Home Blog

2026 RV/MH Hall of Fame Members Inducted

Manufactured Housing, Manufactured Housing Industry, MH Professionals, MHInsider
Jim Joffe. Photo courtesy of the RV/MH Hall of Fame/Shawn Spence Photography.

Annual Induction Dinner in Elkhart Honors Five MH Veterans

Manufactured Housing, Manufactured Housing Industry, MH Professionals, MHInsider
2026 MH Hall of Fame Class. Photo courtesy of the RV/MH Hall of Fame/Shawn Spence Photography.

On Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, five new members of the RV/MH Hall of Fame from the manufactured housing industry were enshrined.

Each year, five professionals from each industry are chosen for induction into the RV/MH Hall of Fame.

“Recently, the Recreational Vehicle and Manufactured Housing Hall of Fame selection committees held meetings to review in detail all the nominations submitted for consideration of induction in the 2026 class of the RV/MH Heritage Foundation,” RV/MH Hall of Fame Executive Vice President Ryan Szklarek said. “We were impressed with the number and quality of nominations.”

Below are some career highlights of the five nominees from the manufactured housing industry, followed by the list of the RV nominees.

2026 Hall of Fame Honorees

Jim Breen — Alta Cima Corporation

Nominated by longtime employee Liz Sarsam, Breen began his career in 1991 with Prestige Homes. He was initially hired to furnish and decorate model homes, within a year was brought to the sales team, and within 18 months of employment, was the top seller in the company’s 14 locations. Breen was assigned as the manager of Prestige’s lowest performing sales center, a location the company planned to close, and brought the struggling home sales operation up to the company’s most productive. In 2000, Breen founded Alta Cima, a single-location liquidation center that evolved into one of the country’s most innovative and expansive home retail businesses, under the name Factory Expo, with 20 locations in 15 states and annual sales of more than $200 million.

Manufactured Housing, Manufactured Housing Industry, MH Professionals, MHInsider
Jim Breen. Photo courtesy of the RV/MH Hall of Fame/Shawn Spence Photography.

“We had a unique method of selling homes,” Breen told attendees at the induction dinner. “We were a pioneering business. Nobody thought we were going to be able to pull it off.

“Fighting against all the odds and making it happen,” he said. “We’ve been proving that we could do it for the last 30 years.”

Breen also acquired Dealers Network, a separately run franchise of home sales centers that provide opportunities for professionals who want to own and operate their own manufactured home sales center. Dealer Network has 16 locations in eight states. Breen is on the executive committee for the Manufactured Housing Industry of Arizona, where he has been a member and volunteer for many years.

He is a Trustee Club contributor to the Manufactured Housing Institute and has been honored with the President’s Award through the MHIA. Supporting letters for Breen’s nomination came from longtime Arizona executive Ken Anderson, Terry Gleeson of Valley Wide Enterprises, and Adventure Homes founder Wally Comer.

“Jim’s career is a testament to his vision and work ethic,” Gleeson said. “He started by selling furniture and staging model homes before transitioning into manufactured home sales, where he quickly became the top salesman at his company. In 2000, he founded his own firm, pioneering internet sales and creating new ways for families to realize the American Dream of homeownership.”

Robert Blair Young — Blair Group
professional headshot bob young hall of fame inductee 2026 elkhart aug 17
Young

Young, nominated by longtime employee Cyndi King, started his career in the early 1970s as an executive with Citibank in New York, buying home loans and providing chattel floorplan lending for retailers.

Young told the audience the manufactured housing industry changed his life.

“It changed my career and my life,” he said. “This industry gave me more than a career, it gave me a lifelong purpose.”

In 1980, he went to work for Intercoastal Communities in Florida, where he was instrumental in the development of seven communities with 1,100 homesites catering to active adults. Young established Blair Group in 1988, and built his own business in the development of 55+ manufactured home communities, largely in partnership with Palm Harbor and Fleetwood Homes. He developed five communities with 3,864 homesites.

Young has served for decades, including in leadership roles, with the Florida Manufactured Housing Institute, and is a longtime member of MHI’s National Communities Council. He has won several FMHA awards, including the President’s Award, and hosts an annual charity golf tournament that supports the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Supporting letters for Young’s nomination came from longtime executive Joe Stegmayer, industry finance expert and advocate Dick Ernst, and CEO and owner of Murex Properties Steven Adler.

