December 28, 2010
Randy Brubaker
Managing Editor
DesMoines Register
P.O. Box 957
Des Moines IA 50306-0957
Mr. Brubaker:
I am writing in response to your December 26th article The most dangerous housing in America. While I would like to applaud the considerable amount of space you gave to highlighting the need to replace older mobile homes, I do want to point out the article failed to correctly distinguish between “mobile” homes built before the implementation of the HUD Code in 1976, and modern, safe manufactured homes.
No, the “most dangerous housing,” is not manufactured housing. That housing is statistically as safe as more conventional site-built housing. Yet a reader is presented with the term “manufactured housing” early in the article. Given the fact that many readers take in only the headline and beginning paragraph, one could easily take-away the incorrect impression that manufactured housing is unsafe.
The article recalled the first death of 2010 occurred during a fire in an old, pre-HUD code mobile home. The article goes on to note one in 10 fire fatalities in Iowa during the past six years has happened inside a “manufactured home” and adds that most of them occurred in “trailers” that are at least 25 years old. The term “manufactured home” correctly refers to homes built to safety and construction standards contained in the HUD Code, which was implemented on June 15, 1976. The article makes a late reference to the code, but doesn’t differentiate between mobile homes and manufactured homes or relate homes built to the HUD Code to the term “manufactured.”
The use of several irrelevant dates also cause confusion. “At least” 25 years puts us at 1985, nine year’s after the implementation of the HUD code. Also the date 1980 doesn’t seem to have any significance.
Moreover, though the seventh paragraph correctly states that according to fire officials, “The quality of manufactured housing built today is as safe as, or safer than, site-built housing,” only committed readers who get nearly three quarters of the through the long piece learn about the HUD Code and read that “Today’s manufactured homes are subject to much more rigorous engineering standards and to inspection during construction and installation.”
This is is clearly a missed opportunity by the paper to differentiate modern manufactured homes, which research shows are as statistically as safe as site-built homes, and pre-HUD Code mobile homes. Manufactured homes are today both affordable and safe and present perhaps the most viable form of affordable housing for Iowa and the nation.
I invite you to reference our fact sheet for reporters, and a recent article on the safety of manufactured homes.
Fact Sheet for Reporters: http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/manufactured-home-fact-sheet-for-reporters
Do Manufactured Homes Burn Faster? Experts Say No: http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/industry-news/industry-in-focus/1260-do-manufactured-homes-burn-faster
Sincerely,
Eric Miller
Reporter
MHMSM.com
About MHMSM.com – Manufactured Home Marketing Sales Management trade journal, a.k.a. MHMarketingSalesManagement.com or MHMSM.com, is the largest and most popular media outlet that focuses on factory built housing, including top feature writers and industry focused news.
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