New Manufactured Homes Have Popped Up on the National Mall – Showing They can Be Built fast and Inexpensively
The Innovative Showcase, staged by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), was a public event running June 7-9.
Source: excerpts from a report via AZPM News by Laura Wamsley/Heard On All Things Considered.
Washington – On the wide open, grassy space at the National Mall, halfway between the U.S. Capital and the Washington Monument, a temporary village has sprouted up in recent days. Several tiny homes lined the paths, and workers assembled what looked like an instant log cabin. A few manufactured homes were clustered near the Smithsonian Castle.
This is the Innovative Housing Showcase, staged by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a public event running June 7-9.
At a preview on Tuesday, Acting HUD Secretary Adrianne said the event is about a glimpse of the future – and showing ways to expand the country’s housing supply.
“We know that access to a home is one of the most pressing things for families across the country,whether you’re renting or wanting to become a first-time homebuyer. And one of the ways that we know to bring down costs is to just build more housing,” said Todman. “Just build more, Build, build, build!”
Tom Perez, the former Secretary of Labor who’s now senior advisor to President Biden, said housing is top of mind for the Biden Administration. “When we think about the meetings that we have had at the White House recently, the issue of housing has been either the most or second-most discussed issue,” he said.
CAVCO INTRODUCES DUPLEX MANUFACTURED HOME
The backdrop of the speeches was a bright, stylish manufactured home, what used to be known as a mobile home. The innovation? It’s a duplex. HUD sets national building standards for manufactured homes, and recently changed its code to allow homes like this.
“So this is one unit, and it’s separated by a firewall for a second unit. So instead of having an opportunity for one family, we now have an opportunity for two families to live affordably,” Todman explained, standing inside the home.
Richard Smith is a sales manager at Cavco, the company that built this home. A duplex like this might be used in infill areas where space is a premium. “It allows us to get more affordable homes,” Smith says, so it really just helps solve a piece of the affordable housing crisis.
