Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 7, 1992 TAG: 9201070173
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
RESEARCHERS: MOBILE-HOME BIAS UNJUSTIFIED
Mobile homes make up half of the housing starts in Southwest Virginia and help fulfill American dreams, but unwarranted prejudice against them continues, Virginia Tech researchers say."Mobile homes set up on permanent foundations can be a very attractive, good housing alternative," Kathleen Parrott, an associate professor of housing, said Monday. "They need to be looked at more favorably and dealt with more favorably."
Ms. Parrott and colleague Rosemary Goss are analyzing data from an 18-month study of housing constraints in the seven coal-producing counties - Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell and Wise.
Despite the importance of quality housing as a tool in economic development, the researchers said, few strides are being made to overcome the deficiency of affordable housing in the region.
The two found a variety of problems standing in the way of home construction.
Personal income for Southwest Virginia increased much more slowly in the 1980s than in the state as a whole. Average per capita income in 1988 ranged from $10,000 to $12,000 in the region compared with almost $18,000 across the state.
Finding a plot of land to build a house on is difficult because of the mountainous terrain, scarce water and sewer services and the vast acreage that mining companies either own or have mineral rights to.
Banks balk at financing housing construction where underground mining could destabilize the land, Parrott said. But banks do approve mortgages for mobile homes on permanent foundations.
Housing starts in the region from 1985 to 1988 ranged between 50 and 100 per year, with mobile homes making up a majority of new starts.
"Going in, we didn't expect them [mobile homes] to be such a prominent picture down there," Parrott said. "Then we were unprepared for the negative feelings about mobile homes we found in the area."
The image problem appears to stem from the poorly regulated, crowded mobile-home parks dominated by single-wide mobile homes, she said, "as well as the potential of social problems that develop in any kind of overcrowded housing."
While the advent of the double-wide mobile homes is doing much to change attitudes, they found during interviews that many people involved with housing "saw the prevalence of mobile homes as a negative thing," she said. "Clearly some of the mobile-home residents thought they were getting a bad rap."
"They get a sense that it's their home and the money they put into paying for their mobile home is an investment that builds equity as opposed to renting," she said.
Residents often spend $25,000 to $30,000 for a single-wide mobile home and a few years later sell it and use the money for a down-payment on a double-wide mobile home, which can cost as much as $60,000, she said.
Local officials should strengthen mobile-home park ordinances and their enforcement in order to improve the quality of residential life, the researchers said. They also urged officials involved with zoning ordinances to recognize mobile homes as a legitimate housing choice and to investigate other options for inclusion of mobile homes, especially double-wides, within the community.
Mobile homes are becoming a permanent part of the landscape and officials need to recognize that, Ms. Parrott said.
Memo: a shorter version ran in the Metro and New River Valley editions.