Legalizing Manufactured Homes
"The process to build these homes are quite literally over engineered, meaning savings get passed directly on to the buyer."
As I’m sure you’re aware, Montana is experiencing a severe shortage of affordable housing. While there is no silver bullet to this issue, there are a lot of things cities can do to remove barriers to affordable housing, such as eliminating minimum lot areas.
However, one thing I haven’t told you about yet is the barriers to manufactured housing and the things cities can do to remove those barriers. In order to understand the situation I interviewed Josh Wallery of Iseman Homes in Helena, and David Finney, a manufactured home advocate.
Here is what I learned:
1. Manufactured homes are considerably less expensive but not for the reasons you might think.
“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.”
2. Manufactured homes can reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
“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.”
3. Many counties and cities forbid or penalize 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.”
While manufactured homes certainly aren’t the silver bullet to the housing crisis, officials should explore all the options available to remove barriers to all affordable types of housing, including manufactured homes. To see the entire interview click HERE.
For Liberty,
Tanner Avery
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