“Bob was an accomplished builder/developer who provided great value for his residents, and a community they could all be proud of,” Ernst said. “Most of Bob’s residents were long-term residents, and the same could be said for Bob’s employees. If anyone demonstrated what the best of an industry could be, it was Bob.”

Steve Case — Real Estate Investor, Educator, SECO Co-Founder
professional headshot steve case hall of fame inductee 2026 elkhart aug 17
Case

Case, nominated by Pentagon Properties founder and SECO Co-founder Spencer Roane, has been a real estate investor in RV properties, manufactured home communities, multi-family, and self-storage for nearly three decades, early on pursuing a series of “turnaround parks” that required extensive hands-on effort in the relocation of homes, home infill, utility upgrades, and operational re-engineering. The experience helped position Case to acquire a portfolio of more stable communities that could be a long-term investment. In 2003, Case founded Mobile Home University to serve as an educational and training platform for those who wanted to come into the industry.

“I feel very humbled,” Case said in accepting the honor. “I have been able to work with some great people to make some change..”

Case is a co-founder of SECO, the annual manufactured housing industry conference held in Atlanta, and has put to use his knowledge of the industry and relationships with an array of community owners/operators, transport and install professionals, lenders, and other service and supply providers to help build the event’s educational sessions. Case has dedicated years of service to the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association. Supporting letters for Case’s nomination came from Chuck Meek of Bay Acceptance Corporation, Paul Chase of Ironhorse Communities, and Mark Titshaw, of Stonegate Management Group.

“Steve’s passion for training and mentorship is a hallmark of his career,” Titshaw said. “Drawing on his prior military service, including 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, where he served in instructor roles, he has brought that same commitment to instructing, guiding, and empowering others in the MHC space.”

Evan Atkinson — Clayton Homes of Frazeysburg
professional headshot evan atkinson hall of fame inductee 2026 elkhart aug 17
Atkinson

Atkinson came into the industry on the heels of his grandparents, who started a retail dealership in Ohio.

“They built it on hard work, integrity, and perseverance,” Atkinson said of his grandparents while accepting the honor. “Some of my proudest accomplishments have been not what we built but that we built it together.

“This award has my name on it, but it belongs to all of you,” he told his family and his team.

Nominated by Shawn Carnahan of Adventure Homes, Atkinson has spent 43 years in the retail of manufactured homes, having owned and operated Williamsburg Square from 1983 to 2015, at which time he became general manager of the Clayton Homes home center in Frazeysburg, Ohio.

In 2018, the Frazeysburg location was named MHI’s Midwest Dealer of the Year. Atkinson has been on the executive committee for the Ohio Manufactured Homes Association for more than 30 years, including several years as president. He served for 13 years on the Ohio Manufactured Homes Commission and testified on behalf of the industry several times before the Ohio General Assembly. Supporting letters for Atkinson’s nomination came from Tim Williams of the OMHA, George Gunnell, a regional manager with Clayton Homes, and Jack Zide, the current GM for the Frazeysburg location.

“I received the privilege to come work alongside Evan in 2018 as part of a succession plan (for him) to slowly step away from day-to-day operations,” Zide said. “The first day I began working with Evan I realized there were people and businesses that talked about ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘taking care of customers’ and there were people who really did it. The amount of integrity and genuine concern for customers that I have witnessed firsthand from Evan has shaped who I am and who I strive to be as a leader and provider.”

Jim Joffe — J&H Asset Property Management
professional headshot jim joffe hall of fame inductee 2026 elkhart aug 17
Joffe

Joffe, nominated by Maria Horton of Newport Pacific, has spent 40 years in retail sales and property management, founding both Home Quest Manufactured Home Sales, a leading California dealership, and J&H, which manages more than 100 manufactured home communities. He serves on the board of the California Manufactured Housing Institute, continues to dedicate time to the Western States Manufactured Housing Association, and has served on multiple municipal task forces in LaVerne, Rialto, and Visalia.

In acceptance of the honor of induction into the hall, which comes with the patented green jacket, Joffe took immediate possession of the experience.

“I took all the tags off and slept in it last night, so you can’t take it back,” Joffe said of the jacket.

Joffe has been honored with WMA’s William E. Carr Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from CMHI, and his dealership won Orange County Business Journal’s Small Family Business Award.

