LA GRANDE A local home builder is offering a small solution to a countywide housing problem tiny homes.

Megan Fehrenbacher, owner of Mega Tiny Homes in La Grande, has been building tiny homes for just over two years, starting out with a small cottage she built after a friends retreat burned down in Tollgate.

Fehrenbacher said the business has an important role in not only building affordable homes for the community, but as a form of rehabilitation. She said she had grown frustrated with substance abuse treatment centers, which she saw as a retreat that did not prepare its graduates for life after therapy.

I wanted to start a work rehab, where they dont just go to rehab and talk about themselves, Fehrenbacher said.

The inspiration comes from her son, who she said struggled with substance abuse disorders in the past. Now, shes helping to build futures.

My son went through 18 rehabs, said Fehrenbacher, noting the most beneficial to her sons health were work rehabs, where he would spend time on farms or recycling centers working and building up his marketable skills.

All of the other rehabs, he would get out and nobody wanted him, Fehrenbacher said. I said to myself, I can do this better.

She built her first tiny home with the assistance of Stacey Bowman, who now works for Mega Tiny Homes.

I learned a lot, Fehrenbacher said.

Navigating through the codes and requirements of homebuilding, such as proper electrical work, was a challenge for the fledgeling homebuilder. Still, orders began coming in.

Her first order was for 60 houses. However, the order was a sham, with the buyer fronting the money for only five houses. Fehrenbacher was wary and able to keep her business from going into excess debt.

Tiny houses, which have experienced a huge increase in support over the past decade, have attracted young homeowners and elderly alike. The low-cost of entry allows first-time homebuyers to get a foot in a market that increased dramatically since the 2009 housing crisis, which saw foreclosures across the country and downwardly spiraling home prices that left many with negative equity. And older homebuyers are interested in smaller spaces, due to children leaving the home and having excess space.

Tiny homes often are confused with modular or manufactured homes, which Fehrenbacher said have lower quality than her companys tiny homes. While manufactured homes have improved over the years, the stigma around them remains, as well as often true stereotypes of cheaper materials and workmanship in their construction.

For Fehrenbacher, the focus is on quality.

We definitely build a heavy and nice house, she said.

There is a drawback, however. In Oregon, tiny homes are technically illegal to sell instead, Fehrenbacher markets her homes as trailers or cabins to work around the prohibition.

Of the workers at Mega Tiny Homes, Ray Valdez is the most dedicated. Prior to his employment, he would walk to the manufacturer each work day, sit down for lunch and wait for his chance to work.

At first, Fehrenbacher wasnt interested in hiring the man. After a week, Valdez left. Fehrenbacher asked her employees which car he drove. They replied he didnt. She ran after the man and hired him on for a week. She said Valdez is her most crucial employee.

Hes the man, she said.

As home prices around the state continue to rise, Fehrenbacher said she hoped the legislation around tiny homes changes, and her business helps to solve the housing issues in La Grande and Union County.

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Little homes in the valley | Local News | lagrandeobserver.com - La Grande Observer

With winds up to 140 mph, a tornado that carved a nine-mile path through St. Landry Parish on April 9 into the next morning killed one person, injured seven and damaged 15 homes.

About 180 miles north in Shreveport, the same storm system killed a 48-year-old man when a powerful gust knocked a tree onto his mobile home.

The severe weather came just weeks after a tornado outbreak wreaked potentially millions of dollars in damage from flash floods, harsh winds and hail in Louisiana and surrounding states.

Some experts say the storms are part of an alarming trend: tornadoes are spinning up more often in Louisiana. A recent analysis by E&E News of the past 70 years of tornado activity in the southeastern United States shows tornado activity in the Deep South is more prevalent than once thought.

Increased attention on tornadoes in the South has given rise to a belief and public perception that the traditional tornado alley in the Great Plains is shifting southeast. But several experts say that likely isnt the case.

We need to be very cautious with the idea of tornado alley shifting, said Sean Sublette, a meteorologist for Climate Central, an organization that researches climate change and its impacts. Tornadoes are not leaving the Plains and migrating to the Southeast.

Weather researchers from Norman, Oklahoma on Monday were employing drones to comb the St. Landry Parish area near the site of a Saturday torna

Instead, theres been an increased focus on tracking tornadoes in whats sometimes referred to as Dixie Alley, an area covering the lower Mississippi River valley and through the Deep South. The area also covers northern and central Louisiana.

Tornadoes commonly seen in the South and the ones that typically spin up in Louisiana are often tough to spot and arent as eye-catching and iconic as those captured by storm chasers in the Great Plains.

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Still, rougher terrain and a plethora of manufactured homes make concentrated twisters more perilous in southeast states.

Deaths caused by tornadoes have been slowly ticking up over the past four years in Louisiana. At least five people were killed by them last year, up from two in 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Storms that produce tornadoes in Dixie Alley have also been undercounted for years, said Brad Bryant, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service in Shreveport. It wasnt until the late 90s and early 2000s that researchers began taking a closer look at how often they happen.

I think the general weather community got more of a sense that there are a whole lot more tornadoes happening in the Southeast than previously thought, Bryant said. Theres more understanding of these tornadoes.

Understanding how frequently they happen in the region has prompted agencies like the National Weather Service to look closer at where tornadoes happen over the years.

Often, the agency will send survey teams to check for signs of a twister, but it can sometimes be days before theyre able to confirm whether one touched down.

Thats because tornadoes here tend to be short-lived, especially near the coast, and coverage from trees and rain can mask them. Theyre also generally weaker than those in the Great Plains, but their sporadic nature and ability to spin up during storms can make them just as dangerous.

One theory behind the increase in tornadoes in southern states is areas in the southwestern U.S. becoming hotter and drier. That in turn could be creating a wetter and more unstable atmosphere thats capable of producing more tornadic activity.

Experts have also observed differences in the numbers of violent storms that coincide with ocean temperatures. Because of the cyclical nature of weather patterns, more data over a longer period is needed to see if tornadoes are happening more frequently in Louisiana, Bryant said.

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Are tornadoes moving from the plains to the South and Louisiana? Not likely, experts say - The Advocate

Forest Rivers Sunseeker Classic motor home is built on a Ford E-450 chassis, framed with vacuum-bonded laminate, and crammed with features the armchair outdoorsman would never consider. On the 31-foot model I piloted recently, those included a propane furnace to keep the cabin toasty in freezing temperatures, two refrigerators (one for the indoor kitchen and one for the outdoor one), three sleeping areas, and dozens of cabinets, drawers, and compartments to conceal disorder.

All that engineering was pretty satisfying at the campsite. On the road it was noisy, adding clatter and a little bit of mysteryhoney, did you hear that?to the task of keeping a 14,500-pound motor home upright going over winding mountain roads and through crowded interchanges. At least thats how I saw it. Like a real RV dad, I was doing my best to ignore the complaints of the unhappy campers with whom I was sharing the cabin. My kids had been slugging each other periodically, and when the iPad ran out of juice they tossed markers in my direction. My wife, Eleanor, had a premonition somewhere in the Allegheny Mountains and was now certain our brakes were about to give out. And that was before I opened an artery in my hand with a hatchet and wound up riding an ambulance from an obscure state park to an emergency room, asking myself how, exactly, Id come to believe this would be a relaxing vacation.

The Clark familyin Elkhart.

