Manufactured Housing

What Is Manufactured Housing?

Manufactured housing refers to homes built in a factory to a single federal standard, the HUD Code, and then transported to a site in one or more sections. Federal law defines a manufactured home by size. In transit it must be at least 8 feet wide or 40 feet long, or it must be at least 320 square feet once set up. It must also be designed as a dwelling, and the definition covers its plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems. Self-propelled recreational vehicles are excluded.

The HUD Code grew out of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974. It applies to homes whose production began on or after June 15, 1976. Units built earlier are called mobile homes, and federal law has used the term “manufactured home” since 1980. On July 11, 2026, Public Law 119-101, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, changed the definition so homes may be built “with or without a permanent chassis.” Before that, the law required a permanent chassis. The act directs HUD to issue standards for homes built without one, and it gives states a year, or two where the legislature meets every other year, to certify that they treat those homes the same as other manufactured homes.

How It Works

• One national code. HUD’s standards cover body and frame construction, fire safety, thermal protection, plumbing, heating and cooling, electrical systems, and transportation. They preempt state and local standards on the same aspects of construction and safety. States keep the right to set standards for foundations and for stabilizing and support systems.
• Siting. A home may sit on land the owner holds, on a rented lot in a land-lease community, or in a resident-owned community. Local zoning still decides where manufactured homes are allowed.
• Title and financing. Many homes, especially those on leased land, are titled as personal property and financed with chattel loans rather than real estate mortgages. A 2021 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) study of mortgage disclosure data found that chattel borrowers face higher denial rates than borrowers seeking mortgages on manufactured or site-built homes, and that they pay higher interest rates. Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native borrowers were more likely than non-Hispanic white borrowers to get chattel loans, even after accounting for land ownership.

Manufactured vs. Modular Housing

Why It Matters for Workforce Housing

The CFPB calls manufactured housing the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the United States. Congress has recognized that role in the statute. Since 2000, the law’s stated purposes have included making affordable manufactured homes more available and increasing homeownership. See Factory-Built Housing: Modular and Manufactured.

Criticisms and Limitations

• Residents of land-lease communities own their homes but not the ground beneath them, so they are exposed to lot-rent increases and park sales.
• Chattel borrowers pay higher interest rates and are less likely to refinance than mortgage borrowers, according to the CFPB.
• Local zoning can limit where manufactured homes are allowed, and mobile homes made before the 1976 code took effect were not built to the federal standard.