Blog Posting # 873; Copyright 23 January 2026. EductaeMHC
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: those being manufactured, modular & panelized housing, plus Park Model RVs – or accessory dwelling units, a.k.a. ADUs), routinely paired with traditional stick-built, single-family residential housing (a.k.a. onsite construction, where building permits are tallied and reported monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau). Land lease communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities, ‘mobile home parks’) are the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, along with various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate-secured mortgages) constitutes the post-production segment of the MH industry.
EducateMHC is an MH historian, trade term and trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source! Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, or visit 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 SmittyAlpha6 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 20 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, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist, and editor at large for ‘MHInsider’ magazine
U.S. Census Bureau Forsakes Manufactured Housing
According to the Department of Housing & Urban Development (‘HUD’), “Manufactured housing and mobile homes represent 6 percent of the US housing stock and are home to about 18 million people.”*1
AND, according to the New Residential Construction report researched and published monthly by the US Census Bureau, it “…provides national and regional data on the number of new housing units authorized by building permits; authorized, but not started; started; under construction; and completed.*2
BUT, “Th(is) data for new, privately-owned housing units, exclud(es) ‘HUD-code manufactured (mobile) homes.!”*3 (Emphasis added.) In other words, onsite construction (i.e. stick-built housing) is routinely reported by this federal agency, BUT offsite construction (i.e. factory-built housing such as HUD-Code manufactured, modular, and panelized housing, as well as Park Model RVs – or accessory dwelling units (‘ADUs’) is not!)
SO, while 6 percent of U.S. housing stock houses about 18 million citizens, it’s evidently NOT worthy of inclusion within the aforementioned New Residential Construction report tallied and published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
That’s simply NOT RIGHT!
What’s the size of this unfortunate ongoing omission? Due to the federal government shutdown this fall, the last ‘Total U.S. Housing Completions Report’ was published on 10 October 2025 in a blog posted by www.EducateMHC. Therein, citing the August 2025 New Residential Construction report, 134,000 onsite construction units were completed that month. And, in the case of forsaken offsite construction, there were approximately 11,776 units completed, for a grand total of 145,776 units of new onsite AND offsite construction, a significant number of more new homes than reported by the U.S. Census Bureau!*4&5
SO, where do we go from here?
Well, I know the US Census Bureau has little interest in changing the content of their monthly New Residential Construction report, given the clearly stated exclusion of HUD-code manufactured (mobile) homes cited in the third paragraph of this expose’, and repeated stonewalling of recommendations to include offsite construction housing in this otherwise onsite construction housing report.
A glimmer of hope, however, might lie in the reality that US housing affordability remains at record lows. A recent Goldman Sachs chart titled ‘US housing affordability remains at record low’ shows year 2025 housing index at only a 70 percentile, compared to an affordability high of 150 percent during 2013, and another ‘low’ of 80 during the recession of 2007. So, with those fluctuations in mind, why are we, as a nation, not including all forms of housing in our reporting?
Frankly, I find it shortsighted, even foolish, that two national manufactured housing trade bodies continue promoting HUD-Code manufactured housing at regional trade shows (Think Louisville, KY., Atlanta, GA., and especially the annual Innovative Housing display on the Washington, DC mall!). IMHO, if as an industry, we’re going to continue ballyhooing our affordable- attainable housing product lines, then lobby the US Census Bureau to include us – and other forms of offsite construction, in their routine research and reporting!
What say YOU? Am I barking up the wrong tree or are we onto something worth pursuing here? Let me know via gfa7156@aol.com
End Notes.
- ‘Manufactured Housing in the US Housing Supply’ prepared and distributed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development via news release dated 11 September 2024.
- ‘New Residential Construction’ press release dated 9 January 2026.
- Ibid; but interestingly, HUD-code manufactured homes permanently installed on building sites, are supposedly included in the subject report.
- Here’s the breakdown of the offsite construction total of 11,776 units completed: 1) HUD-Code manufactured housing production data (@ 8,696 units) per Institute of Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’); 2) modular & panelized housing units estimated to be 2% of the onsite construction completions total (@ 134,000 X .02% = 2,680 units); and , 3) RV Industry of America (‘RVIA’) reported 400 Park Model RVs produced.
- A further explanation of data in previous end note: IBTS data is time-proven accurate, though two national manufactured housing trade associations report this data differently. The 2% estimate is simply that, an estimate – as modular and panelized homes are built in accords with local building codes and not closely tallied. And the Park Model RV inclusion, frankly, is a ‘place holder’ that could just as well be ADUs, since both are bona fide housing types among U.S. homebuyers today.
Postscript.
From January through October 2025 I published, as blog postings, ‘Total U.S. Housing Completions Reports’. The unrealized goal, thanks to the federal government shutdown this fall, was to accumulate 12 months of data to clearly demonstrate the deficiency of the US Census Bureau’s ‘New Residential Construction’ reports. However, plans are afoot to do the same throughout year 2026. If you’re not receiving my ‘Total U.S. Housing Completions report each month, but would like to do so, request it via gfa7156@aol.com
George Allen