Photographer: Lyndon French for Bloomberg Businessweek

It had started some months earlier, when Id convinced the editors of Bloomberg Businessweek that we should visit Elkhart, Ind., where the worlds largest RV companies are based. Elkhart, which is about halfway between Ohio and Illinois and just south of the Michigan state line, may not be known as a tourist destination. But, as Id insisted to Eleanor, its a surprisingly bucolic place, where Amish farms mix with factories.

The vaccine was just starting to become widely available when we arrived at the end of March, and RVs remained compelling to travelers understandably turned off by the idea of sharing an airport waiting room or hotel lounge with a nose-masking stranger. Meanwhile, large portions of the American workforce were continuing to log in to the office virtually, creating an opportunity for the younger and more adventurous to work from the road, integrating their jobs into the #vanlife. Even the Oscar-winning film Nomadland romanticized this lifestyle in its own way.

The pandemic has been good for owners of vacation rental properties and shareholders of Airbnb Inc. Its also been great for the RV industry. After all, a motor home (or travel trailer, which is an RV you drag behind your car or truck) is like a halfway house to nature, perfect for indoorsy types who still enjoy national parks and retirees looking for a safe way to drive across the country to see their grandchildren. And so, starting last spring, people began canceling European honeymoons and going to RV dealerships instead. The motor-home-curious flocked to rental offices and Airbnb-style sharing websites. This drove so much demand for new RVs that by the time we got to Elkhart, help wanted signs were calling out from factory gates and roadside billboards.

Conventional wisdom says that workers and vacationers are on the road back to pre-pandemic norms. But its also possible that the sudden embrace of RVs signals the beginning of a longer-term trenda future in which tech executives and second-grade teachers finish their last Zoom of the day, emerge from their respective travel trailers to gather around a campfire, and unwind over cold beers and hot smores. Lets hope theyll all be trained to chop kindling safely.

There was really only one way to find out how realistic that vision was. When the kids school headed into spring break, I took the family to Elkhart, picked up the Sunseeker, and hit the road.

The Sunseeker in action.

Photographer: Lyndon French for Bloomberg Businessweek

The vacation, such as it was, started at the Thor Motor Coach Class B plant in Bristol, Ind., right outside Elkhart. It was, to the extent such a thing is possible, ground zero for the RV boomthe place where the biggest company makes its hottest models. Although a cold front was threatening ominously, it was sunny. Inside, workers wearing T-shirts ducked in and out of a procession of Ram ProMasters that snaked around the factory floor. Plumbers, carpenters, and electricians did their thing. A horn would honk, and a van shell would roll down the line to the next station.

Indiana, where more than 80% of North Americas RVs are made, came to play an outsize role in the industry more or less by accident. In one version of the story, the son of a prominent Elkhart merchant was captivated by the travel trailers hed encountered at the 1933 Worlds Fair in Chicago and begged his parents for startup capital. His success inspired other entrepreneurs, and a network of companies sprung up to manufacture motor homes and supply the nascent industry with specialized suspension systems, gas ranges, and refrigerators. Over the decades, the ranks of once independent RV companies consolidated into a small group of conglomerates, the biggest of which are in Elkhart.

Thor Industries Inc., which accounted for roughly 40% of all RV sales last year, is one of them. The company was founded in 1980 by a descendant of the brewer Adolphus Busch and spent the ensuing four decades acquiring manufacturers, including Airstream Inc., Jayco Inc., and a dozen other makes youve probably gawked at on the highway. Thors lineage and its thirst for acquisitions make it a little like the Anheuser-Busch of motor homes. Forest River Inc., which is owned by Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and which owns Coachmen RV, Shasta RV, and other manufacturers, is the second-biggest: the industrys Heineken, as it were. Forest River is based in Elkhart, too.

Data: Compiled by Bloomberg

Thor, like the rest of the industry, had been focused on building travel trailers and larger motorized coaches, which might have a washer-dryer and theater seating. But in recent years Class B motor homeswhat the rest of us call camper vanshave been the fastest-growing segment. Class B vehicles are easier to drive without sacrificing too many amenities. Thors TMC Tellaro, for instance, is a 20-footer that can sleep up to four semicomfortably. Depending on the model, it can also cram in two propane burners, a microwave, a kitchen sink, a full (if tiny) bath, and an innovation called a cassette toileta commode that empties into a tank that works like a rollaway suitcase. That feature, I was told, is big in Europe.

Thors Martin.

Photographer: Lyndon French for Bloomberg Businessweek

Factories in Elkhart County shut down in March 2020 and reopened in May. But despite having been offline for two months, manufacturers delivered more RVs last year than they did the year before. More than 530,000 vehicles will be shipped to North American RV dealers this year, a record, according to estimates from the RV Industry Association.

Our products were kind of built for something like this, said Thor Chief Executive Officer Bob Martin, a former offensive lineman at Purdue University who spoke to me across the length of a conference table overlooking the scenic St. Joseph River. RVs had normally been the domain of snowbirds, motor sports enthusiasts, mountain climbers, pet owners, pro golfers, touring rock bands, and all manner of germophobes. The pandemic has added to those ranks, created new ones, and, of course, proved the germophobes right. Our customers think about those kinds of things, he said. They know who cleaned their RV, because they cleaned it. They know who has been allowed in the unit, because its their unit.

The earliest RVs were basically tents on wheels, covered wagons that hitched to cars instead of horses. But it didnt take long for a group of entrepreneurs to realize they could make more money by complicating things. By the late 1930s, Elkhart was already delivering extravagant travel trailers that anticipated the bigger-is-better fifth wheels (a technical term for a trailer that hangs over the bed of a pickup truck). Some innovations, like the slide-out sections that make an RV wider at the campsite, were widely adopted. Others were not. Long before it was acquired by Thor, Jayco made a pontoon-camper hybrid called the Camp-n-Cruise. It sold poorly. Winnebago Industries Inc., based in Iowa, briefly sold a flying RV called the Heli-Home. It was a neat idea, said Al Hesselbart, the retired staff historian at Elkharts RV/MH Hall of Fame Museum & Library, a facility dedicated to the glories of recreational vehicles and manufactured housing. But it was one of those giant steps that was way too big for the customers.

These days RV companies are still cramming their products full of products. Higher-end motor homes include gas fireplaces and heated tile floors. The plant manager at Rev Group Inc.s Renegade RV factory bragged about the Amish-built cabinetry his employees were installing. An executive at Gulf Stream Coach Inc. boasted of his companys cradle of strength system for lowering the vehicles center of gravity and making it easier to drive. At Nexus RV, co-founder Claude Donati showed off 4x4 drivetrains aimed at improving towing capacity, perfect for hauling a $200,000 sports car behind a $200,000 RV.

A Renegade RV is assembled in Bristol.

Photographer: Lyndon French for Bloomberg Businessweek

Photographer: Lyndon French for Bloomberg Businessweek

Their enthusiasm was only slightly diminished by rising production costs. Skilled workers in need of employment are hard to find in northern Indiana right now, and good ones are commanding higher wages, said Donati. Finding parts is an even bigger problem. When Nexus normal supplier of wheel well liners ran out of inventory this spring, the company found them on Amazon. It bought mattresses online at Wayfair and generators off the shelf at a Menards hardware store. Its like, do we ship it without a generator? Donati asked. You might be putting someone in a position not to have as much fun.

Id rented our Sunseeker from an outfit called Road Bear RV, which, as it turned out, was facing a similar predicament. A week before we arrivedwe drove a normal rental car to get thereI got an email from the reservation desk alerting me to a pitfall of renting an RV in March: I could hook up the RV to a water supply, but Id have to take responsibility if the pipes burst. This didnt seem like a big deal at the time, but then the cold front swept in, promising overnight temperatures in the 20s. The safe plan, a Road Bear representative said, would be to camp without running water.

