Manufactured/Mobile Home Relocation Assistance Program – Washington State Department of Commerce

Oct 18, 2024

If you own your manufactured or mobile home and live in a community closing in Washington, you may be eligible for relocation assistance and coordination services. Manufactured and mobile home relocation assistance is provided to eligible, income qualifying households on a first-come, first-served basis, prioritizing tenants in communities closed due to health and safety concerns or community-owner fraud.

The Manufactured/Mobile Home Relocation Assistance Program (Relocation Assistance Program) provides cash assistance up to $11,000 for a single-section home or up to $17,000 for a multi-section home (including single-sections with additional, built living space). Cash assistance is provided in two payments:

Both options must happen by the community closure date. Community owners may seek reimbursement from the Relocation Assitance Program for allowable demolition and disposal costs associated with eligible households. Community owners may request up to $5,500 for a single-section home and up to $8,500 for a multi-section home (inclusing single-sections with additional, build living space).

Households in closing communities may work with the Relocation Assistance Program Coordinator to ask questions about program eligibility, the application process, relocating from their community, or other resources. Please call 800-964-0852 or email [email protected].

Relocation assistance is a combination of fees collected when a home is purchased in a manufactured/mobile home community (RCW 59.21.050) and a portion of a community owner’s annual registration with the Washington State Department of Revenue (RCW 59.30.050 (3) (b)).

To be eligible for relocation assistance, you must:

Owners of recreational vehicles (RVs), travel trailers, and park models (as defined in RCW 59.20.030) are not eligible for relocation assistance.

Households in closing communities may work with the Department of Commerce Relocation Coordinator to ask questions about program eligibility, the application and financial assistance process, relocating from their community, and other resources. Call 800-964-0852 or email [email protected].

If you have questions or need application materials in a language other than English or Spanish, don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected], toll-free at 800-964-0852 or 360-725-2971.

If English is not your primary language, we will call you back with the help of a telephone interpreter in the language you are most comfortable with.

Manufactured/mobile home communities provide affordable home ownership for households with middle to low incomes and create housing stability and long-term wealth building opportunity. In an effort to encourage and assist the preservation of existing communities, the Washington State Legislature passed SB 5198 during the 2023 session.

Among many important changes effective July 23, 2023, the bill gives residents (tenants) in manufactured/mobile home communities (MHCs) the opportunity to purchase their community or the property on which the community sits. The bill also provides the same opportunity for eligible organizations to receive Notices of Opportunity to Compete to Purchase these communities and the properties on which they sit. An “eligible organization” is defined as:

Any eligible organization interested in receiving Notices of Opportunity to Compete to Purchase may submit an application to join the Eligible Organization Registry.

All Registry submissions are subject to public disclosure pursuant to RCW 42.56. To request a copy of the Registry, please contact the program at 800-964-0852 or [email protected].

Effective July 23, 2023, manufactured/mobile home community owners are required to give written Notice of Opportunity to Compete to Purchase their manufactured/mobile home communities or the properties on which they sit. Community owners must provide these notices to community tenants, qualified tenant organizations, the Department of Commerce (Commerce), and the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. Commerce is required to provide these notices to eligible organizations.

All Notice submissions are subject to public disclosure pursuant to RCW 42.56.

Commerce will not post community owners or representatives’ addresses on its webpage or attached documents; however, we will post names and email addresses associated with each community.

The Opportunity to Compete to Purchase map visually displays the location of Commerce approved Notices of Opportunity to Compete to Purchase submitted by community owners or their representatives. Each blue map point represents an approved Notice and includes the following information: community name, date notice given to residents, Commerce notice approved date, community address, community owner/representative name, and community owner/representative email address. Please contact program staff at 800-964-0852 or [email protected] for map navigation assistance.

Sale status of communities for which the program receives Notices may change. Please contact the community owner or representative directly for information about community status.

The Washington State Legislature tasked the Department of Commerce to make recommendations, assess perspectives, and facilitate discussions about aspects of the Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act (RCW 59.20). This work began in August 2019, with a final report submitted to the Legislature in December 2020.