Habitat for Humanity Acquires Vancouver Mobile Home Parks to Shield Residents from Investor Buyouts

Evergreen Habitat for Humanity is set to close this month on a $12 million acquisition of two neighboring manufactured home parks in the Hazel Dell area north of Vancouver, Washington — a first-of-its-kind move for the nonprofit and its largest project to date. The two parks, Hidden Village 1 and 2, contain roughly 60 mobile homes spread across 19 acres wedged between Interstate 5 and State Route 99. Plans include renovating existing homes and potentially developing the surrounding undeveloped land into additional affordable housing units.

The deal is financed through a combination of $8 million in Washington State funding — split evenly between a Housing Trust Fund grant and a 2026 legislative appropriation — and $4 million in private donations. Residents will pay below-market lot rents and hold 99-year land leases, with units reserved for income-qualified buyers if a current owner moves out, locking in affordability in perpetuity.

The acquisition targets a segment of the housing market increasingly under siege from corporate investors, who typically acquire mobile home parks and then raise lot rents — a particularly painful dynamic for residents who own their homes but lease the ground beneath them. In parts of Clark County, lot rents have more than doubled in recent years, hitting 55-and-older communities on fixed incomes especially hard. Heather Cochrun, Evergreen Habitat's director of community engagement and impact, noted that residents have responded with enthusiasm, with some expressing relief that someone finally cares about their situation again.

The broader Clark County region is grappling with a severe housing shortage. Vancouver's 2025 Housing Report found the city needs more than 500 new affordable units annually just to keep pace with population growth. In response, Vancouver enacted zoning changes in August barring the redevelopment of manufactured home parks into other uses, and the Clark County Council is weighing similar protections for unincorporated land, with a public meeting on the topic scheduled for September 14.