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+--- Thread: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term (/showthread.php?tid=19613)
Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - MarkD - 05-20-2018
In poster pbmaise’s thread Adapting housing to lava flows and S02 (posted in “Building in Puna"), the topic of mobile homes arose.
Discussion seems to have stalled there; it is worthwhile to restart it here, given the acute housing crisis that is emerging.
http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/05/big-island-its-nearly-impossible-to-find-a-place-to-rent-these-days/
Mobile home use is justified as an emergency measure for homelessness. It is also justified long-term for life on lava zones; people could move their homes to escape lava flows. They might return to their properties after the lava has cooled and been graded.
Mobile homes are illegal in Hawaii for general use, according to the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. A possible option for legalizing these homes over the objections of various interests would be to allow their use only in lava prone areas. This would exclude all islands except Hawaii. Code could be written that limits mobile home use to certain lava zone classifications.
(Arguably mobile homes should be legal statewide, but some use in parts of Hawaii Island is better than no use at all.)
Here is a 2016 article and video from the Grassroot Institute:
http://www.grassrootinstitute.org/2016/06/why-are-there-no-mobile-home-parks-in-hawaii/
Excerpts from clip (multiple speakers):
“The cheapest form of low cost and good housing is mobile homes...that’s outlawed on the islands...it’s so amusing because there’s exceptions to that rule: They allow contractors to have mobile offices...they use the trailers that in Alabama would be used for housing...
...developers...don’t want the competition of the trailers...the power of the lobbyists, the union and construction industry are not friendly towards competition like this...
A mobile home or prefab home...can be constructed on the mainland...and put on a barge and come over here...the trailers are unbelievably inexpensive....you can buy a high class home for $50,000...you can buy a used mobile home on the mainland for $3,000 and a nice new one for $15,000...
We’re paying a medium price of a house here of about $650,000-$700,000 and half of the price is the construction..."
So the construction companies that have been so instrumental in banning mobile homes from Hawaii carved out an exception for their own use...No surprise here. #$@&%*!!
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - terracore - 05-20-2018
Just out of curiosity, are modular homes also forbidden? They would make more sense because they take less volume to ship. And developers would get paid to assemble them, so not sure why they would opposed them.
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - leilanidude - 05-20-2018
The concern used by the anti mobile home crowd (union construction trades) has always been hurricane resistance. However, in Puna, that is is easily mitigated since we have an abundance of rock to anchor hold downs with. Besides, with the extremely shoddy construction I have seen in homes in Hawaii, this should be a moot point.
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - kalakoa - 05-20-2018
Mobile homes are illegal in Hawaii for general use
Citation needed. Again, I've seen them in the wild: mobile home, trailer, and a "tiny house" built on a trailer platform.
Grassroots article only states that mobile home parks are illegal -- and that's really just a zoning issue, disallowing multiple dwelling units on a single lot.
They allow contractors to have mobile offices...
Pull an owner-build permit -- presto, you're a general contractor, coordinating your specialty subcontractors.
Containers are permittable according to these guys:
http://affordableportablehousing.com/simplehome.html
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - randomq - 05-20-2018
We need to strike while the
valerie.poindexter@hawaiicounty.gov
aaron.chung@hawaiicounty.gov
sue.leeloy@hawaiicounty.gov
eileen.ohara@hawaiicounty.gov
jen.ruggles@hawaiicounty.gov
maile.david@hawaiicounty.gov
dru.kanuha@hawaiicounty.gov
karen.eoff@hawaiicounty.gov
tim.richards@hawaiicounty.gov
We can solve lava-risk, emergency housing, and affordable housing with one small bill.
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - terracore - 05-20-2018
Thanks Kalakoa for clearing that up. It didn't make sense to me that they could "outlaw" the mobile homes themselves because the manufacturers could make models that would comply with whatever ridiculous requirements they want to come up with.
I had read previously that only high-cube containers could be permitted. I'm not sure where that was, it might have been a conversation I had with the guy from the link you posted.
ETA: guy
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - kalakoa - 05-20-2018
I had read previously that only high-cube containers could be permitted.
Without digging through HCC, I can only guess that there's a ceiling height requirement -- I've seen this in other jurisdictions, where the square footage calculation only includes interior portions of the house with ceilings higher than 7'6", lower ceilings are "allowable" but can't be used as "living space".
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - Seeb - 05-20-2018
There is manufacturered housing with higher wind rateings than anything built in Hawaii. There are tie-downs for anchors, seismic is not an issue
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - kalakoa - 05-20-2018
HCC chapter 61 stipulates requirements for "factory-built housing", basically the same rules apply -- and section 6108 probably explains why we don't have any:
Inspections. The building official shall make periodic in-plant inspections to verify
that the FBH produced comply with the plans as approved by the building official.
Chapter 62 describes how thatched roofing is acceptable "upon buildings zoned for resort uses when approved by the building official" provided that adequate fire sprinklers are installed. By this logic, tarps with fire sprinklers could be approved by the building official (if they wanted).
RE: Yes to Mobile Homes for Puna - Short & Long Term - punaticbychoice - 05-20-2018
Class 2 (HUD defined) mobile/manufactured homes are designed to withstand 155 mph wind.
Seismically, if anchored to the rock common in these parts, at least an 8 quake
should be OK, survivable, habitable.
However, class 1, is 95 mph wind max. Not sure about seismic specs for class 1.