The Barriers To Affordable Manufactured Homes

"But despite all of the benefits to manufactured housing today, there are still a number of barriers stopping them from being adopted – one of those being zoning."

“When it comes to the housing market today, the biggest thing people are looking for is  affordability without sacrificing quality and that’s where we have a significant advantage. By building homes in a factory, they can drastically reduce costs while increasing precision and quality.”

“More than a hundred years ago Henry Ford pioneered the assembly line as a way to bring down costs so that the average person could afford to buy a car, and that is exactly what we’re doing today with manufactured housing.”

“The assembly line structure is incredibly efficient, so much so that the trash from the building process can fit into one trash can – that’s unimaginable compared to today’s site-built homes. The process to build these homes are quite literally over engineered, meaning savings get passed directly on to the buyer.”

“What makes manufactured homes so appealing today is that because the process to build them is so efficient, there is no need to sacrifice quality. I can’t think of another industry where you can cut costs while increasing quality, but we’ve quite literally found a way to do that.”

“Since the manufacturers are building units in the same place it allows them to order materials in bulk. This creates a situation where a manufactured home may have the exact same cabinets as a site-built home but they cost less in a manufactured home because they were able to order them in bulk.”

“Aside from the affordability, these homes’ durability can’t be beat. They have to be engineered to be strong enough to be able to withstand the force of being driven to their final destination; that can’t be said about any site-built homes.”

“The last few years I’ve seen so many people from Montana come into my office that are born and raised here, but at the price of existing homes there’s no way they can afford what the housing is costing. Manufactured homes are providing a pathway for the average Montanan to be able to own their own home. Not only are manufactured homes providing a path to home ownership, they are also providing retirees a way to downsize as their needs change.”

“But despite all of the benefits of manufactured housing today, there are still a number of barriers stopping them from being adopted – one of those being zoning.”

“Some cities and counties have used zoning to make it difficult or even impossible to put manufactured homes on lots. One of the best things these local governments could do would be to reduce the barriers to allowing people to put manufactured homes on their property.”

“The demand for these types of homes is huge right now, even with some of the barriers to putting them on a lot. We’re seeing all kinds of apartments and townhomes being developed to try and catch up with demand, but manufactured homes have largely been left out of the conversation. This is a proven affordable way to build homes, we need reforms that will unlock all types of housing – especially manufactured housing.”

Josh Wallery
Iseman Homes
Helena, Montana

David Finney
Manufactured Housing Advocate
North Carolina