Texas cities grapple with new law mandating zones for manufactured homes

Beginning Sept. 1, Senate Bill 785 requires Texas cities that use zoning to designate at least one residential area where new HUD-code manufactured homes can be built without special permits. In response, Nacogdoches’ council unanimously approved an R-3M district that includes every lot of the Millard’s Apple Park subdivision, a move praised by development director Mike Neu as expanding options for owners of older units.

The change was prompted by the new state mandate, which the Texas Manufactured Housing Association estimates will affect roughly 400 municipalities. Bellmead, a smaller city near Waco, also created a manufactured-housing district but imposed a five-acre contiguous-land condition, which resident Amber Haliburton says blocks her from placing a home on her family property. City staff noted the district was intended to satisfy state law and support larger development projects, not individual lot requests.

Critics argue the law’s vague requirement—allowing only “an area of land”—could let cities meet compliance with minimal practical effect, a concern highlighted by a pre-law analysis from the National Zoning Association. The outcome of these early implementations will shape how Texas addresses its affordable-housing shortage, where median home prices far outpace median household incomes.