If Road Bear was worried Id get an incomplete experience, they didnt show it. RV rental companies, much like the rest of the industry, have spent the past year riding the Covid-19 roller coaster. Road Bear and its sister company, El Monte RV, had traditionally done most of their business with tourists from Europe, who were shut out of the U.S. by travel bans. But domestic demand was more than picking up the slack. Road Bears parent, a company in Auckland that had started out running helicopter tours in New Zealand, increased U.S. rental revenue 30% in the second half of 2020, compared with the year before.

The Road Bear rental office was situated in the back corner of an empty lot on Forest Rivers Elkhart campus, in a corrugated metal building that would have looked to the uninitiated like a good place to do something illegal. Inside, a counter was mounted in front of the broadside of a motor home called a Coachmen Leprechaun. Would our RV lead us to a pot of gold or a pot of something else? A clerk took my credit card and handed over a packet of toilet chemicals.

We had rented the RV through Road Bears factory direct program, an offering it developed to help solve a key logistical problem. The company manufactures its RVs in Indiana, but its offices are near major cities. So Road Bear offers renters their choice of the companys RVs for $9 a day to pick up a motor home in Elkhart and drive it to a rental location. After insurance, campsite fees, and gas, our trip worked out to about $170 a day.

At first glance, the Sunseeker compared well to the types of hotel rooms we could get for the money. For one thing, there was a semblance of privacy: My 7-year-old daughter claimed the loft over the cab, and my 5-year-old son slept on the pull-out sofa in the living area. My wife and I had the master bedroom at the back, with wardrobes and a television.

On the other hand, the Sunseeker was a lot more complicated to operate than a two-queen room at the Hilton. When we took possession of the motor home, a Road Bear employee spent 15 minutes walking us around the vehicle while delivering a series of commandments. Start the engine and engage the emergency brake before you extend the slide-outs. Turn off the propane before you fill the gas tank. If you must use the toilet, flush with windshield wiper fluid, because it has a lower freezing point than water.

Scenes from the road.

Photographer: Patrick Clark for Bloomberg Businessweek

We camped in Elkhart that evening, celebrating Eleanors birthday with McDonalds and cheesecake, and soon realized that the Road Bear tutorial had been somewhat inadequate. The RV beeped and buzzed for reasons we couldnt account for. The internet told us to make sure we flipped the breaker before plugging an RV into a power source, but there was no breaker in the electrical box at our first parking slot. I took a breath, imagined offing my family in an electrical explosion, and plugged in. Nothing bad happened, but a couple of hours later we had to spend 10 minutes looking for an elusive light switch. I woke up cold in the middle of the night, dialed up the thermostat, and then smelled something burning. A bit of Googling indicated that the smell was probably just construction debris left in the furnace. To be safe, I turned off the heat and went back to sleep.

Id been warned that a new RV takes a little while to get used to, and moreover that RVing was a lifestyle for people with a certain capacity for self-reliance. RVers had to be comfortable driving a big rig and making minor repairs. Yes, they appreciated modern conveniences such as dishwashers and satellite television, but they also didnt mind cramming themselves into tiny showers or acquiring a basic understanding of electrical system design.

Even before we left Elkhart, it was clear my family might not quite meet this description. I had bought the hatchet as a jokeit was on one of the checklists wed found on the internet covering what to pack on an RV tripand I figured Id buy wood and fire-starters like any basic urbanite. But theres something about having driven a rickety house-car up a windy Appalachian hillside that makes you feel vastly more capable than you actually are. And so I found myself making kindling at Little Beaver State Park near Beckley, W.Va. A light snow was falling, and my children pulled up their camp chairs to watch me nurse the fire while Eleanor cooked burgers on the electric stove that folded down from the motor homes outdoor kitchen. Then my hatchet blade slipped. I didnt feel pain, at least not at first.

Clockwise from top left: The author, grooming at Jellystone Park; dinner in Kentucky; the case for not making your own kindling; the outdoor kitchen.

Photographer: Patrick Clark for Bloomberg Businessweek

Getting to the emergency room in rural West Virginia seemed like it would be an order of magnitude harder than plugging in a motor home. My first instinct was to wrap my wound in a towel and hope. Eleanor didnt think that was a solution and called 911. By 2 a.m.after a 30-minute ambulance ride to Raleigh General Hospital, where the staff sewed me up and called me a cab back to the campsiteI faced a new set of questions.

Could I drive the Sunseeker with nine stitches in my hand? (I thought so.) Did Eleanor want to drive? (No. She didnt.) Were our collective nerves too fried to face another drive through the mountains? (Yes.) Did we have enough propane in the tank to last another day of freezing temperatures? (Maybe?) In the end, we spent a rest day in Little Beaver, ordered Dominos, and shut the doors against the cold.

The guy dressed like Ranger Smith at the camp store in Luray, Va., heard me say my name and made a crack about Clark Griswold, the everyman played by Chevy Chase who dragged his family through hilarious misadventures in the Vacation movies. I didnt mind. Jellystone Park resort, the Yogi Bear-themed chain of RV campgrounds, felt like a party, and, after the ER visit, a relatively safe one. Kids jumped on bouncy pillows and waved at a bear who was riding around on the back of a golf cart. Adults played classic rock at respectful volumes and tended their fires.

A strange thing about RVing is that you can theoretically go anywhere, but many people take their vehicles to glorified parking lots so they can make camp 20 feet away from the next group. This is not universally true: Some stay for free at Walmart parking lots and national forests. But RVerslike motorcyclists and Jeep peoplelike being around their own kind. That often means in diagonal rows of RV-size spaces, each one with an electrical box, a water spigot, and a hole in the ground to connect the tube that empties waste. Usually theres a picnic table. Sometimes theres a way to hook up to cable TV.

Snapshots from the Clarks vacation, including, top left, a post-injury indulgence.

Photographer: Patrick Clark for Bloomberg Businessweek

The Luray Jellystone was a little bit like that, but its RV sites were built into a hillside and along a grassy quad, making it feel less like a parking lot and more like a summer camp, where we could enjoy the kinship of a hundred or so families who also recognized the pleasures and pains of vacationing in a house-car. The temperature had started climbing, and so we were able to plug the Sunseeker into the municipal water supply. I flipped the switch on the electric water heater (having learned to conserve propane) and took a hot shower. More important, I was finally able to complete an important rite of passage: I got to empty the wastewater tank.

Our campsite at Jellystone didnt have a sewage hookup, and it took two laps around the park before I managed to pull up on the correct side of the communal dumping station. I affixed one end of an accordion tube to the Sunseekers undercarriage, screwed the other end to a concrete basin, and pulled a gray handle to empty water from the sinks and shower.

It was easier than I expected, but there was a catch. Everything on the Sunseeker was new, but the tube that Road Bear had supplied me with was not, and when I pulled the plunger, water poured through slits in its midsection. I should have realized what would happen next, but then I pulled the handle to release the toilet tank. Wastewater came pouring through the slits and onto the gravel road next to the basin. In a flash, I understood the appeal of Thors poop suitcase.

On the drive north from Virginia, we assessed the vacation. I had liked driving the RV, clatter and all, and loved pressing the button that made it expand, though the size of the vehicle made it inconvenient for side trips and excursions. Eleanor agreed that the Sunseeker was big enough to provide a bit of privacy, but small enough to be an intimate space for a family of four. That was nice. It had probably been a worthwhile adventure, and she would never do it again.