“I love every job I’ve ever had,” Joffe confessed to the event’s attendees. “I love working.”

Supporting letters for Joffe’s nomination came from Barry Cole of Manufactured Housing Insurance Services, industry attorney Michael Mihelich, and Keith Casenhiser of Bessire and Casenhiser.

“Jim Joffe is a strong leader and a deeply generous individual, dedicated to helping those in need,” Horton said in her nomination papers. “He runs programs in his communities that provide crucial assistance, including rental support and home maintenance services. His efforts help residents maintain their homes and preserve property values, ensuring the well-being of the entire community.”

The 2026 RV Inductees

Bob Been – Dealer
Affinity RV | Prescott, Arizona

Bryan Brady – OEM
Heartland RV | Elkhart, Indiana

Dr. Richard Curtain – Advisor
University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, Michigan

Gary Enyart – Supplier
Cummins | Maple Grove, Minnesota

Bill Scheffer – Association
MMHRVCA | East Lansing, Michigan


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured housing.

The Future is Now: Construction Techniques That Seem Unreal

manufactured housing technology futurist homebuyers

By Nikki Greenberg

mhinsider magazine housing future headshot nikki greenberg
Nikki Greenberg, housing futurist.

Construction is changing faster than most people realize. For decades, the industry has operated in largely the same way. Labor-intensive. Sequential. Slow. But today, a convergence of robotics, materials science, and advanced manufacturing is reshaping at a fundamental level how we build.

What once felt futuristic is operational. These technologies are not decades away. They are being tested, deployed, and scaled right now. For those in manufactured housing, this is not just innovation. It is a defining moment. An opportunity to lead how homes are built, delivered, and experienced.

Build Beyond Earth: Construction on the Moon and Mars

If you want a glimpse of the future, look beyond Earth. Through the Artemis program led by NASA, the objective is not just to reach the Moon, but to stay there. That requires infrastructure, including landing pads, roads, and long-term habitats.

Companies like ICON are developing advanced 3D printing systems designed to build using lunar soil. This removes the need to transport materials from Earth. Their Olympus system uses high-powered lasers to transform regolith into construction-grade material, following a “live off the land” approach. They have already brought this concept to life on Earth. It 3D printed a full-scale simulated Martian habitat, Mars Dune Alpha, designed in collaboration with Bjarke Ingels Group at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Space construction demands extreme efficiency. No waste. No redundancy. Every element must perform. These constraints are accelerating innovation at a rapid pace. The lessons learned will not stay in space. They will flow back into terrestrial housing, particularly in areas where speed, cost, and resource efficiency are critical.

Growing Buildings: The Rise of Mycelium

What if buildings could be grown instead of built? Mycelium, the root structure of fungi, is emerging as one of the most compelling materials in construction. Acting as a natural binding agent, it transforms agricultural waste such as straw or sawdust into solid building components.

The result is a material with strong thermal and acoustic performance, natural fire resistance, and minimal environmental impact. Instead of extracting and assembling, we are beginning to grow materials using biological processes.

For manufactured housing, this opens the door to scalable, low-cost, low-carbon materials that align with both affordability and sustainability goals.

Nature as Infrastructure: Moss and Living Systems

Nature is no longer something we design around. It is becoming part of the system itself.

Moss is now being used in bio-receptive concrete that allows it to grow directly on building surfaces. Unlike traditional plants, moss does not require soil or deep roots. It absorbs nutrients from the air, making it highly adaptable to vertical surfaces in urban environments.

The benefits are both practical and immediate. Air purification. Thermal insulation. Noise reduction. Minimal maintenance.

For manufactured housing communities, this presents an elegant solution. It enhances livability while reducing operating costs, without introducing complexity.

Materials That Adapt: Color-Changing Facades

Materials are becoming responsive. Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed a façade material that adjusts its thermal behavior based on temperature. On hot days, it emits heat. On cold days, it retains it. The effect is similar to adjusting layers of clothing throughout the day.

Autonomous Construction: Robots That Build

Automation is no longer limited to factories. It is arriving on construction sites.

The Hadrian X system can lay more than 1,000 bricks per hour with millimeter precision. It reads a digital model and translates it directly into physical construction.

For manufactured housing, this represents a critical shift toward industrialized construction on site. It enables consistency, reduces reliance on scarce labor, and supports scalable delivery at a time when demand continues to outpace supply.

