Blog Posting # 866; Copyright 7 November 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: manufactured, modular, panelized housing & Park Model RVs), routinely paired with traditional stick-built single-family residential housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). 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 9e.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 & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source! Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, or www.educatemhc.co, 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 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.
TOTAL U.S. HOUSING COMPLETIONS DURING SEPTEMBER 2025
George Allen’s Estimated Total of New Onsite & Offsite Construction Homes Together!
Sorry, but no report yet! Why? Apparently the federal government shutdown has affected the U.S. Census Bureau too. As of yesterday, 3 November, the August 2025 Press Release to this end (i.e. Estimated Total of New Onsite Construction ‘permits, starts & completions’) was still being displayed on the U.S. Census Bureau’s website.
Just as soon as the September 2025 Press Release appears, I’ll write it into the next blog posting. Until then, there’s little that can be done but await the end of the shutdown.
Something to Think About & Anticipate Reading…
Yes, I am retired and enjoying bonus time with Carolyn and our great granddaughter Emmie, who we child-sit a couple days most weeks. She’s four years old now, but has been a regular visitor with us since she was a few days old, so her mother can work as an attorney and father as pastor of a local church. Her older sister Peyton is still in high school, and older brother Hunter, is in the U.S. Army, and with his wife, are parents of our newly arrived great great grandson. That’s just part of our growing family…with two more recent babies recently on the scene.
I continue to write professionally. There’s the weekly blog you’re reading right now, and the quarterly ‘MHInsider’ magazine that features my Allen Legacy column. Hope you receive and read that regularly. I’ve got several highly interesting articles planned for coming months.
What you probably don’t know is, for the past two years, I’ve been researching and penning the history of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. I calculate I have another two years of work (2026 & 2027) before the tome will be ready for printing, binding, and distribution.
Why the extended time frame? In part, my work schedule. However, the truth of the matter is there’s a lot of territory to cover, i.e. decades of history, from 1972 thru 2025, so far. And some of the ‘early history’ is pretty sketchy, due to economic ups & downs in the MH & RV industries. The late Dr. Carl Edwards, RV/MH historian until the early 1990s, prepared but never published a manuscript titled ‘History of the Recreation Vehicle & Manufactured Housing Heritage Foundation’. I’ve used much of Edwards’ work as Part I (i.e. 1972 – 1992) of the umbrella history project. Part II is well underway and covers 1993 thru probably 2026. I’m treating each year as a ‘chapter’ in the project, so there’re 54+/- such segments in play. Project format?
Each chapter will likely feature a recitation of world and or national historic events for that year (chapter), followed by notable developments throughout the RV & MH industries. The chapter (year) ends with a list of individuals inducted (some say enshrined) in the RV/MH Hall of Fame that year. All told there are more than 400 such individuals today, and each will have a brief biographical sketch following their name. And therein is where readers will find the most interesting information, e.g. Who introduced ‘forced air heating’ in manufactured homes, who worked with the federal government during WWII to supply ‘trailers’ and develop ‘mobile home parks’ for use by government workers, and on and on….By the way, there were no inductions during 1977, and annual ‘classes’ sizes number between five and 15; today the average is ten inductions per year.
The most frustrating thing about this personal writing project? Having apropos historic resources from which to draw highlights, inventions, and more. For example, only a dozen land lease community owners/operators, during the past 50 or so years, have written and self-published (Sam Zell’ book is the only one from a traditional publisher) their autobiographies. And I’ve attempted to quote from each of these industry pioneers in the history project. But there are many of you out there today, who have compelling stories to tell as well – but are not doing so! Like, who conceptualized the Frost Free Foundation? Who named the Community Series Home? Who birthed the CrossMod® home design? Who visualized the largest land lease community in the U.S. and manufactured every HUD-Code home sited within it? I know, but it’d be so illuminating to read those stories in the words of their inventor.
Even more frustrating is the paucity of printed literature describing the various stages of development throughout the history of the RV/MH Hall of Fame!
Well, now you know how I spend much of my time during retirement. If you have suggestions relative to historical resources, etc., please let me know via gfa7156@aol.com
George Allen