Report shows need for mobile home maintenance

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A new report to the legislature details the need for mobile home infrastructure improvement and streamlined development.

According to the report, mobile homes make up almost 6% of Vermont’s housing stock. Managers say maintaining the infrastructure is a vital part of keeping Vermonters happy and healthy in the affordable communities.

There are 238 mobile home parks in the state, and the majority were established In 1970. That old age combined with different funding hurdles is a reason so many need infrastructure improvements.

Lindale Mobile Home Park is nestled off Route 15 in Middlebury, and it’s biggest infrastructure issues are not in plain view.

“We have wonderful Addison County clay here in this part of the park in Middlebury. So it was making it very challenging to keep the septics functioning,” said Elise Shanbacker of Addison County Community Trust.

Addison County Community Trust, which manages Lindale, says they just finished a $5 million septic upgrade which was funded by 10 different sources.

“We have 67 households to share that cost. So it makes it very challenging to invest what’s needed in the infrastructure to keep it well functioning up to date,” said Shanbacker.

Shanbacker says mobile home parks have access to a combination of funds from grants and different departments in the state, but it would be easier if there was a permanent fund for mobile home parks because they have so many needs.

“We have three parks in Starksboro with 128 homes that we are working on. They pretty much need the works, new water systems, new wastewater systems, new stormwater infrastructure, road improvements, electrical improvements, those latter two things being more difficult to fund,” said Shanbacker.

Gayle Pezzo serves as the President of Westbury Village, a mobile home park in Colchester. She also worked on the report.

“Maybe 20 that have been done over the last four years and then the septic and leach fields – the leach fields all need to be replaced,” said Pezzo.

Like at Lindale, she says grants are helping make progress on improving infrastructure problems, noting leach field replacements can cost 10-13 thousand each.

Pezzo says there is a discrepancy in some organizations’ ability to obtain grants based on whether or not they own the property beneath the home. For example, she says in some parks residents own their homes, but not necessarily the property.

“The mobile homes and communities – if they own the property – need to be treated equally as far as grant access. That was a focal point. And very much needed,” said Pezzo.

Recommendations to the legislature include conducting a resiliency analysis to determine if parks have other needs, adding mobile home knowledge to construction education programs, and considering financial support from firms that manage nonprofit mobile home parks.

The report also focused on making mobile home parks more energy efficient. Pezzo says she feels it’s a little too soon to consider those ideas with so much existing stock that needs help.

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