Smart Skins: Buildings That Produce Energy

Traditionally, façades have been passive. They separated inside from outside. Today, they are becoming active systems that generate energy and optimize performance. Building-Integrated Photovoltaics embed solar technology directly into materials such as glass, cladding, and roofing. Companies like Tesla and GAF have already introduced this concept through solar roof shingles.

Combined with adaptive systems that regulate light, heat, and airflow, these technologies significantly reduce reliance on mechanical systems.

For manufactured housing, this creates a new value proposition. Lower utility costs. Greater energy independence. The ability to generate and even export energy. Homes shift from being a cost to becoming a contributor.

Final Thought

The future of construction is not theoretical. It is already taking shape across job sites, factories, and even on the moon. The real question is not whether these technologies will scale. It is who will lead their adoption. Manufactured housing is uniquely positioned to do so as it already operates at the intersection of efficiency, scalability, and innovation.

As construction evolves from manual processes to intelligent systems, the leaders in this space will not just build homes. They will redefine how housing is delivered for generations to come.

Nikki Greenberg is a globally recognized futurist and strategic executive advisor with over two decades of experience in real estate development, urban innovation, and technology-driven transformation.


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured housing.

MHInFocus Releases Second Episode of First Season, Interview with MHI’s Lesli Gooch

manufactured housing, manufactured housing industry, mhinfocus, mhinsider, mh professionals, lesli gooch, mhi
MHI CEO Lesli Gooch joins MHInFocus for an interview on how the manufactured housing industry is helping people achieve the American Dream of homeownership.

MHInFocus, a short-form video series based on conversations with top performers in the industry who will provide leadership insight and inspiration for manufactured housing professionals nationwide, has released its second episode of the first season, an interview with MHI CEO Lesli Gooch.

The series, a new product from MHVillage and MHInsider, launched July 14, carrying an interview with Yes Communities President Cody Pearce.

The first season of MHInFocus is sponsored by Cavco Industries, a leader in the construction of factory-built homes, with a supporting sponsorship from Yardi property management software, and an episode sponsorship from Uniti, an agentic AI provider for the manufactured housing industry.

In addition to the first two episodes, season one of MHInFocus includes interviews with industry leaders Sam Landy, president of UMH Properties, Occupi co-founder and CEO Taylor Peake, and Cesar Mascorro, Jr., founder and president of Manufactured Home Sales Mastery.

Interviewees throughout the series share with the MHInsider audience lessons learned during their time in the industry, stories about their formative years, inspiration that carries each through their daily efforts, and thoughts about where the industry is headed and why.

MHInsider has a national audience of more than 44,000 industry professionals who will receive the new MHInFocus video interviews. MHInFocus content will land in the inbox of the publication’s controlled circulation participants once per month, in a fashion that is similar to the current MHInsider email newsletter.

MHVillage.com is where industry professionals list their homes for sale or rent, promote communities, and advertise products and services that help maintain and grow a business. The site garners about 25 million annual unique visitors and generates about $3 billion in annual home sales.

“MHInFocus continues the tradition of creating meaningful formats for manufactured housing professionals to refine their businesses and better understand why we do what we do for the housing market and for the consumers who are looking to buy our homes,” MHVillage Co-President and Chief Business Development Officer Darren Krolewski said.

Each season of MHInFocus will consist of…

  • Five episodes
  • A series of easily consumable 3- to 4-minute videos
  • A landing spot to revisit the content outside of the email inbox
  • Information on sponsors and sponsorship opportunities

For more information on the MHInFocus video series, visit MHInFocus.com, or contact MHInsider Publisher Patrick Revere at patrick@mhvillage.com or (616) 888-6994. The MHInsider advertising and sponsorship sales team can be reached at (877) 406-0232.


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured housing.

JPMorganChase Deploys $750 Billion for Housing Through 2035

JPMorganChase in New York City.
JPMorganChase has announced a substantial increase in capital allocated toward affordable housing.

‘American Dream Initiative’ Up by More Than $200 Billion… considering innovative construction options such as modular and manufactured homes as possible new loan product offerings

JPMorganChase intends to deploy over $750 billion through 2035 to increase housing supply and support homeownership in the United States. This marks a nearly 40 percent increase in the firm’s housing capital deployment compared to the past decade, and includes financing for 1,000,000 affordable housing units and helping 500,000 homebuyers purchase homes.

