased heavyhanded security, fear and avoidance by individuals and even businesses, and discrimination in employment and other housing. This prejudice makes it even harder to include manufactured/mobile homes as a critical element to Boulder’s stated desire to transition people from homeless to housed.

There are certainly other issues, but the ones above are particularly acute. What the Boulder County commissioners have done for one such small community is laudable, but not enough. The dam is breaking. Fintan Steele, fsteele1@me.com

For a significant number of people, the decision to buy a mobile home is a matter of urgent necessity — the only feasible option to achieve the semblance of homeownership and ensure a stable living environment. Unfortunately, some of these buyers are led to believe that by purchasing a mobile home (typically priced $100-$150K), they are securing a valuable asset that could appreciate over time. But the belief in mobile homes as a flexible and relocatable housing solution is largely a myth, which in my experience, still persists among immigrants seeking affordable housing. Unlike traditional homes built on fixed foundations, which generally increase in value, mobile homes depreciate over time, much like vehicles. Furthermore, the most significant drawback of mobile home ownership is the lack of land ownership. Residents typically do not own the land on which their home sits, leading to monthly lot rentals. This situation not only adds to the financial burden but also makes these homeowners vulnerable to predatory business practices.

In response to these challenges, Boulder County’s initiative to provide grants and forgivable loans to let residents purchase mobile home parks as part of its affordable housing program is commendable. This move effectively creates permanently affordable neighborhoods for low- and middleincome families for a relatively low investment. The initiative aligns with the 2020 Colorado law that empowers mobile home park residents with the right to purchase their park.

Parallel to this, the development of a manufactured home factory by the City of Boulder is another promising initiative. It reminds me of the historical Sears catalog homes, which offered materials for building houses via mail order. This method, responsible for the construction of robust homes that still stand today, represents a blend of affordability and quality. This model has also become popular in Europe. My friends in Germany recently built a manufactured house outside Berlin to great success.

And finally, the additional steps taken by Boulder County and the City of Boulder to establish resident-owned cooperatives and convert these mobile homes into fixed-foundation homes, are commendable efforts in providing stable, affordable housing solutions. The shift towards a community-focused approach in managing these parks could serve as a model for other regions grappling with affordable housing crises.

Hernán Villanueva, chvillanuevap@gmail.com

In my view, the commissioners’ decision is important, impactful and good. This is a vital step to address Boulder County’s affordable housing needs. More is needed and better must come.

In 2022, Boulder County successfully secured approval to allocate $5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.

With good planning and useful timing along with principled commitments from many who were involved, the Boulder County Manufactured Housing Strategy Plan (finalized in 2022) helped guide implementation of aims to lower risks for manufactured homeowners and strengthen the resilience of manufactured housing stock.

Going forward, to provide ongoing support, there needs to be sustained funding as capabilities along with continued coordination between the City of Boulder and Boulder County. This cooperation must also be fortified by active support/engagement from Boulder residents and CU Boulder itself. There is considerable expertise and experience among Boulder residents as well as among CU Boulder faculty, students and staff that can help imagine and implement more inclusive and affordable housing opportunities like this $1.1 million loan program. They can help local governments add capacity and insights to purposefully address many pervasive considerations that mobile home ownership entails in Boulder.

The “American Dream” narrative is often accompanied by the seductive appeal of home ownership. This “dream” is often guided by both experience and mythmaking. Yet, the realities often are that home ownership comes with benefits such as an ability to live with relative security, with a pathway to build equity and intergenerational wealth, with opportunities to make long-term memories in a place to call “home.”

Community members who work here and want to live nearby know that renting as an alternative can come with precarity: among them, the need to pressure landlords to do more than the bare minimum to keep the dwelling functional, susceptibility to surprise raising of rent or the sale of the property from under them.

While choosing to rent rather than buy may be sensible for many in today’s economy, it is still a “dream” to be able to join the homeownership club in Boulder. Without loan programs like this one, home ownership in the Boulder area is very often out of reach for many who contribute significantly to making this a good place to put down deep roots.

Max Boykoff, mboykoff@gmail.com