{"id":211508,"date":"2026-10-24T00:25:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T05:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=211508"},"modified":"2026-10-24T00:25:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T05:25:23","slug":"manufactured-homes-could-have-a-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/10\/24\/manufactured-homes-could-have-a-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Manufactured homes could have a moment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Robbie Sequeira\/<\/strong>Stateline News<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, manufactured home builders have been working to shed the old image of boxy trailer homes reserved for the outskirts of cities and suburbia. Now, a small change in federal regulations could open the door for architecture welcomed in more neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This summer\u2019s sweeping housing bill, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, removed a 1974 mandate that required every manufactured home to be built on a nonremovable steel frame, known as a chassis. Experts and home producers think the change could help unlock thousands more affordable housing options around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But first, experts say, states have to examine outdated regulations that are blocking the manufactured home industry\u2019s potential. The Pew Charitable Trusts\u2019 housing initiative estimates that 30 states might need to change their regulations to align with the new federal law.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Manufactured home communities can be expanded with a new federal law that allows such homes to be built without a chassis. Some 30 states may need to update their laws though. Photo provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlocking manufactured homes from chassis will allow manufactured homes to become multi-family developments, said Stephanie Hawke, associate research director of land use and supply at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ll be cheaper for builders, she noted, and they\u2019ll be easier to stack into two-story and multi-family homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst of all, you were putting a very heavy, expensive thing on the bottom of these homes that is not needed and it is not used, and it\u2019s made out of steel,\u201d Hawke said. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got this heavy piece of steel on the bottom of a home, stacking it becomes more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manufactured homes are built entirely in a factory, regulated by U.S. Housing and Urban Development codes, and then trucked to a home site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They cost 50 percent less per square foot than homes built on a site, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute, an industry group. And experts say dropping the chassis could drive down costs by $5,000 to $10,000 per home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really the opportunity to stack these manufactured homes to make multi-family developments,\u201d Hawke said. \u201cSo it\u2019s unlocking this thing which was primarily used for single-family and it\u2019s making it much more accessible for a multi-family developer, which is great because manufactured housing is far and away the least expensive non-subsidized housing supply in the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In a 2026 earnings call, UMH Properties, a publicly traded real estate company that owns and develops manufactured-home communities, said the chassis rule change will allow it to put two-story manufactured homes on existing lots. The company also is considering designs that could combine two stories with duplex units, allowing for smaller, more affordable apartment rentals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou build 2,000 square feet of homes instead of 1,000 square feet on the same piece of land. It\u2019s a very, very important development,\u201d said Eugene Landy, founder and chairman of UMH Properties, on the earnings call. \u201cThis is a change that\u2019s gonna help every manufactured home community out in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another benefit to removing the chassis, according to Mark Brunner, president of the Manufactured & Modular Home Association of Minnesota, is that manufactured homes can blend more seamlessly into subdivisions because they won\u2019t look too different from other homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the new law, states are required to certify before July 11, 2027 \u2014 or 2028 if their legislatures meet biennially \u2014 that they will treat all manufactured homes the same regardless of whether the homes have a chassis or not. So far, at least three states \u2014 North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas \u2014 have modernized the definition of a manufactured home to align automatically with code updates from HUD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you are not essentially in compliance with this new regulatory framework, then you\u2019re really limited both in using manufactured homes and making them, which is obviously an economic driver for a state,\u201d Hawke said. \u201cNorth Carolina did an incorporation by reference, essentially saying, \u2018We are just going to define this like HUD defines it. Go see HUD\u2019s definition.\u2019 It\u2019s a lot simpler.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From temporary housing to mobile home parks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Siegel, a researcher and policy expert for Pew\u2019s housing initiative, said her research has found that more than 30 states are going to need to update their definition of manufactured housing to remove language about a required chassis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HUD certification now requires equal treatment of homes with and without chassis, and changes to state laws may not be as easy as striking a few words, she said. References to permanent chassis can appear throughout state statutes in various manufactured home policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStates vary completely across the country on how they treat manufactured housing,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cThis requirement of permanent chassis is really pervasive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Stateline review found use of the \u201cpermanent