The announcement is part of JPMorganChase’s American Dream Initiative, a multi-year effort to expand opportunity to millions of Americans and future generations through targeted investments in local communities. As the nation’s largest multifamily lender and residential bank mortgage lender, JPMorganChase has a track record of expanding affordable housing supply and supporting homeownership, bringing the scale and expertise needed to help address the country’s housing challenges.

In the firm’s role serving all housing stakeholders, JPMorganChase will deepen collaboration with policymakers and community partners to accelerate and scale state and local solutions — such as streamlined zoning, building codes, permitting, expanded tax credits, and public-private partnerships — that help create more housing at all income levels. With the right policies in place, the firm intends to provide more capital for housing and home buying to ultimately help improve housing access and affordability across the country.

“An affordable and resilient housing market is essential to driving economic growth and increasing opportunity,” said Michelle Herrick, head of commercial real estate for J.P. Morgan. “We’re focused on helping more people access quality housing they can afford — and we’re working across the real estate community, local governments, and nonprofits to scale housing solutions throughout the U.S.”

JPMorganChase’s American Dream Initiative is a multi-year effort to expand economic opportunity by scaling local solutions that help the economy work for more people, the firm stated. Through the initiative, the firm provides financing, facilitates capital, offers advice, training and tools, and advocates for policy solutions to help people start and grow small businesses, find affordable places to live, save and plan for their financial futures, get good jobs, access quality healthcare and strengthen local institutions.

“Homeownership has always been at the heart of the American Dream. Owning a home can transform lives — providing stability, helping families build wealth, and creating a sense of community,” Grzebin said.

said. “Our goal is to make the path to homeownership clearer and more accessible for more people, wherever they are in their financial journey.”


Through expanded financing and policy engagement, firm will help build or preserve 1,000,000 affordable housing units and help 500,000 customers purchase homes.

-JPMorganChase

Bring Scale, Expertise to Tackle Affordability

By directing more than $750 billion in capital toward this initiative with a broad suite of financial solutions and local expertise, the firm is reinforcing its support for renters and homeowners at every stage of their housing journey, including through:

  • Expanding housing financing: Increasing capital deployed through available tools such as debt, equity, and grants to build or preserve housing supply, in partnership with developers, owners, non-profits, and governments, including financing 1,000,000 affordable units over the next decade.
  • Increasing homeownership opportunities: Helping 500,000 customers — including 200,000 first-time homebuyers — purchase homes by increasing mortgage lending by more than 40 percent, hiring 850 new home lending advisors, introducing new digital tools, and considering innovative construction options such as modular and manufactured homes as possible new loan product offerings. The firm will also work with organizations to help lower mortgage costs and improve long-term affordability, including through down payment assistance.
  • Advancing policy advocacy and research: Using data-driven insights to identify gaps in the market, the firm will leverage the JPMorganChase PolicyCenter and Institute to translate research into evidence-based policy recommendations and to direct our resources to where they will have the greatest impact. The recently launched Building Blocks series examines state and local policy opportunities to increase housing supply.

“We know we have a role to play in helping the American Dream to be more achievable, that’s why we’re looking at all the ways that our firm can take action,” Grzebin said. “Since we’re involved in virtually every facet of the housing industry, we can leverage opportunities across the firm to help grow and sustain manufactured and modular home development, whether that’s investing in the companies that are doing this work or serving as their bank.” 

Create Ecosystem for Affordable Housing

To help ensure capital can be leveraged most effectively to support the housing ecosystem, drive affordability and expand access to homeownership, the firm will expand support for pro-growth housing policies that reduce barriers, accelerate housing production, and allow for additional lending, including:

  • Increasing housing supply: Supporting the implementation of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which includes dozens of provisions that will help expand housing affordability, streamline development processes, and improve pathways to homeownership for families across the income spectrum. JPMorganChase has supported a number of these provisions, such as the Accelerating Home Building Act, the Housing Supply Expansion Act, and the Helping More Families Save Act.
  • Expanding access to homeownership: Continuing to support efforts to harmonize standards and processes among key housing finance institutions and federal programs to reduce costs and improve efficiency in the secondary mortgage market, while expanding the role of private capital in the mortgage market to increase competition, liquidity, and access to affordable credit—changes that help lower costs for borrowers and improve access to homeownership.
  • Advancing tailored, local solutions: Learning from the firm’s work across local markets, advancing solutions that make it easier, faster and lower cost to build housing. This includes policies that allow more housing to be built in residential areas; unlock underused land sites for housing; modernize building codes to enable more efficient construction approaches; and streamline permitting by removing redundancies.