Which was fine. I got my first vaccine shot shortly after we returned the Sunseeker to the Road Bear office in industrial New Jersey. A few days later we booked airplane tickets to visit family in Florida. The kids went back to school full time, a triumphant moment that signaled the end of what for me had been the most difficult and best parts of the pandemic. Trying to maintain Zoom-school discipline and tending to the emotions of kids whod been separated from their friends was terrible. On the other hand, Ill probably never spend as much time with them again.

I didnt know it, but when I stepped out of the puddle of wastewater at Jellystone Park, the worst of the pandemic was probably behind us in the U.S. (Fingers crossed.) There had been a water hose nearby, but I couldnt figure out how to get it to work, so I gave up on cleaning up after myself and approached the driver behind me to apologize. Its our first time doing this, I told him. We rented this thing. I kind of made a mess.

Thats OK, he said. I hope you had a good time.Read next: JetBlues Founder Is Preparing to Launch a New Airline in a Global Pandemic

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Pandemic Vacation: What We Learned Driving 1,100 Miles in an RV - Bloomberg

Blanca Tamayo was dying when she arrived at UCI Medical Center. She had been shot in the head and her two children were among the four killed in a mass shooting in Orange five weeks ago.

A team of doctors, surgeons and nurses saved her life and cared for her as she recovered. Now, the sole survivor of the tragedy that unfolded on March 31 was being released.

For the record:

1:36 PM, May. 06, 2021An earlier version of this article referred to Luis Tovar as Blanca Tamayos ex-husband. The two were never married.

On Wednesday, Tamayo sat quietly in a wheelchair, holding two flower bouquets and wearing a T-shirt with an image of her 9-year-old son, Matthew Farias, who died in her arms that day.

This hospital has been great, Tamayo said in a low, raspy voice. I have my family, the father of my boy and my son who love me and support me and Im thankful for that.

She paused, placed her right hand over her chest and cried for Matthew.

Hes an angel and hes with God now, his mother said.

At that moment, words failed her. Her daughter, 28-year-old Genevieve Raygoza, was also killed.

Kneeling down next to her, 25-year-old Louis Tovar Jr. whispered comforting words to his mother. Tovar, whose father and two siblings were killed in the shooting, said the road to recovery will be long for his mother.

Im excited to have her back home, he said. Just happy to have her back for Mothers Day.

Tamayo said her only plan for Mothers Day was to spend it with family.

Try and enjoy whatever life God has left me, she said.

Blanca Ismeralda Tamayo, with her son Louis Tovar Jr., pauses in an emotional moment at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The mass shooting occurred on the evening of the last day of March in a commercial building that housed several businesses, including Unified Homes, a manufactured-home dealer and real estate company that the gunman targeted.

Orange Police Department detectives alleged that Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, 44, drove a rental car to the building at 202 W. Lincoln Ave. They alleged that Gonzalez used bicycle-type locks to shut the front and rear entrances before carrying out the shooting, targeting mostly employees of Unified Homes.

The incident, the third mass shooting in the United States that month, stunned the quiet north Orange neighborhood.

In addition to Genevieve and Matthew, the dead included the owner of the business, Luis Tovar, 50, and longtime company employee Leticia Solis Guzman, 58.

Tamayo was found holding Matthew in her arms, family said. The day of the shooting just happened to be one of the days that Matthew had accompanied his mom to work at Unified Homes instead of going to day care, family said.

Louis Tovar Jr. said his mother was shot twice in the head and once in the arm.

Michael Lekawa, head surgeon at UCI Medical Center, said Tamayos gunshot wounds caused some facial fractures and she required brain surgery.

Lekawa, who was assisting the night the mass shooting happened, said head injuries can be among the most catastrophic a person can experience. Looking at Tamayo, he said he expected her to recover well at least physically.

Gonzalez, the suspected gunman, was wounded after exchanging fire with police officers. Authorities said officers were forced to use bolt cutters to gain entrance.

A photo released by authorities showed a man entering the business dressed in black and gray with sunglasses, a baseball hat and black bandana covering his face. He had a backpack on his left shoulder and a gun in his right hand.

Authorities said they recovered a semiautomatic handgun and a backpack with pepper spray, handcuffs and ammunition that they say belong to the suspect.

Gonzalez, who has not been arraigned, is facing four murder counts and three attempted-murder counts for firing at two officers who were not struck and for critically wounding Tamayo, according to a statement that Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer released last month after filing the charges.

The taking of the life of another human being is the most serious of crimes, he said. And the slaughter of multiple people while they were essentially locked in a shooting gallery is nothing short of terrifying.

Detectives say they dont have a motive for the shooting. They are also looking at how the suspect obtained the firearm.

Back at the hospital Wednesday afternoon, Rafael Farias stood by himself a short distance away, watching his wife address the media. He wore a golden rosary with a photo of his smiling son, Matthew. Farias said losing his boy triggered memories of his own father, who died when he was 3. He has tried to take it one day at a time, focusing on supporting his wife and expressing gratitude to the hospital staff, family, friends and the public.

Im just grateful for this miracle, he said, looking over at Tamayo. I might not be able to see my son anymore, but I can at least see him through her.

Farias said hes going to focus on helping his wife while she continues to recover from her injuries. He said shes going to need 24-hour supervision and help moving around so she can avoid injuring herself.

I have a very quiet and calm environment for her and for her family to come over and visit, he said.

Farias said all he can do now is try to move forward as best he can. I have to continue living life for [my son], for his life, he said. I have to stay strong-minded.

Farias described Matthew as a smart, charismatic, athletic and energetic little boy. He said he loved seeing how happy he was around his mother.

He would give her kisses and flowers and hugged her every time he got the chance, he said.

Farias hoped to watch his son grow up and play sports.

I wanted to be his No. 1 fan, he said.

He said every now and then, he has dreams of him. He smiles thinking about it.

Hes joyful and happy, he said.

Hes up in heaven now and I know hes running around chasing his sister Genevieve, the boys father added.

In one dream, Farias said, he saw his son at the grocery store sitting on top of a shelf. He asked his son what he was doing up there and his son said he was just thinking.

I told him come on down, he said, recalling. Thats when I hugged him and I wake up from the dream.

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Mother who survived Orange mass shooting but lost two children leaves hospital - Los Angeles Times