chassis\u201d language currently written on manufactured housing laws include Virginia, Maine, New York, Missouri, South Carolina, Washington, Nevada and Maryland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following World War II, a shift in how mobile homes were being used began forming. No longer reserved as temporary housing, mobile homes were designed to be increasingly more permanent. Mobile home communities sprang up, though many were zoned into rural or suburban areas on a city\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, manufactured homes \u2014 called mobile homes until the early 1970s \u2014 have been built in factories and trucked to their new locale. Many were unloaded into mobile home communities, specialized zoning districts where residents own their house but rent the land underneath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are far cheaper than site-built houses: The average sales price of a new manufactured home rose from $81,900 in 2019 to $127,200 in 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s Manufactured Housing Survey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those factory-built sales have slowed since a late 1990s boom as fewer manufactured home communities have been built since 2000, a trend largely attributed to restrictive zoning and rising land costs. Still, an estimated 20 million people live in one, most of them on acreage owned by a landlord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, a home attached to a trailer or visibly hoisted a few feet off the ground were tells of manufactured housing when they first popped up in neighborhoods. But many modern ones are virtually unrecognizable from site-built homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have the same walls, ceiling, sheetrock, windows and shingles,\u201d said Dustin Brakemeier, who owns and operates manufactured home communities in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. \u201cOne\u2019s built in a factory, one\u2019s built outside. They\u2019re the same.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing zoning, mortgage rules<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pennsylvania Republican state Rep. Dan Moul, who owns a manufactured home park in Oxford Township in Adams County, recalled in an interview that zoning restrictions kept him from expanding the community into an adjoining parcel a few years ago. The township said the land was zoned exclusively for detached single-family residential housing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe bottom line is they look at mobile home communities as that\u2019s where the poor riffraff lives, and we don\u2019t want any more riffraff,\u201d Moul said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the big domino effects from the removal of the chassis requirement could be state banning or overriding restrictive local zoning policies that targeted manufactured homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an analysis of over 6,700 zoning districts in Texas, the National Zoning Atlas found 33 percent of localities have explicit restrictions on manufactured housing and 11 percent allowed them via special hearing or permit, but not by-right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Kentucky and Texas banned local ordinances that would unreasonably restrict where manufactured homes could be placed. Kentucky also insisted that local governments cannot impose design standards for manufactured homes that are  higher than those for non-manufactured homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Rodino, a real estate agent in Savannah, Georgia, who sells manufactured homes, said the stigma isn\u2019t just among local governments and stodgy neighborhood groups. Some buyers, he said, are confusing modern manufactured housing with the image of older mobile homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think (that perception) is slowly changing as construction quality improves and traditional housing becomes less affordable,\u201d said Rodino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siegel, of Pew, said that because states must align their manufactured housing laws with HUD\u2019s definition by 2027 \u2013 there\u2019s an opportunity for states to take a holistic look at their regulations, including whether states can make it easier to define manufactured homes as \u201creal estate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siegel said states also should revisit laws that classify manufactured homes as personal property \u2014 like cars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you own property that\u2019s personal property instead of real estate, you\u2019re not eligible to get a mortgage,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cThat\u2019s not about a person\u2019s financial status or financial credibility, and it\u2019s not even about the quality of the home. It\u2019s just this titling component.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Pew analysis touting the potential for manufactured homes shows that a typical $100,000 mortgage for a manufactured home would save a borrower roughly $49,000 over the life of the loan when compared with \u201chome-only\u201d or personal property loans, which are the only options now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some states already are taking action: Laws in Georgia, Maine and New York have made it easier for some manufactured homeowners to convert their homes to real property and gain access to mortgage financing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to title manufactured homes without a chassis the same way as we\u2019re titling manufactured homes with a chassis, let\u2019s make sure that that process is as streamlined and makes the most sense for what these modern homes are today,\u201d Siegel said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robbie Sequeira\/Stateline News For decades, manufactured home builders have been working to shed the old image of boxy trailer homes reserved for the outskirts of cities and suburbia. Now, a small change in federal regulations could open the door for architecture welcomed in more neighborhoods. This summer\u2019s sweeping housing bill, the 21st Century ROAD […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-31 03:22:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211508"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211547,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211508\/revisions\/211547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}