In an effort to advance these policies and mobilize stakeholders to drive solutions, the firm will also join as chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s newly formed Housing Advisory Council, which will serve as a business-led forum for new collaboration, stronger public-private partnerships, and development of recommendations to help shape housing policy at the local, state, and federal levels.

Increase Housing Supply in San Francisco

JPMorganChase is building on its long-standing support for the Bay Area, including San Francisco, by working with local business and civic leaders to help advance the city’s efforts to expand housing supply and affordability.

As part of the American Dream Initiative, JPMorganChase plans to support new and expanded public-private partnerships with housing stakeholders and real estate developers and owners. Together, the firm aims to help deliver more housing across the Bay Area, including a focus on units priced within reach of middle-income households.

A recent example is the Sophie Maxwell building in the Dogpatch neighborhood’s Power Station development, where the firm provided financing that helped deliver 105 permanently affordable apartments for middle-income residents. Working closely with public officials and alongside other private sources of funding, the firm helped make a high-quality project feasible at a lower cost per unit, demonstrating how innovative capital structures can help bring needed housing to market.

Building on the success of this model, the firm is expanding its efforts by:

  • Providing nearly $200 million in financing for a 342-unit residential building at Power Station, continuing site momentum after the successful completion of the Sophie Maxwell Building, which was financed through an innovative J.P. Morgan bond solution in 2025.
  • Making up to a $15 million equity investment in Fifth Space’s new “Essential Housing Fund” to build affordable housing units in San Francisco, including an expected 250 units in Potrero Hill.
  • Supporting the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Foundation, in collaboration with Terner Labs, ULI district councils, and other research institutions, to analyze key housing data for actionable local policy recommendations.
  • Helping to pilot, de-risk, and scale solutions that help to increase housing supply, including through $6 million in new grants to the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund, Community Vision Capital & Consulting, San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association and The Housing Action Coalition, and Housing California.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city has too many families that struggle to make rent, and that the city administration is working every day to help them remain residents.

“Building housing is a critical piece of that work, and we’re taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to make that happen,” he said. “JPMorganChase’s investment in housing reflects their commitment to San Francisco’s future, and these projects with hundreds of new homes show what we can do when the private sector and the city come together to tackle the issues that matter to families.”

J.P. Morgan’s Global Chair Noah Wintroub said the firm has a decades-long history of supporting San Francisco’s housing ecosystem, working with developers, community organizations, and local government to help bring more housing to market. Through the American Dream Initiative, the firm is poised to do more.

“With the right public policies in place, the firm can provide more capital for housing, scaling solutions that help expand supply and affordability,” Wintroub said.

Michael Moritz, chair of Crankstart, said that a city that cannot house its teachers, nurses, firefighters and bus drivers loses its soul.

“We’re glad to work with JPMorganChase to back an ambitious and impatient team devoted to building high-quality homes that hard-working San Franciscans can afford,” he said.

Fifth Space CEO Enrique Landa said the unique partnership brings together the capital and expertise needed to solve the city’s housing challenges.

“San Francisco’s housing crisis is real. We can keep debating it, or we can build,” Landa said.


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage the top marketplace for manufactured housing.

What’s Being Said About ROAD to Housing

Innovative Housing Showcase affordable housing bus tour YIMBY

The market has responded en masse to the landmark housing legislation that passed in mid-July. Housing professionals across the spectrum have hailed the legislation and what it may mean for filling out the missing middle in domestic housing.

affordable housing road to housing congress senate house senator tim scott comments to committee fair housing affordable housing
“Public service should not be about those of us in public service. It should be about the journey we took to get here. For me, that journey was as a kid born in poverty to a great mother who believed in faith, perseverance, and opportunity. If we do our part, more kids today being raised in situations and circumstances similar to mine might have hope in the American Dream.”

