Taxpayers. Employees. Affordable housing seekers. Smaller businesses and possible startups. Investors. They are the five (5) groups that are among those apparently harmed by purported evidence of market manipulation and routine misinformation that is commonplace regarding manufactured homes. But there are others that are harmed by market manipulation and misinformation. For example, when mainstream media or researchers for universities, government agencies, nonprofits or other organizations publish information about manufactured homes that is later shown to have missing facts and flawed or misleading claims, that too results in possible reputational harm that ought to be avoidable. This Manufactured Home Pro News (MHProNews) report with facts, evidence, and analysis will briefly explore each of these issues and will link to readers to more facts and evidence to allow them to dig deeper. Because in another sense, almost everyone is harmed by this process, because the lack of affordable housing in the U.S. causes an estimated $2 trillion dollars’ worth of reduced gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S. annually.
Before getting into introductory information on the 5 groups named above that are harmed by the status quo, definitions are useful and were promised in this report’s headline.
The following is a brief, insightful, and almost humorous definition of what manufactured homes and manufactured housing is not. As the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) said in a report that said that manufactured homes are as safe, or sometimes safer, than conventional site-built housing, the NFPA used this statement. “A manufactured homes is not a motor home or trailer, and although it is often called a “mobile home,” it is not that either.”
The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook said that they were looking at clarifying their (mis) use of the term mobile home or trailer house when it comes to a manufactured home. Unfortunately, that has not yet occurred, and part of the reason may be the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI). That’s another story for another time, but AP Stylebook managers were appreciative of the following.
A quick visual illustration of what kind of factory homes the following is useful.
The Bi-Partisan Policy Center from a report linked here said the following in terms of definitions.
Manufactured housing is a specific type of factory-built housing that meets national standards set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), known as the HUD Code. This code generally preempts local building codes, allowing manufactured housing to be produced at scale and marketed nationwide. Although federal preemption of state and local codes benefits HUD-code-compliant manufactured housing, local governments, in particular, significantly influence where these homes can be placed within their jurisdictions.
The HUD Code does not apply to modular or other types of factory-built housing. These homes must adhere to the specific local codes of the final location, regardless of where they are produced.
Key Terms and Definitions
Factory-built housing or prefabricated housing refers to homes constructed either fully or partially in a factory and then assembled onsite. This category includes manufactured and modular homes.
Off-site construction is the process of building a home, either fully or partially, in a factory, rather than constructing it entirely on a lot.
Manufactured housing refers to a complete house constructed off-site in a factory to meet HUD Code requirements, allowing it to be transported anywhere in the country. Manufactured homes are built on a permanent chassis which is used to transport them but can be placed on a traditional foundation at their final location.
Mobile homes are manufactured homes built before June 15, 1976, when the HUD Code went into effect. These homes cannot be retroactively brought into compliance with the HUD Code and are therefore considered separate from modern manufactured homes, which meet current HUD requirements.
Modular housing consists of large pieces (or modules) of a home including not only walls, floors, and ceilings, but plumbing, wiring, and interior finishes as well. These modules are built in a factory and then transported to their final location, where they are assembled on a traditional foundation. Modular homes are built to meet local code requirements.
Panelized construction involves fully building the walls of a home, or panels, in a factory and then transporting them to the building site. At the site, the panels are put together and finished similarly to a site-built home, and the structure is placed on a traditional foundation.
Pre-cut construction involves cutting all materials for a home to size in a factory. These materials are then transported to the building site and assembled as they would be in a site-built house.
Factory-built housing is often quicker and less expensive to build than site-built housing. For example, a manufactured home can be 50% cheaper to produce than a site-built home. Freddie Mac estimates that more than one million people would be able to qualify for a mortgage and afford a manufactured home if zoning regulations were relaxed. However, despite their potential to address the housing shortage, only about 7.5% of existing homes and 9% of new homes in the U.S. are manufactured, and the number of modular homes is even lower.
With those definitions and illustrations in mind, let’s pivot to the balance of the headline topics. Because odds are excellent that you, as well as many people you know, are harmed due to a lack of proper understanding of the significance of modern manufactured homes.
Part I Introduction/Start of Five (5) Groups Harmed by Housing Status Quo: 1) Taxpayer – 2) Affordable Housing Seekers – Smaller Businesses and Possible Startups. Investors. Employees.
In no particular order of importance are the following of the 5 groups named above and highlighted in this introduction below.
