![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2WTYIHFBUFHSVCEZ4GCJO7JMGQ.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A manufactured home in this undated photo of Hidden Village Mobile Home Park in Clark County, Wash., provided by Evergreen Habitat for Humanity. The nonprofit hopes to renovate current homes and build additional affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Evergreen Habitat for Humanity \/ Courtesy of Evergreen Habitat for Humanity<\/p>\n
Evergreen Habitat for Humanity is seeking $4 million in Washington state funds as part of a novel approach to expanding affordable housing at two Vancouver mobile home parks. The proposal could add up to 280 affordable units just outside city limits in the Hazel Dell neighborhood. <\/p>\n
The idea was born two years ago, when the Vancouver Housing Authority approached Evergreen Habitat for Humanity to buy two adjacent mobile home parks, Hidden Village 1 and 2. <\/p>\n
Together the parks have 105 mobile home pads, a little over half of which are occupied. The properties, on nearly 19 acres of land sandwiched between Highway 99 and Interstate 5, are for sale for $12 million. <\/p>\n
\u201cNone of our current projects are anything of this scale,\u201d said Heather Cochrun, the director of community engagement and impact at Evergreen Habitat for Humanity. \u201cThis would be a massive shift for us in what we\u2019re able to accomplish.\u201d <\/p>\n
The plan would involve repairing mobile homes and replacing \u201cseverely substandard units\u201d in the parks, according to Cochrun, then developing other affordable housing types on the property, like townhomes or apartments. <\/p>\n
Related: Why Vancouver is swapping excess parking for affordable housing<\/a><\/p>\n Evergreen Habitat has so far raised $6 million from the Washington State Department of Commerce\u2019s Housing Trust Fund program and private commitments. The nonprofit is seeking an additional $4 million from the state Legislature in a budget appropriation through the commerce department to get closer to closing the financial gap. <\/p>\n \u201cBecause this project represents such a strong opportunity to preserve existing housing, expand affordable homeownership, and support long-term affordability in a transit-accessible corridor, the City supports Habitat\u2019s capital budget request,\u201d Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle wrote in a letter of support to state lawmakers. <\/p>\n Mobile home parks represent a shrinking category of affordable housing in the region and nationally. That\u2019s thanks in part to a national trend of hedge funds and real estate investors purchasing mobile home parks and then raising the rent residents pay for the lots their homes sit on. <\/p>\n Many residents living in this type of housing are uniquely vulnerable, since parks are often tailored to people who are 55 and older living on Social Security. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really pretty awful,\u201d said Dan Rosensweig, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville and Central Virginia, which noticed the trend in its region and decided to act around 2004. <\/p>\n Rosensweig\u2019s Habitat chapter, which isn\u2019t involved in the Vancouver project, first stepped in to buy a Virginia park that was slated to become luxury condos. The nonprofit converted the 16-unit mobile home park to a 70-unit mixed income community with housing for the existing residents. <\/p>\n That Habitat chapter is now onto its third park. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re living proof that it can be done,\u201d Rosensweig said. <\/p>\n