AWAY 100 FREE CIGARETTE WASTE RECEPTACLES TO LOCAL BUSINESSES. >> IF A LOCAL BUSINESS WANTS TO HELP DO THEIR PART AND ENSURE THAT THEIR CUSTOMERS OR THEIR EMPLOYEES HAVE A SAFE PLACE TO DISPOSE OF THEIR BUTTS WE JUST ENCOURAGE THEM TO APPLY. JACLYN WEVE GOTTEN SOME HEAVY DOWN FOREST. A LOT OF LIGHTNING STRIKES AS WELL. SOME OF THAT HEAVY RAIN HEAD RIGHT FOR US. WINSTON-SALEM IN THE SECOND THIS. FURTHER SOUTH YOU CAN SEE WHAT ITS DOING IN OTHER PARTS OF THE STATE. THIS IS A TORNADO WARNING. THIS STAYS IN EFFE UNTIL 1:15. HERES WHAT WE KNOW AT THIS POINT. A FEW MINUTES AGO THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER DECIDED THAT OUR AREA INCLUDING THE TRIAD IS NOW UNDER A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER INSTEAD OF THE MARGINAL RISK THEY HAD ORIGINALLY PUT US UNDER. SCATTERED SEVERE STORM THREAT, AREAS OF WIND DAMAGE ARE LIKELY. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALS POSSIBLE. FOR THE AREAS SHADED IN GREEN, IT IS STILL AN ISSUE. TALKING ABOUT ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. HAIL UP TO AN INCH AND LOW TORNADO RISK. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR SAFE SPACES. ITS THE INNERMOST ROOM IN YOUR HOUSE AWAY FROM DOORS AND WHEN DOES. MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY FOR THIS AND MAKE SURE YOUR EARPHONES ARE FULLY CHARGED. TEMPERATURES GETTING INTO THE UPPER 70S. PREVIOUSLY AREAS TO THE SOUTH HAD A HIGHER SKIP SEVERE WEATHER THAN WE DID. THIS IS ENOUGH TO CREATE INSTABILITY IN OUR ATMOSPHERE. THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND INTO TH EVENING WE CONTINUE TO SEE A FEW SCATTERED SHOWERS. THE MOST SEVERE THREAT WILL BE IN THE EARLY AFTERNOON. WE HAVE TO BE ON GUARD THROUGH THE LATE AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. COULD BE SOME STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS AS WELL. WE ARE WATCHING THESE LITTLE POCKETS. THERE SMALL IN SIZE BUT POWERFUL. EVEN IF YOU DONT GET A SEVERE STORM YOURE SEEING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. UNDER AN LIGHTNING IS A RISK IN AND OF ITSELF. DAMAGING WINDS CAN BE JUST AS DAMAGING AS A TORNADO. A LITTLE MORE OF THAT ACTIVITY AND WE CALMED DOWN INTO THE LATER PART OF THE NIGHT. THATS GOOD NEW ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND INTO THE WE WANT TO BE AWARE. WE HAVE ANOTHER LINE OF STORMS. THIS ONE I DONT LIKE THE LOOK OF. WE HAVE THREE IMPACT DAYS IN A ROW. WEDNESDAY ALSO AN IMPACT DAY. PLEASE STAY WEATHER AWARE AND

North Carolina: Severe weather threatens Piedmont Triad

Updated: 6:49 PM EDT May 3, 2021

Severe weather is threatening the Piedmont Triad on Monday. Click the video player above to watch the latest forecast from WXII 12 NewsWXII 12's meteorologists said the primary risks for storms include heavy rain, induced flash flooding and frequent lightning. A few storms Monday afternoon could produce wind damage.Scroll down for live updates.More weather coverage: Closing and delays | Latest weather forecast | Post pictures to the uLocal North Carolina Facebook Group | Traffic information | Report closings and delays | SkyCams | Download the WXII12 News mobile appLIVE UPDATES3:15 p.m. update: The tornado warning has been lifted in Montgomery and Randolph counties.3:05 p.m. update: No damage has been reported in Randolph and Montgomery counties yet.3 p.m. update: Randolph County Schools said all schools in its system have been instructed to go into tornado position. Asheboro City Schools said students and staff will not be dismissed until the warning has been lifted. Dismissal and bus routes will also be delayed until the warning has passed.2:30 p.m. update: A Tornado Warning has been issued for Randolph and Montgomery counties by the National Weather Service until. Seek shelter immediately if you are in this location. The warning expires at 3:15 p.m.1:30 p.m. update: A Tornado Watch has been issued for Montgomery County by the National Weather Service. Be ready to seek shelter if a warning is issued in your location.There are about 1,000 tornadoes a year in the U.S. that kill an average of 80 people and injure 1,500. Being informed and prepared before a tornado hits can make the difference between life and death.1. Stay informed; understand the terminology. Download the WXII app to be aware of alerts, listen to NOAA Weather radio, or tune in to Channel 12 when there is impending severe weather.A tornado watch means that tornadoes are possible. Remain alert for approaching storms. Watch the sky and stay tuned into weather coverage.A tornado warning means that a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. Take shelter immediately.2. Prepare your family well in advance of severe weather.Put together a disaster supplies kit made up of basic items that your household may need in the event of an emergency.You may need to survive on your own after a storm strikes. This means having your own water, food and other essentials in sufficient quantity to last for at least 72 hours.Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours or it might take days.FEMA supply checklistBasic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment and telephones may be cut off for days or even a week, or longer. Your supplies kit should contain items to help you manage during these outages.3. Have an emergency communication plan in place before the threat of severe weather.Have an emergency communication plan in place that all members of your family understand. Many families experience unneeded stress when tornadoes strike because they do not have a plan in place to be warned, stay safe and find one another after the storm has passed.4. Know about tornadoes, and know what to watch for.Some tornadoes are clearly visible, but rain or low-hanging clouds often hide others. Occasionally, tornadoes develop so rapidly that little if any advance warning is possible. Before a tornado hits, the wind may die down and the air may become very still.Look for the following danger signs:Dark, often greenish skyLarge hailA large, dark, low-lying cloud (particularly if it appears to rotate)A loud roar, similar to the sound of a freight trainA tornado may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris are picked up or a cloud forms in the funnel.The average tornado moves southwest to northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 mph, but may vary from stationary to 70 mph.Peak tornado season in the southern states is March through MayTornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 and 9 p.m., but can occur at any time.5. Know where to go to stay safest.If you are in a residence, small building, nursing home, hospital, factory, shopping center or high-rise building:Go to a pre-designated area such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar or the lowest building level. If there is no basement, go to the center of a small interior room on the lowest level (closet, interior hallway) away from corners, windows, doors and outside walls. Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside. Get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck.If you are in a pickup line at your childs school, get inside the building as quickly as possible.In a high-rise building, go to a small interior room or hallway on the lowest floor possible.Make sure you are wearing sturdy shoes.Do not open windows.If you are in a mobile home, manufactured office building or camper:Get out immediately and go to a pre-identified location such as the lowest floor of a sturdy nearby building or a storm shelter. Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes.Related: South Carolina man dies when tornado destroys his mobile homeIf you are not in a sturdy building, there is no single research-based recommendation for what last-resort action to take because many factors can affect your decision.Possible actions (that do not guarantee safety) include:Immediately get into a vehicle, buckle your seat belt and try to drive to the closest sturdy shelter. If your vehicle is hit by flying debris while you are driving, pull over and park.Take cover in a stationary vehicle. Put the seat belt on and cover your head with your arms and a blanket, coat or cushion if possible.Lie in an area noticeably lower than the level of the road and cover your head with your arms and a blanket, coat or cushion if possible.In all situations:Do not get under an overpass or bridge. You are safer in a low, flat location.Never try to outrun a tornado in urban or congested areas in a car or truck. Instead, leave the vehicle immediately for safe shelter.Watch out for flying debris. Flying debris from tornadoes causes most fatalities and injuries.Click here to watch the latest news and weather from WXII 12 News. Listen while you drive -- watch wherever you are, whenever you want. (Live during the news hours, most recent newscast in between times.) Click to download the app.

Severe weather is threatening the Piedmont Triad on Monday.

Click the video player above to watch the latest forecast from WXII 12 News

WXII 12's meteorologists said the primary risks for storms include heavy rain, induced flash flooding and frequent lightning. A few storms Monday afternoon could produce wind damage.

Scroll down for live updates.

More weather coverage: Closing and delays | Latest weather forecast | Post pictures to the uLocal North Carolina Facebook Group | Traffic information | Report closings and delays | SkyCams | Download the WXII12 News mobile app

LIVE UPDATES

3:15 p.m. update: The tornado warning has been lifted in Montgomery and Randolph counties.

