Manufactured Housing is What is Next for America’s Housing Market
The following narrative contains excerpts from an analysis by Gretchen Baldau for ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).
On the one hand, unemployment is down to a 53-year low and 500,000 jobs were added in January. On the other hand, millions have stopped looking for work, wage increases are not keeping up with inflation, mortgage rates are still above 6%, and the Federal Reserve has signaled that it is willing to continue increasing rates.
What is certain in the housing market is the continued presence of a housing shortage, which some put as high as five million homes. With such a large shortage, it is unsurprising that housing prices increased for a record breaking 130 consecutive months despite wages effectively decreasing.
The combination of scarce housing availability and trailing wages puts pressure on individuals and families to widen their search for affordable housing. Unfortunately. Affordable housing is all too rare in the urban areas that have the most and highest paying job opportunities. This means that even as employers try to attract new workers, workers are moving further away due to expensive urban housing.
States Are Proposing Legislation To Eliminate Zoning Restrictions On Manufactured Housing
States are taking notice,and housing reforms proposals are making their way through state legislatures. For example both Maine and Montana have legislation this year that eases or eliminates restrictions on manufactured homes, with Montana’s requiring that manufactured housing “be treated the same as other types of conventional housing allowed in a zoning district.”
ALEC’s Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Task Force passed a similarly-aimed model policy, the Factory-Built Housing Act. This model policy aims at increasing the supply of low-cost housing by allowing factory-built homes to be built/installed in any areas zoned for single-family residential dwellings.
Even more than business equity, primary residences (homes) constitute the largest share of non-financial assets in American society. States can help more Americans achieve economic mobility through home ownership by implementing reforms that clear the way for new affordable homes to be built. States and cities might not be ready to forgo zoning like Houston, but reforms like those described above can go a long way towards encouraging home building and home owning.
