Mobile home bill gains Intergovernmental Relations Steering Committee’s support

Legislation would provide for cleanup of abandoned units

Also see:
NCDENR PowerPoint presentation: Managing End-of-Life Mobile Homes

By Jason King
Information and Communications Specialist

Take a drive through any of North Carolina’s rural counties and chances are it won’t be long until you spot a derelict mobile home sitting in an overgrown lot. Most of these homes are uninhabitable and considered blight on the countryside.

Rep. Phil Haire encouraged members of the Intergovernmental Relations Steering Committee – including Jones County Manager Larry Meadows – to contact their state senators and representatives to support H1288. (Photo by Jason King)

Rep. Phil Haire (Jackson County), who has sponsored legislation that would provide funds to help pay for the cleanup of abandoned mobile homes, addressed members of the NCACC Intergovernmental Relations Steering Committee on Feb. 22 to garner support for H1288.

The bill would establish an advance disposal fee on the sale of new and used manufactured homes, with the money going toward the removal and deconstruction of existing abandoned structures.

“I think it’s a win-win situation for everybody,” said Haire, who compared the proposed disposal program to what is now in place for white goods and scrap tires.

Steering committee members debated several potential options for the bill before voting to support a version that allowed for a voluntary county program in which fees could be collected at point of sale or the county permit office. Once paid, the fee would be assigned to the home’s VIN number. The dealer or county would remit the fee to the state, which would then reimburse counties for each home removed.

H1288 originally would have levied a $300 fee on the sale of each new or used single-wide home, or $300 per section for a multi-section home. Paul Meyer, NCACC assistant general counsel, said that amount had since been negotiated to $1,000 to more closely align with the true cost of deconstruction and disposal of a mobile home.

According to Jim Hickman, a local government assistance team leader with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the cost of removing and disposing of a single-wide home can run between $750 and $1,500. Roughly 30 percent of the structure can be recycled.

Burke, Harnett and Onslow counties participated in a 2004 pilot program that was jointly funded by the NCACC and the N.C. Manufactured Housing Institute. Only a handful of counties have an abandoned manufactured home disposal fund, and some are paying to get rid of the abandoned homes out of their general funds.

Scotland County’s Solid Waste Department enacted a program in June 2004 that requires property owners to foot the bill for removing the homes.

County Solid Waste Enforcement Officer J.R. Horne said the Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance designating homes that are “declared unsafe or unfit for repair by the county engineer” as demolition waste.

The county starts by sending a letter notifying the property owner of a violation. If the county cannot get a response from the property owner, the county can pursue legal action and even take out a lien on the property.

“The key to this is an ordinance,” Horne said. “The D.A. is behind it. The commissioners are behind it.”

Horne said the county has yet to levy a fine on any property owner.

“We work with them on a time frame,” Horne said. “That’s a key to it. You’ve got to work with them.”

In addition to being a potential detriment to economic development, the abandoned homes harbor a more dangerous potential.

“This is the kind of place that meth labs go to,” said Cumberland County Commissioner Breeden Blackwell, who chairs the steering committee. “As you know, it’s an epidemic all over the country.

“If you live in a county where it is a problem, you’ve got to have help to clean it up.”

At 16.4 percent, North Carolina ranks fifth among states for percentage of houses that are mobile or manufactured, according to the 2000 Census. The NCACC estimated two years ago that 40,000 mobile homes stood abandoned in the state.

The bill, which is also sponsored by Rep. Robert Grady (Onslow County), was referred during the 2005 session to the House Finance Committee. It is eligible for consideration in the 2006 short session.

At the NCACC’s 2005 Legislative Goals Conference, members adopted a goal to “support the creation of a legislative study concerning the disposal of abandoned manufactured housing.”