Bill looks to address afforable housing need through manufactured homes

VERSAILLES, Ky. (WKYT) - City and state leaders across Kentucky are working to address the ongoing need for more affordable housing.

A proposed bill would make it easier for manufactured homes to be placed in residential zones.

“Within a few weeks, we will be opening the house to the public for three or four weekends. And the house will then go up for sale,” said Versailles Mayor Laura Dake.

Mayor Laura Dake said a task force has been working on ideas to bring affordable housing to the city for more than a year. And this manufactured home might just do the trick.

“Right now, a lot of the homes that are going up are very, very expensive. So this addresses a need within the community.”

For years, many cities have highly restricted where manufactured housing can go.

“Kentucky Housing Corporation has found that they’re 206,000 homes short. Without action, by 2029 we’re going to be upwards of 290,000 short,” Logan Hanes, the Executive Director of the Kentucky Manufactured Housing Institute said.

Hanes said House Bill 160 would prohibit a local government from adopting or enforcing zoning regulations that treat manufactured homes differently from single-family homes.

“These homes appreciate in value now, according to the FHFA. They don’t depreciate, they don’t negatively affect the surrounding homes. They’re safer than they’ve ever been. As of 2019, every single one are inspected twice by the state. They’re inspected heavily by the factory, built to a rigorous code.”

The Fayette County Property Valuation Administrator David O’Neill posted on Social Media, saying in 2024, only two new houses were built, marketed and sold for less than $250,000. The average price of a manufactured home falls around $145,000. To Hanes, this further solidifies the need for these homes.

“Show people, like this, it’s not a mobile home anymore.”

HB 160 passed the House.

Hanes said the bill would still allow local governments to control design aesthetics.