DR. BEN CARSON TOUTS MANUFACTURED HOME AFFORDABILITY AND DURABILITY AT “INNOVATIVE HOUSING SHOWCASE” ON THE NATIONAL MALL

Ben Carson, the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) hosted the recently concluded inaugural “Innovative Housing Showcase,” a five-day event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. that highlighted new technologies and building solutions that could make housing more affordable for American families and more resilient during national disasters.

Carson said the federal government is focused on improving building standards and codes to reduce risks. He said officials also looking at many options including alternatives like manufactured homes.

Today’s manufactured home is the only form of housing in the nation subject to a rigid federally mandated national building code. Congress passed the “Manufactured Housing Construction and Standards Act of 1974, which became law on June 16, 1976, and upgraded in 1994, and has provided the framework of what we now know as the HUD Code. HUD regulates and authenticates the design, construction, strength, and durability of manufactured homes.

The 16 Innovative Housing Showcase exhibits included new HUD Code manufactured homes displayed by major manufactured home producers. While touring these models, Carson addressed various media as to the virtues of today’s modern manufactured housing.

“We’re having a significant problem in our country right now with affordable housing and also with resilience,” Carson told Stuart Varney from Fox Business News.

“That’s one of the reasons we’re having this display, so not only that people can see this and disabuse them of the notion that manufactured homes are trailers and trailer parks and seeing what we have done here,” said Carson.

Manufactured homes are loaded with technology infrastructure, including plumbing, electricity, and sewage without disrupting the “surface topography or the other structures around that. They are also bolted down to cement foundations that are better able to withstand hurricanes and tornadoes than site-built homes are.” he added.

Carson believes that manufactured housing’s new technology and updated solutions can remove some of the “many zoning barriers based on outdated thinking.”

As he toured one of the models on display, Carson made the following observation, “I’m standing inside of a manufactured home right now — it’s a beautiful place. It has a living room area, three bedrooms, a kitchen, a couple of bedrooms. And you know the cost of this is 30-40 percent less than a site built home.
In a speech at a Las Vegas convention shortly after becoming HUD Secretary he proclaimed the following,  manufactured homes are amazing!”