August 24, 2005
During its last hours, the Legislature passed a
measure (HB 2389) to address the closure of parks.
State Representative Jerry Krummel (R-Wilsonville)
was the "spark plug" behind this measure.
He carried House Bill 2389 to a unanimous 59-0 vote,
after the Oregon Senate on a vote of 29-0 approved
it.
The State of Oregon reports that 47 manufactured
home rental communities have closed between 2001
and 2005, resulting in a loss of about 1,317 individual
spaces (does not include "pending" closures).
The "closure issue" has received a lot
of media coverage. On July 7th The Oregonian
carried a front page story reporting on pending
closures and declared that "mobile homes are
a thing of the past". Portland TV stations
carried nightly stories reporting on the impact
the closures will have on residents, many of whom
are low income elderly, with no place to go. Radio
Talk Show Host Lars Larson has also picked up on
this issue. He said that Oregon's land use laws
are contributing to the closures by creating an
artificial shortage of land.
The stories were precipitated when owners of Willamette
Cove, a 65 space community built in West Linn in
the 1990’s, and Thunderbird Mobile Club, an
older 240 space community in Wilsonville, told residents
that they plan to sell the parks.
It is hoped that the media will see HB 2389 as a
positive piece of legislation, that benefits both
residents and community owners.
HB 2389 has five features:
· State capital gains taxes eliminated
- encourages owners to sell the community
to the tenants by eliminating Oregon's 9% Capital
Gains Tax if sale is to homeowner's association,
a non-profit group, or a community development corporation:
· Tax credits- facilitates relocation of
homes forced to move by providing a tax credit to
home owners of up to $10,000 to pay for relocation
costs. If individual makes less than 200% of federal
poverty level, and owes no taxes, they get a refund
up to $10,000;
· Local preemption- removes zoning barriers
by prohibiting cities and counties from excluding
manufactured homes forced to move due to the closure
because of their age, size or architectural style.
Does not affect community owners’ ability
to determine what homes they will accept for tenancy;
· Database- requires the State Housing
& Community Services Agency to provide a web
site so that community owners may post vacant spaces
available to accept relocated homes. Provides an
information resource so that landlords with vacant
space may connect with residents needing to move."
· "Sunsets" on January 1,
2008- HB 2389 must be re-passed by the 2007
Legislature for it to continue after 2008.
Commonwealth warned that conversion of existing
rental communities may be the “canary in the
coal mine” warning that something is wrong
with Oregon’s land use system. We requested
that HB 2389 also require that LCDC review the impact
of Urban Growth Boundaries (UGB's) as a factor driving
conversion of rental communities to other uses.
