Blog Posting # 848; Copyright 27 June 2025. EducateMHC
Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. one of four types of offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’), comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. Various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans and real estate mortgages) describe the post-production segment of MH.
EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via 9317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955.
And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha 6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as freelance consulting and authoring of 30 nonfiction texts.
George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large for the MHInsider magazine.
WHERE WILL YOU BE ON 18 AUGUST 2025?
500+/- of the most well-known and successful manufactured housing and recreational vehicle industry entrepreneurs, trade association executives, along with their friends and families will be at the annual RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, the evening of 18 August 2025!
How ‘bout you? For more information about this stellar event, and to make reservations, visit the website at: https://www.rvmhhalloffame.org/2025_rsvp? Aldo phone (574_ 293-2344.
So, what happens at the RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet? First and foremost, the 2025 Class of Inductees will be welcomed into this prestigious dual industry lifetime personal honor!
And who are these folk?
Chad Reece, RV manufacturer Winnebago in Forest City, Iowa
Garry Bewernick, RV parts distributor, Atlas Trailer in Chestermere, Alberta, Canada.
Larry Trout, dealer, Toppers RVs, in Waller, TX
Jason Lippert, RV supplier, Lippert Components, in Elkhart, IN.
Thomas Irons, RV OEM supplier, ASA Electronics, in Middlebury, IN.
Bill Poynter, MH manufacturer/retailer, Guerdon Industries, in Lexington, KY
Kurt Kelley, JD., insurance executive, American Insurance Alliance, in Spring, TX.
Nelson Steiner, MH community owner/operator, Steiner Communities in Tampa, FL.
Mark Raukar, MH retailer, Little Valley Homes, in Novi, MI.
Steven Schaub, MH community operator, YES! Communities in Denver, CO.
Last week’s blog posting (#847) announced a Writer’s Workshop scheduled for the morning of 18 August 2025, in the auditorium of the RV/MH Hall of Fame. So, whether you plan to attend that evening’s festivities or not, know you’re welcome to spend three or so hours (i.e. 9AM-Noon) learning the role of memoir writing (a.k.a. your short stories) and preparation of one’s autobiography. This short, and often small group, presentation has oft occurred at this location in the past and resulted in several self-published books now in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library and sold in their bookstore. Specifically, they are No Respect At All…A PATH TO MILLION$, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, and SWAN SONG. Cost? Minimal; just enough to cover the expense of handout material (e.g. Copies of ‘How to Be Remembered By All!’ and other writers’ resources. Maybe $25-50 max. per attendee. Registration deadline? 1 August 2025. Let me know of your plan to attend via gfa7156@aol.com
SECO+
Now is also not too early to plan to attend yet another spectacular annual manufactured housing and land lease community event – the 12th (I think) hosting of the popular SECO conference in Atlanta, GA. What’s with the (+) notation? I’ll ‘splain’ a little later. Anyway, this year the SECO hosts are once again emphasizing the importance of MH2X, the self-promotional effort within manufactured housing to double new home production during 2025 & 2026. This means going from 103,314 new HUD-Code homes during 2024, to nearly 200,000 by year end 2026 or before.
Now about the (+). This year, SECO is welcoming I’m HOME conference attendees to participate in SECO’s highly regarded educational and discussion sessions. Here’s how this unique partnership is described in a recent Press Release:
‘The SECO Conference and the I’m HOME Conference, prominent events in the manufactured housing sector, have partnered with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and ROC USA to advance affordable housing initiatives. SECO, known for its focus on land lease community ownership and operations, and I’m HOME, which emphasizes policy and technical advancements in manufactured housing, are collaborating to integrate their strengths. The Lincoln Institute, steward of the I’m HOME Network, brings expertise in land policy and affordability, while ROC USA contributes its model of resident-owned communities to promote housing stability and availability.’
How can you not want to attend this several day program involving four major players in the housing industry: SECO, I’m HOME, the Lincoln Institute, and USA ROC? See you there! For more information visit the SECOconference.com website.
George Allen
SPRAWL OR NOTHING!
This article title in the New York Times Magazine (Sunday) got my attention. And the subtitle pulled me into the article – for a while. “The word (Sprawl) has become an epithet for garish, reckless growth. But top fix the housing crisis, America needs more of it.” Didn’t get too far into the article before I came across a paragraph that is so typical of what we all read, time and again, about the housing crisis in the U.S.
“Similar laws throughout the country have slowed the pace of construction and made housing far more expensive, contributing to one of the worst affordable housing crises in the nation’s history. After two decades of underbuilding, economists estimate the country’s housing shortage at somewhere between four million and eight million units. Last year was among the most difficult on record to buy a home; a quarter of tenants now spend more than half their income on rent and utilities, and the most recent homeless count, at about 770,000, was up nearly 20 percent from the previous year.”
Well, like other pundits holding forth on this subject, I could not identify much of substance to solving the problems cited. So I thought I’d, once again, add my two cents to the mix. Here goes.____________________________________________________________________