Following an article MHProNews posted May 28, 2014 regarding Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s comment that more housing for those with moderate incomes needs to be available to maintain a healthy city, an editorial in bostonglobe.com begins by saying that many manufactured and modular homes are virtually “indistinguishable in looks and quality from homes built on site.” With some officials citing the lack of middle-income housing as the biggest threat to the state’s economic well-being, Mayor Walsh needs to seek out market-driven solutions to the problem, and should consider the 10 to 20 percent cost savings of factory-built housing, and a re-zoning initiative to allow for their placement in the city.

While the building trades—which Walsh once headed– may be up in arms over off-site construction, the editorial suggests building manufactured homes in Massachusetts utilizing union labor for the 30,000 mid-priced housing units that will be needed over the coming decade. Noting steel can raise building time and expenses by ten percent or more, the Globe states other cities with high housing costs have successfully alleviated housing shortages by constructing modular homes above retail businesses, and by using wood for mid-range apartments and condominiums up to five stories tall. “It would help preserve middle-class life and keep Boston one of the nation’s most vibrant cities.” For the entire article, please click here.##

(Photo credit: Art Illman/wickedlocal.com–modular housing units being sited in Natick, Mass., just west of Boston)