Many of the raw materials and comments that go into, or under, a manufactured home are also made or sourced in the U.S.
But there are also an array of items that go into building, and moving manufactured homes that are imports.
- Canadian lumber,
- Chinese tires,
- imported oil,
are just a few of the ways that trade policy enters the manufactured housing scene.
Clayton Competitor Tells MHProNews…
One producer competing with Berkshire Hathaway owned factories on the “entry level” type HUD Code product told the Daily Business News on MHProNews that they import Chinese products “by container loads” regularly. The statement was made off-the-record.
Foreign and trade policy thus impacts manufactured housing, in very direct ways.
Imported Housing? Foreign Capital, and More?
Sources foreign and domestic tell MHProNews that some entire units – HUD Code, PreFab and modular – are also being brought into the U.S.
The recently reported I.C.E. raids in manufactured housing industry production centers should make it clear that raw or finished goods are not all that comes into the factory-built housing’s industry mix.
As the Daily Business News reported, capital that has fueled some of the acquisitions, notably in the manufactured home community sector, are also coming in.
But there are numerous other indications that foreign capital also is involved in U.S. manufactured housing production too.
America First
The trend of imported labor, raw, and finished goods being used in HUD Code manufactured housing’s production is not new. It has been taking place for decades. Some argue that it is occurring at an accelerated rate, under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
So when President Trump upended the Washington D.C. “Establishment” in last November’s presidential election, his trade and other policies weren’t just a hypothetical for manufactured housing.
Or as the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform’s president and CEO, Mark Weiss put it recently in a column in MHProNews, “For Manufactured Housing, The Obama Administration Never Left Town.” ## (News, analysis.)
(Image credits are as shown above, and when provided by third parties, are shared under fair use guidelines.)
