The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register designed to update the definition of a manufactured home and open new opportunities for multistory manufactured housing.
Under the proposed rule, the new definition of a manufactured home, as noted in the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (also known as the HUD Code) would allow upper floor sections to be transported and constructed without a permanent chassis. According to HUD, the proposed expanded definition would support multi-story construction of manufactured homes and enable manufacturers to design and construct homes to meet growing consumer demand while lowering production costs.
The proposed rule would also make corresponding updates to the definition in the Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards and the Manufactured Home Installation Program regulations.
The comment period on the proposed rule ends on Aug. 11.
“America needs more housing, and manufactured housing is part of the solution,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner. “We are removing unnecessary barriers, encouraging innovation, and helping American manufacturers deliver more affordable housing options for American families.”
This sounds like an engineering nightmare. Housing needs to be more affordable with homes that are structurally sound that will withstand hurricane force winds.
You’re right !! A manufactured home is only a couple of steps up from a mobile home, so how could it possibly survive a hurricane?
what we need is for manufactured homes on permanent foundations on their own land to come under same mortgage rates as stick built homes. they have already been classified as real estate now we need mortgage rates to follow.
I think it’s a great advancement for affordable housing options. The chassis is not needed for upper level construction.
Overall factory built housing is engineered better and per IBC construction code. Modular upgrades can ensure construction meets local codes based on specific risks like hurricanes, seismic, elevation and snow load requirements.
Interest rates reflect associated risk factors. Unfortunately manufactured housing has a historic higher mortgage default rate.
A manufactured home isn’t suitable to sustain a hurricane, much less one with an additional story.
I had a manufactured home custom built to put on my 80 acres. I was able to work with the representative to use 2″ x 6″ construction instead of 2″ x 4″ because it would have to be brought up a mountain with a bulldozer in two sections. That house was so well insulated with the wider walls, and because it’s built on a steel frame it is far more earthquake proof out here in California. I am sure that any purchaser can request extra supports for hurricanes. The nice thing about manufactured homes is that most of the inspections are done in the factory by local inspectors all at once. I have been a fan of innovative construction since visiting the Montreal Worlds Fair of 1967 and saw the Habitat for Humanity when I was young. We are overdue for some creative thinking about housing as well as transportation.
Seems worth looking into. I thought some of the modular homes were 2 story and have worked well. BUT how about equal financing opportunities for manufactured homes, especially for those that have been moved since original set up?? Many have been on their existing sites for a good number of years with no issues. These homes have gone through the same set up reguations as homes set on original loction. They are “attached” to the land – ‘real etate’. Affordable housing, but buyers back off when companies will not finance or charge higher interest rates! Discrimination. This not only affects buyers opportunities to purchase the home they want, but also the sellers who get less offers on their homes, and homes sit on the market longer.
AND in the area I live, when one of the slumps hit, far more site-built homes were foreclosed on than manufactured homes and the area has a hight %age of manufacted!