Yes, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is now law. In June, the U.S. Senate voted 85-5 to approve the bill, and the House of Representatives quickly followed with a 358-32 vote; more bipartisan and bicameral than any piece of legislation in recent memory.

Removal of the requirement for all manufactured homes to be built on a permanent chassis, clarification on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the primary and final regulator for the manufactured housing industry, and provisions on zoning for manufactured housing have been part of the dialogue between manufactured housing professionals and lawmakers for years.

“This achievement reflects years of work by housing advocates, industry leaders, community organizations, and policymakers from both parties who recognized the urgent need for action,” National Housing Conference President and CEO David Dworkin said.

MHI Leadership Financing for Manufactured Housing CEO
MHI CEO Dr. Lesli Gooch

The Manufactured Housing Institute commended Congress for reaching an agreement on housing.

“This legislation affirms that manufactured housing is central to meeting the nation’s affordability challenges, including through its dedicated focus on ‘Manufactured Housing for America.’ By reinforcing a proven federal framework that enables high-quality homes to be built efficiently and placed in more localities, this bill clears the way for meaningful progress in delivering attainable homeownership,” MHI CEO Lesli Gooch said. “We appreciate the leadership that brought this effort across the finish line in Congress and look forward to working with the administration on enactment and implementation.”

The American Land Title Association issued a statement lauding the bill that “represents a significant step forward in expanding America’s housing supply, modernizing federal housing policy and improving access to the American dream of homeownership.”

At a time when housing affordability remains a top concern for families across the country, it said, this new law demonstrates that leaders in Washington can come together around practical solutions that help homebuyers, homeowners, and communities.

 “ALTA congratulates Chairman Tim Scott, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, Chairman French Hill, Ranking Member Maxine Waters and congressional leaders for advancing this historic legislation,” ALTA CEO Chris Morton said. “This is a big win for the American people. Homeownership is one of the most important ways families build stability, security and generational wealth, and the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is an important step toward helping more Americans achieve that dream.”

Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, applauded Congress for its work.

“By reducing regulatory barriers, helping builders increase supply, and expanding opportunities for homeownership and rental housing, this landmark law is an important step toward easing the nation’s housing affordability crisis,” Owens said. “We look forward to working with the administration and Congress to implement it.”

Congressman Wesley Bell from Missouri characterized ROAD to Housing as a transformative piece of housing legislation.

“The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will do so much for the people of the St. Louis region, the state of Missouri, and millions of Americans across the country,” he said. “I hear all the time from folks in the district about the housing crisis in America. This bill will help people build generational wealth through homeownership and give them a shot at a foundational piece of the American Dream.”

Todd Gloria, the mayor of San Diego and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, thanked lawmakers for following through on the effort to provide more attainable housing.

“Congress answered the call with bold, bipartisan action to help communities build more homes and expand access to housing people can afford,” Gloria said. “America’s mayors applaud this landmark legislation because we know the solution is clear: we need more homes, and we need them now.

“This bill represents the most significant step Congress has taken in decades to confront our housing affordability crisis — but it cannot be the last,” he said. “Mayors are on the front lines of this challenge, and we stand ready to partner with leaders at every level of government to turn this legislation into real results: more homes built, costs lowered, and families given a fair shot at the future.”

 Congressman French Hill from Arkansas, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, said the new law confirms a long-held belief in what Washington lawmakers can do.

“When I first ran for Congress, I set out to author and pass legislation that improves the lives of central Arkansans and prove that Washington could still work for the American people,” he said. “Having this historic housing bill become law today is the realization of those goals, that by working together, debating in good faith, and putting the interests of Americans ahead of politics, good policy can become law.

“This legislation strengthens community banks, modernizes building codes, and cuts red tape. More houses will be built, more families will enter the market, and homes across the country will be more affordable,” Hill said.


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured homes.

Uniti Raises $12 Million to Build the Agentic AI Layer for Global Real Estate Operators

manufactured housing technology real estate solutions uniti founders emre francesco mhinsider
Emre Altinok, left, and Francesco Decamilli, the founders of Uniti.

Pathlight-led round accelerates Uniti’s expansion across every operationally intensive real estate sector, bringing agentic AI to the operators running the industry’s most demanding portfolios.

Uniti, with an agentic AI layer for global real estate operators, has announced $12 million in Series A funding led by Pathlight, with participation from MetaProp and existing investors Prudence, Flex Capital, Alate, and RE VC. In addition, individual investors in this round include Romain Huet (OpenAI), Lenny Rachitsky, and Gokul Rajaram.

