If mobile homes were included in Massachusetts’ definition of “affordable housing,” Wareham wouldn’t have any trouble meeting the state’s requirement that 10% of housing units be affordable.

This fall, state and local officials are taking that fact to the Legislature as part of a plea to change the 43-year-old affordable housing law to automatically count mobile homes as affordable. Rep. Susan Williams Gifford of Wareham sponsored the bill to change the definition. Selectman Chair Peter Teitelbaum recently traveled to Boston to speak in favor of it.

The 40B law — originally referred to as the “anti-snob-zoning law” — is designed to encourage the construction of lower-income housing in all communities by allowing developers to bypass some zoning bylaws in communities where 10% of the housing stock is not affordable.

The law defines “affordable” houses and apartments as those that are legally committed — with contracts or deed restrictions — to be sold or rented at or below prescribed affordable rates to people with incomes below certain levels.

Wareham has seventeen mobile home parks, with a total of slightly under 1,100 units. If those mobile home units were added to the affordable housing stock, the percentage of the housing deemed affordable would jump to about 18%.

In Wareham’s case, that means much housing — mobile homes and otherwise — that meets the dictionary definition of “affordable” does not fall within the state’s definition. As Gifford and Teitelbaum point out, the biggest gap is with mobile homes, which cannot currently be “counted” even with contracts or deed restrictions.

“I see the whole issue of counting mobile homes as affordable housing as creating an opportunity for people in need....to access public funds to improve their dwellings,” said Teitelbaum.

Teitelbaum pointed out that is a home is deemed affordable, Community Preservation and Affordable Housing Trust money becomes available.

“I just think it opens it up for them to have more access to aid,” he said.

Aid that he says a number of mobile home park residents need.

“During the blizzard I had an opportunity to get out and see the conditions many of our senior citizens and working citizens live in,” said Teitelbaum. “It isn’t across the board, but many of them can use some help.”

Gifford says that while she believes 40B is a good tool for cities, smaller towns no longer need it.

“For our rural communities 40B has outlived its usefulness,” she said.

Gifford says that getting a bill like this passed has been a priority since she was first elected, and she is hopeful that it will pass. She credited Teitelbaum with reaching out across the state to build support.

The proposed reforms would allow towns more control over where developers can build. Gifford noted that developers are allowed to bypass a variety of rules.

“It’s not just zoning laws it’s also conservation laws,” she said. “You can put a 40B project practically on wetlands.”