Bill targets dilapidated mobile homesRockyMountTelegram writes…..TARBORO – Edgecombe County officials are supporting an N.C. House bill that would help fund counties’ efforts to clear dilapidated mobile homes by placing some of the burden on homeowners.
The bill – which is sponsored by N.C. Rep. Joe Tolson, D-Edgecombe – would place a $300 state tax on the sale of new manufactured homes. The money would be placed in an account that counties could use to pay for the removal of abandoned mobile homes.
Tolson said unused mobile homes are an increasing problem in Edgecombe County and elsewhere in the state, and the bill is needed to ease the burden on counties to clean them up.
“We’re just trying to see what we can do about getting these homes removed, rather than just pulled back up against the woods or a vacant lot and left to deteriorate,” Tolson said. “We just want to explore this and see what the possibilities are.”
The bill has the support of Edgecombe County planning officials, who have been putting a greater focus on the issue. More than 5,500 mobile homes are located in the county, making up nearly a quarter of its total housing units, according to 2000 census data.
Planning Director Ola Pittman said abandoned mobile homes have grown over the years as people begin to switch out homes built in the 1970s and earlier for newer models, but are sometimes unwilling or financially incapable of getting rid of them.
That leaves many homes abandoned with no way to locate the owner, making the county responsible for removal. Pittman said it can cost the county up to $1,500 to dispose of an abandoned home, a burden the bill would help alleviate.
“I think it’s been a concern of all counties for some time now as our housing stocks get older,” Pittman said. “It would help us tremendously with the financial piece, which is the biggest piece.”
The abandoned mobile home problem is found all over the state. Adam Rust, a research director for the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina, said about 16 percent of the state’s population lives in mobile homes, and that about half of all vacant mobile homes are considered abandoned.
Rust pointed out that many of those homes are on leased land in trailer parks, making it difficult to locate the owners and creating a health and safety risk for neighbors.
“You may be keeping up with your home, but the person next to you may not be,” Rust said. “When you’ve got a different owner for the land and the unit, it becomes a much bigger problem.”
