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June is national home ownership month. According to a wide range of sources, the U.S. is in an affordable housing crisis. With Biden era inflation at multiple decade high levels, interest rates on conventional housing mortgage loans have more than doubled in the past two years. A lack of affordability is an obvious issue for all kinds of housing, conventionally constructed “on site” and manufactured homes built indoors in a fashion similar to autos, appliances, or other mass-produced products. According to researchers, the later group is a possible bright spot for affordable housing seekers because of the sizable savings possible from factory-produced homes. There are many kinds of factory-built housing, but a case can be made that the brightest spot is HUD Code Manufactured Homes, which offer greater savings than modular homes and have outsold them as a result.
In late December 2022, Bloomberg and the Washington Post published an editorial that made the pitch that manufactured homes are an important part of the solution for the U.S. affordable housing crisis. The op-ed makes the argument that the ‘U.S. Can Solve the Housing Crisis, It just Needs to Start Building.’ They specifically pushed for more manufactured housing.
Several third-parties articles and research reports (meaning, reports not published by the manufactured housing industry) reveal a surprising array of evidence in favor of the appeal, safety, savings, and durability of modern manufactured homes. MHLivingNews and/or MHProNews is arguably the large repository of such research anywhere online. The review of some of that research that follows will take readers to the answers to questions often asked by the curious or active manufactured home shoppers. The following are a sampling of why manufactured homes are literally the most proven permeant affordable housing solution in modern American history.
A Brief History and Terminology Review for June 2023 Home Ownership Month
Manufactured homes replaced the mobile homes of yesteryear. Authentic factory-built housing history reminds us that the trailer house industry separated from the recreational vehicle industry decades ago. The trailer houses of the 1930s and 1940s grew in size and quality and became the mobile homes of the 1950s until June of 1976. Because of widely bipartisan efforts in Congress, the first manufactured homes were built on June 15, 1976.
Manufactured housing terminology ought to be clarified by the Associated Press (AP). MHLivingNews previously provided this report after our direct engagement with the AP Stylebook team.
Why is such information so relatively challenging to come by?
That is a fair question. Because there are several multi-billion-dollar sized firms that are involved in manufactured housing. Furthermore, educational, marketing, and non-production related issues fall under the umbrella of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), which bill itself as representing “all segments” of manufactured housing. Per MHI’s About Us page on this date (6.1.2023) are the following claims, which will be examined further below.
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Here are some claims by MHI from their “Who We Are” page.
Who we are
The Manufactured Housing Institute is the only national trade organization representing all segments of the factory-built housing industry. MHI members include home builders, retailers, community operators, lenders, suppliers and affiliated state organizations.
The organization is a trusted partner, advocate and industry leader that provides its members with a comprehensive range of educational, operational, networking and advocacy resources to learn, to lead and to succeed.
Manufactured housing is an important source of affordable housing for 22 million households across the country. The factory-built housing industry produces about 90,000 homes a year and contributes around $2.6 billion to the U.S. economy.
Membership has its benefits. Hear what our members have to say.
Mission Statement
MHI is the national trade organization representing all segments of the factory-built housing industry. MHI serves its membership by providing industry research, promotion, education and government relations programs, and by building and facilitating consensus within the industry.
Purpose Statement
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Additional MHLivingNews Fact Check, Analysis and Commentary on the Above from MHI.
It should be obvious that MHI has failed to ‘elevate’ manufactured housing or ‘expand’ attainable home ownership because they have once more allowed manufactured housing to go into 6 consecutive months of declining production, shipments – and thus – obviously sales.
Mainstream media has periodically, and understandably, spotlighted concerns about so-called ‘predatory’ operators in the manufactured housing industry. Before proceeding, let’s note the obvious. Every profession has its good, bad, and ugly organizations and individuals. That occurs in all segments of housing, not just manufactured housing. The article linked below is but one example of that fact.
The underlying causes for manufactured housing industry underperformance are well known. Among the top ones are misunderstandings about manufactured housing, along with zoning and placement barriers for manufactured homes. While there is at this time sufficient financing for qualified buyers to get a loan or mortgage for a manufactured homes, there are opportunities in some cases to lower those costs. Given that MHI claims to “represent” “all segments” of manufactured housing, they clearly ought to be held accountable for the current state of the manufactured housing market.
The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform is the other professionals’ national trade organization representing the interests of independent producers of HUD Code manufactured homes. MHARR is a producers’ trade group, not a post-production or umbrella trade group, as is true for MHI. So, when MHARR take shots at MHI for failing to do what is obviously needed, these are manufactured housing professionals critiquing other manufactured housing professionals.
MHARR has consistently called on MHI to take certain steps consistent with their self-described role and mandate. What MHARR has done for several years is increasingly spotlight MHI’s failures to act.
Researchers for HUD, university level research, and individuals inside and outside of manufactured housing have spotlighted concerns that routinely can be traced back to MHI. MHI, and their dominating brands when asked, have routinely declined to defend their behavior. Some examples of that claim are linked and/or crosslinked from reports linked herein.
It is June 1st, in national home ownership month. A check of MHI’s home page reveals no apparent reference to it. A check of MHI’s social media pages earlier this morning reveals nothing on the topic. MHProNews has reported on this problematic pattern by MHI previously. By contrast, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) each have posts, social media, and other articles that focus on promoting their part of the U.S. housing industry during national home ownership month. The first article linked below is from 2021. So, this year’s apparent miss by MHI is not the first time. Rather, it is apparently part of a pattern.
MHI can’t have it both ways. They can’t claim to represent “all segments” of the industry and claim that they want to elevate and expand opportunities and yet fail to promote their own industry in a proper fashion. Our platform’s focus has long been manufactured homes, pre-HUD Code mobiles homes, and the historic ‘trailer houses’ of yesteryear.
In medicine, there is a rule that says: “First do no harm.” That should be the minimum that MHI ought to deliver, first do no harm to manufactured housing. Yet, MHI promotes companies that have a problematic reputation and give them ‘awards.’ They have a code of ethical conduct which is demonstrably not being properly enforced. Given a chance to explain these concerns, MHI and their attorneys decline comment.
There is no other known trade media serving manufactured home owners, manufactured housing professionals, manufactured home shoppers, and affordable housing advocates that have provided a more balanced set of reports on the industry than this platform and our MHProNews sister site. MHInsider, ManufacturedHomes.com, and others that happen to be MHI members have for years failed to show such troubling examples of how MHI member firms are routinely the ones that draw negative media. They do so without apparent consequences from MHI for their so-called code of ethical conduct.
If MHI and/or their attorneys want to respond to these concerns, they are once more hereby invited to do so. But until they begin to do their self proclaimed job, MHLivingNews will continue to show the good news, the troubling items, and the ugly so that shoppers and others can achieve their goals while hopefully navigating away from firms that have a problematic reputation. Happy national home ownership month from MHLivingNews. ###
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There is direct and indirect evidence for what’s gone wrong in manufactured housing. During an affordable housing crisis, the industry should be growing, not slowing. It is time that public officials investigate what so-called ‘pro’ manufactured housing MHI has and hasn’t done to see why their behavior seems to benefit industry insiders who are routinely consolidators instead of the public at large. ###
That’s a wrap on this installment of “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHLivingNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Recent and Related Reports:
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