State Policy Playbook for Manufactured Homes

Manufactured homes are a practical, efficient way to expand the supply of attainable (naturally occurring affordable) housing for sale and for rent. However, many state policies restrict access to these homes—preventing them from being built in neighborhoods, restricting mortgage access due to titling, or omitting residents of manufactured housing from the same consumer protections and programs granted to residents of other housing types. As such, state policy plays a crucial role in determining whether manufactured housing can scale to meaningfully improve supply and affordability for families across America.

Because of factory efficiencies and standardized building requirements, manufactured homes can deliver quality, energy-efficient homes at a substantially lower price than comparable modular or site-built (“stick-built”) housing.1 These homes can provide a market-based path to affordability for many low- to moderate-income households—often without a subsidy. Additionally, manufactured homes are the only housing type built to a federal building code that governs design and construction to ensure safety and quality (the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, also known as the HUD Code).

For policy makers and advocacy leaders, the challenge is not whether manufactured housing can help address the widespread shortage of affordable housing, but rather whether state policy will allow it to do so. With that in mind and developed with input from the I’m HOME Steering Committee, this playbook details steps that states can take to improve access to manufactured housing and, in doing so, help to unleash the stock’s potential to mitigate some of the nation’s housing shortfall.