1) Taxpayers. Ever increasing homelessness and the routinely growing sums spent to subsidize ‘affordable’ housing are obvious reasons why taxpayers in any of the 50 states should be concerned because often local, state, and federal taxes are higher due to spending on supposedly ‘affordable’ housing projects. The problem is that 50 years of evidence, according to HUD researchers Pamela Blumenthal and Regina Gray demonstrate that housing shortage causes and cures are known. But those known cures are not properly implemented. Some groups believe they benefit from the housing shortage. Note that the article below by HUD’s Blumenthal and Gray, which includes added facts and analysis was ‘temporarily’ removed from the HUD website, but a HUD official provided it to Manufactured Home Living News (MHLivingNews) and MHProNews at our request.
1a) So, for 50 years, the causes and cures to the affordable housing crisis have largely been known. Taxpayers should be outraged. Two National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) officials have said that they can’t build a starter home in most parts of the country that a first-time home buyer can afford and also said that they can’t develop for conventional housing without subsidies. Restated, without manufactured homes, there is an array of evidence and simple math that proves that conventional housing builders, as useful and important as they are, simply can’t solve the housing crisis because their houses are too costly for millions of Americans to afford.
1b) According to the Urban Institute (UI) in a report that looked at data through 2021 was the following findings.
How have housing and community development expenditures changed over time?
From 1977 to 2021, in 2021 inflation-adjusted dollars, state and local government spending on housing and community development programs increased from $15 billion to $65 billion, an increase of 320 percent. Spending growth on housing and community development over this period was higher than most other major programs, but this in part reflects the relatively low level of spending on housing and community development. For example, in real dollars, housing and community development spending increased $50 billion from 1977 to 2021, while public welfare spending increased nearly $708 billion.
In 2021, 89 percent of housing and community development spending went toward operational costs, such as rent subsidies, homeownership education, planning, workforce development, and other services. The remaining 11 percent was for capital outlays, such as the construction and rehabilitation of public housing and infrastructure.
1c) Despite ever-increasing spending by HUD homelessness in 2024 hit record levels. Clearly what has been done for the last 50 years doesn’t work. HUD’s own data and researchers have said as much.
1d) Left-leaning Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) said that the lack of affordable housing is the main cause of homelessness.
1e) For those willing to look at the facts objectively, it should be clear that to keep doing the same things the same way will only produce the same results, which have generally been worsening over time and costing taxpayers more over time. So called 5- and 10-years plans have rolled out several times and when the 5 to 10 years are completed the problems aren’t solved. While there are many causal factors, there are those who say that the so-called ‘affordable housing-industrial complex’ are manipulating the system to maintain the status quo.
1f) Note that this writer for MHProNews has produced ‘the math’ in 2024 and 2025 that reveal that document that without millions of more manufactured homes the affordable housing crisis can never be solved.
1g) It should be apparent that with hundreds of billions of dollars spent in many years on ‘housing programs’ it is clear that over time these costs easily top a trillion dollars. Per left-leaning Bing’s AI powered Copilot.
When you add state and local spending, the total easily exceeds $100 billion per year. Over a decade, this indeed amounts to over a trillion dollars.
2) Affordable housing seekers. Per left-leaning Google’s A.I. powered Gemini.
As of 2023, there were over 109 million people renting in the United States. This is based on predictions using the latest Census data.
2a) Statista said on January 27, 2025.
“People under the age of 30 comprised the largest share of American renters in 2023. Approximately 42 million renters in the U.S. were under 30 years old.”
2b) DoorLoop said on Jan 27, 2025 the following.
44.1 million American households are renters.
2c) Citing HUD, Gemini said this.
According to recent data, approximately 42 million US households are considered “cost-burdened,” meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing, with a significant portion of this number being renters, where nearly half of all renter households fall into this category; this data is based on 2022 figures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
2d) Per left-leaning CNN said this.
Sep 12, 2024 — Nearly half of all renter households in the US were cost-burdened in 2023, meaning they paid more than 30% of their income towards housing costs.
2e) The U.S. Census Bureau said the following.
SEPT. 12, 2024 – Over 21 million renter households spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs in 2023, representing nearly half (49.7%) of the 42.5 million renter households in the United States for whom rent burden is calculated.
2f) Even if several million “illegal” aliens are removed in the next few years or otherwise “self-deport” there is clearly a need for more affordable housing, based on the figures shown.
2g) As taxes and other costs of living rise, even those who are already homeowners can be impacted by the lack of affordable housing. It should be noted that manufactured housing is an apparent solution for that on several levels, because millions are paying more to rent than they would for a new or existing manufactured home with its homesite. The three illustrations below reflect the fact that manufactured home buyers often pay less than renters do has been true for well over a decade, per the sources as shown.
The balance of this report will be provided in Part II which is planned for later this week. It will cover the other three groups that include: Smaller Businesses and Possible Startups. Investors. Employees. More bonus categories will be considered. Once posted, this article will be updated with a link to that report below.
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By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
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