COVENTRY – A move is afoot to include mobile homes in the definition of affordable housing, for the purposes of allowing cities and towns in Rhode Island to meet state requirements for affordable housing.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Sherry Roberts, R-Coventry. She argued, in a recent committee meeting, that affordable housing should include mobile-home parks, which are plentiful in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island’s existing law requires towns and cities to have plans to have at least 10 percent of the housing stock classified as affordable.
Said Roberts: “We believe that it is unfair to exclude mobile homes from the state definition of ‘affordable housing’ and that mobile and manufactured homes that are permanently installed in mobile-home parks, in groups of 20 or more, should be fairly recognized by the state as ‘affordable housing’ as it relates to meeting Rhode Island’s affordable housing mandates.”
According to state Rep. Kenneth Mendonca, R-Portsmouth, Portsmouth and Middletown have four mobile-home parks, with 82 to 137 homes in each. The assessed value of the houses ranges from $10,500 to $78,000, he reported.
