The University of Vermont has been included in a $79,000 federal grant to join the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire in studying the impact of climate change on manufactured-home communities.
The money from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will help the three northern New England states strengthen their databases on manufactured-home communities and their vulnerabilities to climate change, said Daniel Baker, associate professor emeritus of community development and applied economics at UVM.
For years, UVM researchers have documented that manufactured-home communities are more vulnerable than other types of housing to flooding and high winds. The homes could also be more vulnerable to future heat waves because of poor or nonexistent air conditioning, the researchers found.
Amid concerns that climate change will worsen those impacts, the small grant aims to figure out how these communities can prepare for severe weather conditions. The three universities will work with their state climatologists.
Several years ago, Baker, Kelly Hamshaw, senior lecturer in community development and applied economics at UVM, and Scott Hamshaw, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university, built a database of mobile home parks in Vermont and their flood risk. They found that one-fifth of Vermont’s 236 manufactured-home communities are at least partially located in flood zones.
New Hampshire and Maine have yet to put together a database. The Vermonters hope to share their experience with the other states.
The researchers also hope to improve outreach to manufactured-home communities in all three states so they are aware of the risks they face and can take action to mitigate those risks.
Baker said manufactured-home communities are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change. High winds are a concern because of their potential to tear off roofs.
After Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, Baker and his colleagues found that manufactured-home communities were substantially more affected by the storm than other communities.
“Many mobile-home parks are located in areas that are particularly vulnerable to flooding,” Baker said. “We saw people losing their entire homes.”
In some parks, he said, most of the homes were devastated.
According to Kelly Hamshaw, 125 manufactured homes in 17 Vermont parks were destroyed in Tropical Storm Irene.