Blog Posting # 824; Copyright 20 December 2024. EducateMHC
Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (i.e. a type of offsite construction). Land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH; and, along with various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans & real estate-secured mortgages), characterize the post-production segment of MH.
EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email: gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry and SWAN SONG – the latter, a history of land lese 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 30 nonfiction texts.
George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, as well as Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large for MHInsider magazine.
Is it affordable housing or offsite construction?
Regular readers of this weekly blog are aware of my ‘work in progress’, researching, tracking, and publishing the monthly ‘Whole U.S. Housing Story’. During the past couple months I’ve settled on a workable format for this all-inclusive overview of housing ‘starts’ in the U.S… But a need for terminology clarification has arisen, and here I’m soliciting your input. First, however, just what is the ‘Whole U.S. Housing Story’ per se (‘by itself’)?
Quoting from a previous blog posting: “The Whole U.S. Housing Story is an ongoing monthly collection and summary of ALL types of ‘housing starts’ throughout the U.S. However, since most present-day reports of this nature, via U.S. Census Bureau, cover only ‘single-family site-built housing starts’, the ‘Whole U.S. Housing Story’ offers a bigger picture, one that includes ‘offsite construction’ categories of housing such as HUD-Code manufactured housing, modular & panelized (or ‘prefab’) housing, and Park Model recreational vehicles (‘RVs’).” Blog # 823
Two clarifications: First, HUD-Code manufactured housing, when installed on permanent foundations on building sites conveyed fee simple, are oft identified as ‘single-family site-built housing’. And in time, ‘offsite construction’ might include various types of accessory dwelling units or ADUs, such as Tiny Houses, sophisticated ‘sheds’, customized steel storage containers, ‘capsule houses’, even 3-D printer-produced homes – but not yet.
So, what’s this need for terminology clarification? Some folk within the HUD-Code housing milieu (‘environment’), prefer the ‘Whole U.S. Housing Story’ be reported in terms of 1) single-family site-built housing starts, plus 2) factory-built housing production (i.e. HUD-Code manufactured housing alone). Period. But know what? That’s pretty much the reporting status quo today: 1) single-family site-built housing starts reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, and 2) manufactured housing production reported to HUD by the Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’); with the twain never covered in the same report (or story). However, there is a complication, as IBTS data includes new HUD-Code manufactured homes sited in the 500+/- land lease communities throughout the U.S., but not reported by the U.S. Census Bure! Also missing from U.S. Census Bureau data are outlier housing types (e.g. ADUs such as Tiny Houses, sheds, storage containers, capsule units, and 3-D printer-produced homes) – all of which, at one time or another, might well be sited on scattered building sites conveyed fee simple. No one, to date, seems to want to resolve these disparities. Read on…
Furthermore, MH purists, it seems, don’t want anything to do with ‘offsite construction’. Why? The argument goes, ‘Don’t taint MH by associating it with nebulous (‘indistinct’) forms of housing like modular and panelized, as well as various ADUs and Park Model RVs.’ Right or wrong thinking?
Yet another plot twist has to do with factory-built housing, inclusive or manufactured housing, modular and panelized units, ADUs, Park Model RVs. Specifically, would the offsite construction naysayers be satisfied if all homebuilding shifted from offsite construction to factory-built housing? I think not. For one thing, offsite construction has already staked out its’ territory via a website and a slick monthly trade magazine, both sans any mention of manufactured housing.
All this brings us back to ‘why’ I’ve proposed that the ‘Whole U.S. Housing Story’ begin with data compiled and published online by the U.S. Census Bureau each month, then include other forms of housing where data is available from credible sources and by formula. The resulting ‘grand total’ of housing starts in the U.S., month by month, would be more accurate and useful than just publishing housing starts occurring during the onsite building process.
So, what’s your input relative to the aforementioned terminology clarification? Let me know via gfa7156@aol.com or mail your narrative to GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247
GREEN BLAZER REMINDER
Mentioned this to you a couple weeks ago, but it’s certainly worth a reminder here!
RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinees attending the 2025 Louisville MHShow next month, 15-17 January, know that the show organizers/hosts have requested that these folk wear their distinctive green blazer all day on the 15th and during the evening festivities.
Being inducted into the prestigious RV/MH Hall of Fame is the acme (‘highest’) honor for pioneers and leaders within the recreational vehicle and manufactured housing industries!
To learn more about this honor and the institution preserving RV & MH legacies, visit the website RVMHHallof Fame.com And if you’d like to talk about the RV/MH Hall of Fame selection mechanics in more detail, let’s talk at the 2025 Louisville MHShow.
One More Reason to Leave California…
Quoted and edited, but unverified, from email correspondence from a veteran MH businessman in California to this industry observer:
“…the California courts just denied our (industry’s) request for injunctive relief on a bill”, if passed, will as of 1/1/2025, posit (‘put in place’) “that long term rental agreements are no longer exempt from rent control.”
Now that change would turn the land lease community business model upside down.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to You
Ah Ha! Another positive sign the recent presidential election is ‘Making America Great Again’! Everyone, it seems, is extending ‘Merry Christmas’ greetings this year instead of something less meaningful and merry.
George Allen