Puyallup mobile home park to be redeveloped. Residents feel out of options
LATEST UPDATE: Residents of closing mobile home park protest, speak at Puyallup City Council meeting
IN DEPTH: Developer plans Puyallup apartment complex. 42 families forced to move to make room
A mobile home redevelopment in Puyallup has residents struggling to find affordable housing options.
Bradley Heights LLC bought Meridian Mobile Estates in December 2019 and intends to build a new 272-unit apartment community there, owner Paul Green said.
“The shortage of housing in Puyallup is a real problem. We are sorry that residents of Meridian Mobile Estates are concerned,” he said in a statement. “Help is available to them now and throughout the relocation process.”
Bradley Heights sent a 12-month closure notice to residents in June last year. The state Attorney General’s Office stepped in and sent a warning to retract the notice in July because it violated the governor’s eviction moratorium. Bradley Heights rescinded the notice.
The 12-month clock has stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic but will resume at an undetermined date, Green said in a statement to The Puyallup Herald.
“Once the Bradley Heights project restarts, residents will be notified of the date when the community will close,” his statement said. “Meridian Mobile Estates residents will have 12 months to relocate.”
Residents, some of whom have lived in the mobile park for decades, aren’t sure what they’ll do once the eviction moratorium is lifted.
The park, which holds up to 52 units, is home to many senior citizens.
Rick Alvord, 65, has been living at the Meridian Mobile Estates for 17 years. He and his wife are on a fixed income of $1,300 a month.
They moved their mobile home to the rented space with the intention of never leaving. He has been grafting a grapevine around the mobile home since they moved in. Alvord donated over a hundred pounds of grapes annually to the Puyallup Food Bank for the last 15 years.
Alvord said he is upset.
“I understand from a developer’s point of view, that’s what they do; they develop. But we weren’t even notified that this entire park was up for sale,” Alvord said.
He worries that he and his wife can’t afford to move.
“We’ve been trying to come up with a plan ... with what little resources we have,” Alvord said. “Our primary fear is becoming homeless as a result of all this. After living here 17 years and investing in the community and the property, it’s a shock that we got the eviction notice.”
William Miller, 75, moved in 24 years ago. His wife owns the mobile home they live in, and they rent the space. He built a woodshop to continue his carpentry and tended to the yard. In recent years, his wife has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and Miller has been her caretaker. Miller himself has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Mentally processing the inevitable move hasn’t happened because Miller has been preoccupied with her care and his treatments.
“I can’t even think about that right now. She can’t even get down the stairs,” Miller said. “I can’t think of anything else but to keep her comfortable.”
He said there are uncertainties about whether the mobile home can be moved. He can’t imagine moving back into an apartment with the current prices.
“We can’t move anywhere,” Miller said. “Nowhere will take us because rent is so damn high, and we wouldn’t have much left over after paying rent.”
Jose Rojas, his wife, his mom and two children said they don’t have a Plan B because they don’t know what will happen or when it will happen.
“All the money that I had, I put it down in this place,” he said. “Now, I have no more money to just start all over again. It’s not easy.”
City officials and staff said the situation is sad, but there isn’t much that can be done when a property owner develops their land within zoning code regulations.
City Council member Ned Witting went to the mobile home park and spoke to residents. He feels “heartbroken” for them and conflicted.
“I believe in property rights and if I own a piece of property, I should have control over what I do with it. When it comes down to this, it’s an exception. I have to weigh in for the little guy because that park has been there for years,” Witting told The Puyallup Herald. “I encourage development, but it gets tough when you talk about people’s homes and especially people who don’t have many options.”
Council member Cyndy Jacobsen said she drove through the park and will look at the issue if it comes before the council.
“I am quite sympathetic to their concerns,” she said in an email. “It is a little mobile home park, and there seems to be many who have lived there a long time.”
Puyallup’s director of Development & Permitting Services, Jeff Wilson, said there has been no redevelopment application submitted to the city at this point.
The process for redevelopment does not require action from the council, but site, building and environmental permits must be issued by the city after review and approval.
The land is zoned for multi-residential development.
“As the property owner, they can submit and pursue developing the land. That is their right to pursue,” Wilson said.
The Washington state Department of Commerce oversees mobile home park closures and offers relocation assistance. Since 2007, mobile home park closures have resulted in a loss of 403 spaces across the state. There are 1,212 mobile home parks registered with the state.
State law passed in 2002 allows fees collected during the purchase of a mobile home to be deposited into a state fund that becomes relocation assistance money for mobile home owners.
Nathan Peppin is the department’s Community Support Program manager and runs the “Mobile and Manufactured Home Relocation Assistance” program.
In a closing mobile home park, every eligible resident would receive reimbursement for up to $7,500 for a single section home and $12,000 for a multi-section home, Peppin said. The program will not reimburse for homeowner labor or costs not related to relocation.
Peppin said each mobile home in each park has a different set of circumstances, but there are only two options in the end.
“... either the existing home is relocated or demolished,” he said.
Green said a relocation specialist has been hired to work directly with residents.
“She is providing individual support based on their specific circumstances,” his statement said. “Residents have her direct contact information and a 24-hour relocation hotline number.”
Homes must be code compliant to be moved. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development enacted a set of standards in 1976 for mobile homes. There are also local additional code requirements, Peppin said.
Then there are site codes like parking, septic or sewer hookups that a home must fit within to be allowed.
“It can be difficult to move an existing home that does meet the HUD standard, not due to the move itself, but meeting the code standards of a jurisdiction,” Peppin said. “It simply isn’t as easy as moving a home to an empty spot.”
Alvord doesn’t think his mobile home can be moved.
“We don’t have a Plan B, and I’m scared,” Alvord said. “We’re taking it day by day. I don’t really know what else to do. You know, that sort of sucks.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 5:05 AM.