3:05 p.m. update: No damage has been reported in Randolph and Montgomery counties yet.

3 p.m. update: Randolph County Schools said all schools in its system have been instructed to go into tornado position. Asheboro City Schools said students and staff will not be dismissed until the warning has been lifted. Dismissal and bus routes will also be delayed until the warning has passed.

2:30 p.m. update: A Tornado Warning has been issued for Randolph and Montgomery counties by the National Weather Service until. Seek shelter immediately if you are in this location. The warning expires at 3:15 p.m.

1:30 p.m. update: A Tornado Watch has been issued for Montgomery County by the National Weather Service. Be ready to seek shelter if a warning is issued in your location.

There are about 1,000 tornadoes a year in the U.S. that kill an average of 80 people and injure 1,500. Being informed and prepared before a tornado hits can make the difference between life and death.

Download the WXII app to be aware of alerts, listen to NOAA Weather radio, or tune in to Channel 12 when there is impending severe weather.

A tornado watch means that tornadoes are possible. Remain alert for approaching storms. Watch the sky and stay tuned into weather coverage.

A tornado warning means that a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. Take shelter immediately.

Put together a disaster supplies kit made up of basic items that your household may need in the event of an emergency.

You may need to survive on your own after a storm strikes. This means having your own water, food and other essentials in sufficient quantity to last for at least 72 hours.

Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours or it might take days.

FEMA supply checklist

Basic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment and telephones may be cut off for days or even a week, or longer. Your supplies kit should contain items to help you manage during these outages.

Have an emergency communication plan in place that all members of your family understand. Many families experience unneeded stress when tornadoes strike because they do not have a plan in place to be warned, stay safe and find one another after the storm has passed.

Some tornadoes are clearly visible, but rain or low-hanging clouds often hide others. Occasionally, tornadoes develop so rapidly that little if any advance warning is possible. Before a tornado hits, the wind may die down and the air may become very still.

Look for the following danger signs:

The average tornado moves southwest to northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.

The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 mph, but may vary from stationary to 70 mph.

Peak tornado season in the southern states is March through May

Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 and 9 p.m., but can occur at any time.

If you are in a residence, small building, nursing home, hospital, factory, shopping center or high-rise building:

If you are in a mobile home, manufactured office building or camper:

If you are not in a sturdy building, there is no single research-based recommendation for what last-resort action to take because many factors can affect your decision.

Possible actions (that do not guarantee safety) include:

In all situations:

Click here to watch the latest news and weather from WXII 12 News. Listen while you drive -- watch wherever you are, whenever you want. (Live during the news hours, most recent newscast in between times.) Click to download the app.

Continued here:
North Carolina: Severe weather threatens Piedmont Triad - WXII12 Winston-Salem - WXII12 Winston-Salem

A Sounders fan gets poked (Image: Seattle Fire)

To speed the process of getting the citys young adults inoculated against COVID-19, the Seattle Fire Department will begin deploying its mobile vaccination teams to neighborhood breweries, outdoor dining areas, business districts, parks, and beaches.

Officials call the new mobile vaccination strategy an effort to meet Seattle residents and workers where they are and increase vaccination rates, with a focus on younger Seattleites.

The Mobile Vaccination Teams will begin their tour of duty to reach the 16 to 30 crowd Friday in the University District and will be partnering with Big Time Brewery & Alehouse and Sweet Alchemy Ice Creamery to offer discounts to clinic patients. More deployments and deals will follow.

The effort comes as the city says it estimates more than 70% of Seattle adults have at least started the vaccination process. According to King Countys vaccination dashboard, while vaccination first dose rates for county residents 50 and older range from 76% to nearly 97% for those 75 and older, only 59% of those 18-49 have started the process and 42.5% of those 16-17 have at least one shot.

With a major increase in the federal supply, CHS reported here on the sudden shift in the city that has made the vaccine suddenly widely available in the city. Despite the wide availability, the region has struggled with continued spread of the virus though there are signs of a plateau and hope the area will not need to roll back to a higher level of restrictions on businesses and social gathering.

Officials have responded with a flurry of partnerships that include vaccinations offered at major sporting events and sessions with church organ accompaniment at Capitol Hills St. Marks Cathedral.

The citys vaccination efforts come as part of a pieced-together federal strategy forged during the Trump administration mixing commercial and retail providers and municipalities together in a loose network to distribute the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson developed and manufactured vaccines. Since launching its vaccination effort on January 14, City of Seattle says it has administered over 170,000 vaccinations to eligible adults over 111,000 individuals. These vaccinations have occurred at 88 Adult Family Homes, 90 affordable housing buildings with seniors and people with disabilities, 19 pop-ups, 18 permanent supportive housing buildings, two vulnerable youth-serving organizations, city sport events, and the four city-affiliated fixed vaccination sites including the megasite at Lumen Field.

THANKS! WE DID IT! 1,000 CHS SUBSCRIBERS -- We asked, you answered. Thanks for stepping up!Support local journalism dedicated to your neighborhood. SUBSCRIBE HERE. Jointo become a subscriber at$1/$5/$10 a monthto help CHS provide community news withNO PAYWALL. You can also sign up fora one-time annual payment.

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Seattle 'Mobile Vaccination Teams' to target young adults at breweries, outdoor dining areas, parks, and beaches - CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News

Across the country, particularly in Portland and Oregon, elected officials have tried to ward off evictions and foreclosures during the COVID-19 pandemicsometimes by banning them outright.

But in one low-income community in East Portland, the holes in several layers in the social safety net became evident when a letter arrived in mailboxes.

Last October, residents of 11 homes in a mobile home park along Southeast Powell Boulevard received notice they'd have to move out. The owner of Kelly Butte Place, on Southeast 112th Avenue, wanted to redevelop the property.

For Beverly Smith, 74, the bad news seemed to defy logic. First, the notice arrived in the middle of a pandemic and amid a thicket of new rules designed to prevent people from being displaced.

Second, Smith and her husband, Philip, own their home.

"We're looking for somebody to assist us. We need help, that's what it boils down to," Beverly Smith says. "They've got all these plans about how they're shuffling us around like domino chips."

Manufactured home parks offer a form of homeownership often within reach of low-income buyersbut it means owning only the structure, not the land under it. So it's housing that comes with the added insecurity of losing an investment if the homes, sometimes old, can't be moved or the cost of moving, sometimes upward of $40,000, proves prohibitive.

The state has long recognized the need to protect mobile home park residents, requiring long notice periods before closure. In August 2018, Portland took the added step of zoning existing locations specifically as mobile home parks, so that they could not be closed and rezoned without significant review.

The difference for Kelly Butte Place was that the owner, Adam Hoesly, had applied to redevelop the property less than two months before the city changed the zoning.

Hoesly sought to build 26 "affordable" single-family homes. To do this, he'd likely have to demolish any homes that the owners left behind.

He tells WW he plans to move forward. "As it currently stands, tenants have been given more than a years notice as well as relocation fees to aid in their transition," Hoesly says. "The plan is to replace the 11 mobile homes with 26 affordable homes, as defined by the City of Portland."

If the Kelly Butte development were to proceed, it would do exactly what the Portland City Council is actively working to avoid, says Cameron Herrington, a program manager with the nonprofit Living Cully, which helped advocate for the mobile home park ordinance. "It's blatantly against the spirit of what the City Council was trying to do."

