Colchester is a haven for manufactured housing in pricey Chittenden County
By Rachel Amster, for the Community News Service
COLCHESTER — Houses in Chittenden County are expensive, but one town is a little more affordable: Colchester. The average house costs about $32,000 less here, $477,000, according to Zillow.
One reason why? Colchester has, by far, the most mobile homes in the county.
Colchester had 764 manufactured homes last year, followed by Milton with 421, according to a recent analysis by Steadman Hill Consulting. South Burlington only had 2.
In Vermont, mobile homes are significantly cheaper than other single family homes, according to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency. The median Vermont mobile home with land sold for $130,000 in 2023, compared to $325,000 for the median detached single family home.
Over the last decade, the price of a mobile home with land has risen far less than the price of a single family home.
“Were it not for the large number of manufactured homes in Colchester, it would not be among the more affordable towns in Chittenden County,” according to Steadman Hill Consulting.
A history of welcoming mobile homes
Cathyann LaRose, Colchester Planning and Zoning Director, said the town has historically protected manufactured homes through town regulations.
“I like to think that we do everything we can to retain them, because it is much easier to retain affordable housing stock than it is to build it,” LaRose said.
Colchester has specific zoning for a Mobile Home Park District. This rule regulates the establishment and development of mobile home parks within residential areas.
The district has special regulations that apply to mobile home parks, but the regulations are more flexible than you may have in a standard sub-division, LaRose said. The district recognizes that mobile homes are often on shared lots and are smaller units. The district also allows for smaller setbacks between manufactured units, according to LaRose.
“The zoning and regulations that apply to mobile homes in Colchester is to give a greater recognition of the needs of manufactured homes and the historic patterns of them,” LaRose said.
Another reason Colchester has so many mobile home parks is because most were built before Act 250, said Josh Hanford, Director of Intergovernmental Relations at Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
Act 250 is Vermont’s land use and development law, which regulates land development to conserve natural and scenic resources. Act 250 reviews are triggered by the size of housing projects, creating barriers for getting affordable housing projects permitted, like mobile home parks.
The Vermont Legislature passed Act 250 in 1970. Most of the mobile home parks in Colchester were established between 1962 and 1972, Hanford said.
“We’re very proud of it”
Several of those parks are now owned by residents, through a Vermont law that is a national model.
Vermont has the highest manufactured homeownership rate in the nation: 71%. That number rises to almost 99% in Vermont’s nonprofit and resident-owned cooperative parks, according to the Vermont Housing Needs Assessment.
The nonprofit Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) has helped convert 16 mobile home parks statewide into resident-owned cooperatives.
After residents have purchased the park, CDI works closely with the board of directors to teach them how to run the mobile home park as a democratic team, said Julia Curry, Co-Director of CDI’s New England Resident-Owned Communities (NEROC) Program.
“Part of the history Vermont has in being a leader is figuring out affordable housing,” Curry said. Cooperative Housing Specialist at CDI. “The steps we are taking are really good. A lot of other states do not have this law.”
Vermont’s approach has drawn national attention, Hanford said.
“The laws that govern Vermont’s mobile home park communities have been copied by a number of states, because it is viewed as one of the better models to provide some level of protection for folks that are fairly vulnerable because they don’t own the land that their homes sit on,” Hanford said.
In the midst of a housing crisis, Curry said interest in manufactured homes is growing.
“The housing crisis we are in is causing people to think about what could work for them, what their priorities are,” Curry said.
And for those people considering manufactured homes, LaRose says Colchester will continue to welcome them.
“We’re very proud of it because housing affordability has always been important through the decades. Now more than ever, access to affordable housing or access to any housing is pretty critical,” LaRose said.
Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship