Nebraska Town Discovers Manufactured Homes as Solution to the Affordable Housing Shortage
(Source: Excerpts from a report by Nexstar Media Group,Inc).
For years, the city of Norfolk has been trying to resolve its housing shortage, but it wasn’t until recently that the Chamber was shown an affordable solution
“In rural Nebraska, we have to keep growing because data shows that we’re not, so we’ve been addressing that as a community for a few years now,” said Austen Hagood, Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce president & CEO. “It’s working, but we have to have houses for the people we bring in.”
“We have a lot of apartments that have gone up in the last decade and we’ve put out a significant amount of homes as well, but it’s just not enough,” Hagood said. “So when congressman (Mike) Flood had this idea to go out to Hagerstown to see how they are doing – I mean, this is a quick way to pop up a neighborhood.”
On Tuesday, Flood took the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce to Hagerstown, Maryland to see the development of a manufactured housing community.
The benefits of a manufactured home is that you have a brand new home and it can cost $100,000 less than a traditional home,”Flood said. “And you can’t tell the difference, in a lot of cases, between a manufactured home and a traditional site-built home.”
In their visit, the Nebraskaans were surprised to find how appealing the manufactured home neighborhood could be for their housing problems.
“The way Hagerstown, Maryland has it set up, they’re nice wide streets, manicured lawns, and it really looks like a perfect neighborhood,” Hagood said. To take that idea and turn it into a Nebraska solution is exciting for me.”
The Chamber is currently discussing the idea of a manufactured home community, and with the support of congressman Flood, they hope to grow the amount of affordable units available for northeast Nebraska residents.
A home is the American dream, and right now, for too many, it is out of reach because of the cost.” Flood said. “So in this time of inflation and higher interest rates, we need to bring the cost down as low as we can go and get the best quality home that we can find for these families.”