Tenants rights advocate Margot Black has been organizing the residents of Kelly Butte Place throughout the winter.

"The city knew in 2018 that these tenants were going to be displaced and did nothing," Black says. "They had no plan."

It was only after inquiries by WW that the city canceled the permits to redevelop Kelly Butte Place.

On Jan. 19, Matt Tschabold, policy and planning manager with the Portland Housing Bureau, told two residents who addressed the bureau's Rental Services Commission that since permit applications were submitted before the ordinance went into effect, it could still be approved.

"A property owner is subject to the land use and zoning code that is in effect when they submit an application, and unfortunately the city does not have the discretion to change that state law," Tschabold said at the January commission meeting. "Their application is subject to the laws that were in effect when they submitted that application."

WW contacted City Commissioner Dan Ryan's office on Feb. 8 and the Portland Bureau of Development Services on Feb. 10, inquiring whether the city would in fact approve the application. (Ryan oversees BDS as well as the Housing Bureau.)

On Feb. 14, David Kuhnhausen, BDS's permitting services manager, told WW the permits had been canceled, saying the property owner had failed to request the necessary permit extensions to keep the application valid.

"The permits were canceled on Feb. 8, 2021," Kuhnhausen wrote to WW. "Any future development permits at this site will be reviewed to comply with current zoning regulations."

The permits expired more than seven months ago, on June 30. It's not clear why the permits weren't canceled then.

Hoesly says he received no notice the permits had expired. "The city at times has an antiquated system for alerting the status of permits and I was not notified that the permit had expired in June until late last week," he says.

The permit cancellation is good news for Lucenda and Joe Brisack, who bought the home they share with their 8-year-old daughter on Dec. 30, 2018. That was nearly six months after the application for redevelopment was submitted.

"It's the worst feeling in the world that someone looked into our face, knowing that we were giving every cent we had to buy this place to give our daughter a home and stability, and they never said anything," Lucenda Brisack says.

In this small cul-de-sac, with bright, pastel-colored homes and neatly decorated front porches, resides a tight-knit community that considers itself a family. When residents received letters telling them the mobile home park, developed in 1997, would close and they had to be off the property by Oct. 20, 2021, community members feared for their futures but decided to put up a fight by writing letters to public officials and testifying at the Rental Services Commission meeting.

Black, the tenants rights organizer, says the city's decision to cancel the permits is significant but the owner could still kick residents off the land even if he can't redevelop the property.

"The city knows when displacement occurs or is about to," Black adds. "It needs to start providing meaningful and proactive resources to prevent and mitigate it."

Most of the residents could not afford to relocate their homes. Sandra Lovingier bought hers in 2009 and wrote in a handwritten letter to WW that she's confident she'd end up homeless if she had to vacate the property since she can no longer work because she has multiple sclerosis.

"I put all my retirement money into buying my home," she wrote. "I've invested every dime to make this my forever home."

Families still paying off their homes will have to continue paying their mortgages regardless of whether they can afford to move them.

Collectively, the residents offered the landowner $1.1 million to buy the land themselves but never received a response, Beverly Smith says.

"It's really frustrating to be blatantly treated like you don't matter," Smith says. "The city is supposed to be empathetic to the homeless. They're everywhere in this city. If they're having difficulty, what's going to happen to us? We're seniors."

Correction: Thisstory initially used the nameKelly Butte Park to refer to the mobile home park. While the park is referred to by several names in documents, it is registered with the stateas Kelly Butte Place. WW regrets the error.

Continue reading here:
Residents of an East Portland Mobile Home Park Were Told to Get Lost, in the Middle of a Pandemic - Willamette Week

Story Produced by Citizens Count, a Member ofWant to know more about this legislation? Listen to the podcast above as hosts Anna Brown and Mike Dunbar, of Citizens Count break it down in $100 Plus Mileage.

CONCORD, NH The New Hampshire House is considering a bill that would require towns to allow tiny houses alongside single-family homes.

Supporters envision a future where tiny house aficionados flock to New Hampshire, bolstering our workforce. Opponents are concerned about the erosion of local control and property values.

A tiny house is generally 100 to 400 square feet. A tiny house can sit on a foundation or on a trailer. Some tiny houses are equipped with full kitchens and plumbing, while others are designed to live off-grid with composting toilets.

Tiny homes have gained popularity as an affordable and eco-friendly housing option over the past decade.

However, many towns, counties, and states have zoning laws or building codes that require houses to have a minimum square footage. Tiny houses on wheels may be categorized as RVs unsuitable for year-round living.

In 2016 New Hampshire passed a law that enabled municipalities to permit small, detached accessory dwelling units next to regular homes, but not every town opts-in. Towns can also set their own minimum dimensions for accessory dwelling units.

Related story Accessory Dwelling Units: How ADUs can solve Manchester housing shortage

Brianna OBrien of Hampton Falls became a bit of a poster child for the New Hampshire tiny house movement after she tried to live in a tiny house on her parents property. The Zoning Board of Adjustment denied her occupancy permit for a few reasons, including that the tiny house did not meet the towns definition of a detached accessory dwelling unit. OBrien was forced to abandon the tiny house.

This year three New Hampshire representatives two Republicans and a Democrat are sponsoring a bill to welcome tiny houses to New Hampshire. HB 588 would require towns to allow standalone tiny houses anywhere they allow single-family homes.

If a municipality allows detached accessory dwelling units, HB 588 would require the town to accept tiny houses under the same terms.

The bill establishes various other requirements for tiny houses. For example, tiny houses have to follow fire codes. If the house is on a trailer, the trailer must be licensed, registered, and inspected.

Lastly, this bill requires towns and cities to pass zoning laws to address tiny house parks a group setting of at least four tiny houses.

HB 588 is a repeat of a 2020 bill, SB 482. That bill died during the coronavirus shutdown.

The House has yet to schedule a public hearing for HB 588.

Tiny house supporters argue these little dwellings could ease New Hampshires big affordable housing problem.

An extremely low inventory of houses and rental units is driving up the median home price and the median rent in New Hampshire. According to the November/December 2020 Housing Market Snapshot from New Hampshire Housing, the median sales price for a home in New Hampshire increased 17 percent over the past year, while there is less than a one-month supply of homes for sale under $300,000. The median gross rent increased 5 percent from last year, to $1,413, and there is only a 1.8 percent vacancy rate.

The cost of a tiny house, meanwhile, usually ranges from $15,000 to $100,000 a much more affordable option.

Some people are also attracted to tiny houses because they have a smaller environmental footprint than traditional dwellings. This green option might attract more workers and businesses to the Granite State.

Lastly, supporters of HB 588 point out that many people already live in tiny houses under the radar of local officials. HB 588 would help these people legally join their communities and pay taxes.

Opponents of HB 588 argue that New Hampshire should not force towns and cities to accept tiny houses. Instead, towns and cities should be able to decide if tiny houses are appropriate in their communities.

There is concern that tiny houses may lower nearby property values.

Towns also already have trouble collecting taxes on manufactured homes and RV camps. Tiny house owners would probably pose similar challenges.

Lastly, there is still ambiguity in building codes around safety standards for tiny houses, particularly those on trailers. Similarly, HB 588 requires tiny houses on wheels to have a seal from a third-party inspection company authorized to provide such certification for tiny homes or recreational vehicles, but theres no guarantee that companys standards will match a towns desired standards.

Tiny houses cannot single-handedly solve New Hampshires housing shortage, of course. There are many other proposals related to affordable housing in the Legislature this year. For example, Gov. Sununu recently threw his support behind HB 586, a long bill that modifies various processes and tax credits to encourage workforce housing. Other legislators are looking for a big deposit in the Affordable Housing Fund as part of this years state budget. Other proposals look to increase eligibility for property tax breaks or modify the zoning appeals process. You can see all of these proposals on the Citizens Count Affordable Housing and Property Rights topic page.

Citizens Count is a nonprofit serving the New Hampshire community by providing objective information about issues, elected officials, bills, elections, and candidates. These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.

Related

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Should NH require towns to allow tiny houses? - Manchester Ink Link

Steep, unexpected rent increases, utility hikes, reduced services and abrupt evictions are among the practices Iowa mobile home owners are calling on state lawmakers to address again this year.

Please help us stay in our homes. Please stop out of town investors buying up trailer parks and raising our rent to the point we can no longer live in our homes, Connie Simon, a resident of the Table Mound Mobile Home Park in Dubuque, wrote to lawmakers.

Table Mound is one of dozens Iowa mobile home parks that have been bought by out-of-state investment firms in the past few years, a trend occurring across the country.

Simons brief statement summed up many of the public comments filed to House File 442, a bill aimed at expanding some rights of people who own manufactured housing but rent the property under their home.

Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, noted lawmakers had received nine pages of written public comments on the bill, many from residents living in mobile homes. These are single moms. They are veterans, they are people with disabilities, they are some of the most vulnerable in our community. And their stories in here are heart-wrenching. And they are asking us to help them, she said.

House File 442 deals with numerous aspects of the relationship between the dwelling owner and the land owner, including:

Evictions: The bill limits the park owners ability to evict a tenant, restricting reasons to material noncompliance with the rental agreement or park rules or a legitimate and material business reason that doesnt affect only one resident, such as a sale of the land. The landlord would have to provide at least three written notices of the violations dated 10 days apart. However, the bill also allows eviction for any reason with a 90-day notice, as long as it is not in retaliation for a tenants complaints or actions asserting specified rights.

Rent increases: Rent could not be increased more than once a year and a tenant must receive 120 days notice. Rent increases could not be levied as retaliation. Decreasing services or amenities that are included in the rental agreement without a change in rent to be paid would be considered a rent increase under the bill.

Utility charges: The bill deals with utilities in several ways, including forbidding landlords from overcharging a tenant for utilities provided and allowing no more than a $5 administrative fee per month for utility administration.

Sales of mobile home parks: The bill requires a 90-day notice to tenants prior to the sale of a mobile home park.

Representatives of the Manufactured Housing Association raised numerous objections to the legislation, including that the grounds for lease termination are unclear, that it restricts the property owners rights such as to increase rent, and that it treats mobile park owners differently than landlords of apartment complexes or other rental housing.

Tim Coonan, a lobbying for the association, said the bill imposes provisions that we think are unfair, and also impose unreasonable restrictions on our ability to do what were very proud of and thats provide an unsubsidized affordable housing option for Iowans.

Rep. Brian Lohse, R-Bondurant, the lead sponsor of the bill, said Wednesday he is striving for a balance of rights between people who own manufactured homes and those who own the land.

Its all about the property rights. But we cannot forget that park owners are not the only one that owns something in this equation. Mobile home owners also own something. They have property rights, and those cant be dragged through the mud. They cannot lose their home, were talking about losing a home, Lohse said.

Lohse said he believed lawmakers were nearing a compromise on similar legislation last year but they ran out of time when COVID-19 caused a month-long suspension of the legislative session.

Rep. Megan Jones, R-Sioux Rapids, joined Lohse and Democratic Rep. Ross Wilburn of Ames in moving the bill to the full House Judiciary Committee. But, she said, she believes the legislation still needs work to find a compromise.

She said she believes some tenants are unrealistic in not expecting rent to increase over decades, but its also unfair to have steep increases with little notice. So theres got to be some happy medium here, she said.

Read this article:
Bill would expand rights of mobile home park tenants after years of complaints - telegraphherald.com

HTF MIpublished a new industry research that focuses on COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing market and delivers in-depth market analysis andfuture outlook of COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured Housing market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, analysts, industry experts and other key people get ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. The study is segmented by Application/ end users [Residential, Commercial & Others], products type [, Mobile Homes, Modular Homes & Pre-cut Homes] and profiled players such as BonnaVilla, Pine Grove Homes, Clayton Homes, Crest Homes, Cavco, Kent Homes, Sunshine Homes, Schult Homes, Karsten Homes, Champion Home Builders, Nashua Builders, Titan Homes, Manufactured Housing Enterprises Inc., Marlette Homes & Moduline Homes].

Get Access to sample pages @https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/2774104-covid-19-outbreak-global-manufactured-housing-industry-market

The research covers the currentmarket size of the COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured Housingmarket and its growth rates based on 5 year history data along with company profile of key players/manufacturers. The in-depth information by segments of COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing market helps monitor future profitability & to make critical decisions for growth. The information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of theCOVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured HousingMarket.

For more information or any query mail at [emailprotected]

The study provides company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of key manufacturers of COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured Housing Market, some of them listed here areBonnaVilla, Pine Grove Homes, Clayton Homes, Crest Homes, Cavco, Kent Homes, Sunshine Homes, Schult Homes, Karsten Homes, Champion Home Builders, Nashua Builders, Titan Homes, Manufactured Housing Enterprises?Inc., Marlette Homes & Moduline Homes. The market is growing at a very rapid pace and with rise in technological innovation, competition and M&A activities in the industry many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new manufacturer entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.

COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured Housing (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as , Mobile Homes, Modular Homes & Pre-cut Homes. Further the research study is segmented by Application such as Residential, Commercial & Others with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing in these regions, from 2014 to 2025 (forecast), covering North America (Covered in Chapter 7 and 14), United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe (Covered in Chapter 8 and 14), Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Others, Asia-Pacific (Covered in Chapter 9 and 14), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, Others, Middle East and Africa (Covered in Chapter 10 and 14), Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Others, South America (Covered in Chapter 11 and 14), Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Chile & Others and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2019 to 2025.

Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/2774104-covid-19-outbreak-global-manufactured-housing-industry-market

Following would be the Chapters to display the COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured Housing market.

Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing, Applications of COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America (Covered in Chapter 7 and 14), United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe (Covered in Chapter 8 and 14), Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Others, Asia-Pacific (Covered in Chapter 9 and 14), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, Others, Middle East and Africa (Covered in Chapter 10 and 14), Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Others, South America (Covered in Chapter 11 and 14), Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Chile & Others, COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [, Mobile Homes, Modular Homes & Pre-cut Homes], Market Trend by Application [Residential, Commercial & Others];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured Housing;Chapter 12,13, 14 and 15, to describe COVID-19 Outbreak- Manufactured Housing sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.

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What this Research Study Offers:

COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured Housing Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Focus of the study is to analyse characteristics that affect the nature of competition and pricing. Identifying Influencing factors keeping COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured Housing Market Intense, factored with periodic analysis of CR4 & CR8 concentration ratio. In-depth Competitive analysis at product and Strategic business level. Predictive analysis on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior. To analyse the competitive developments, such as new product launch and merger & acquisition, in the COVID-19 Outbreak-Global Manufactured HousingMarket

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Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segments

Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.

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Manufactured Housing Market to Eyewitness Massive Growth by 2026 | Crest Homes, Kent Homes, Titan Express Keeper - Express Keeper