Headquartered in New York, Uniti deploys AI agents to run the playbook manufactured housing operators have already built. Series A funding is early-round capital for a proven small business to accelerate growth.

Uniti co-founder and CEO Francesco Decamilli said manufactured housing has quickly become one of the company’s fastest-growing markets.

“In just over a year, we’ve gone from no presence in the industry to supporting more than 230,000 home sites with AI agents that help operators automate everything from home sales and leasing to resident support, maintenance, and collections,” he said. “We’ve seen meaningful improvements in inquiry-to-tour conversion, move-in rates, and operating efficiency. We’re still in the early innings and have an ambitious roadmap to deepen our investment in the sector as AI becomes an increasingly core part of how manufactured housing communities operate.”

Real estate is one of the world’s largest and most operationally complex industries, the company stated in yet many operators still rely on fragmented software, manual workflows, and large operations teams to coordinate leasing, maintenance, resident communications, collections, payments, and support. While systems of record have digitized these processes, the work itself remains largely manual.

The round accelerates Uniti’s expansion across self-storage, senior living, multifamily, manufactured housing, and flexible workspace, bringing agentic AI to real estate’s most demanding portfolios. Uniti deploys AI agents that handle the full breadth of real estate workflows, from sales and leasing to support, maintenance, collections, payments, and reviews.

The agents run across voice, SMS, email, chat, and WhatsApp, integrated with 15-plus property management systems and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. Rather than replacing existing systems, Uniti sits above them as an AI orchestration layer — coordinating every AI agent, customer interaction, and operational workflow through a single control plane, regardless of the underlying software stack.

“Property managers are, at their core, operations people,” Decamilli said. “They live and die by process, consistency, and execution. What we’ve built is the infrastructure to codify that playbook and run it perfectly, every time, at any scale. No missed calls, no skipped workflows, no off-script responses. And once the playbook runs itself, operators can scale without limits.”

Uniti is live with customers including Regus, StorQuest, RHP Properties, Storage King USA, Fora, and others. Across its customer base, the company is delivering measurable operational and commercial results, including:

  • 214 percent ROI for one enterprise self-storage operator
  • 94 percent of pilots converting into long-term customer contracts
  • 306 percent net revenue retention as customers expand across additional properties and workflows

“We operate hundreds of locations, and the standard we hold ourselves to doesn’t change whether we’re at location one or location one hundred,” Storage King USA CEO Brian Cohen said. “Uniti’s AI agents now handle 100 percent of our inbound calls across all our locations. The team that used to manage that volume is now focused on the work that drives the business. The ROI has been undeniable.”

Mahdi Raza, a general partner at Pathlight, said that real estate is among the most operationally complex industries and has been in need of a solution.

“It has been waiting for infrastructure built around how operators actually work,” Raza said. “Uniti has built the agentic layer that runs the full operation, not just a single workflow, across every vertical that matters. Francesco and Emre move with unusual conviction, and the results their customers are seeing make that clear.”


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured housing.

MHVillage Launches Video Series MHInFocus

manufactured housing video series mhinfocus cody pearce interview yes mhinsider
Cody Pearce discusses his leadership experience in the manufactured housing industry.

MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured housing, and MHInsider, the leader in manufactured housing news, are launching a new brand, MHInFocus, a short-form video series based on conversations with top performers in the industry who will provide leadership insight and inspiration for manufactured housing professionals nationwide.

“About eight years ago, MHVillage saw a gap in the marketplace and created MHInsider, a print magazine and blog for manufactured housing professionals. It provides industry insight through reporting the trends, statistics, and breaking news that impact professionals in all corners of the industry,” MHInsider Publisher Patrick Revere said. “In the interim, our team has taken steps to expand the effort, including initiating an awards program and creating the MHBuyer’s Guide, a resource directory of products and services. In 2026, we will take a big step forward with the new MHInFocus video series that launches July 14.”

The first season of MHInFocus is sponsored by Cavco Industries, one of the largest manufacturers in the factory-built home business, with supporting sponsorships from Gama Sonic, a solar lighting specialist, and Yardi property management software.

MHInFocus includes interviews with industry leaders: Yes Communities President Cody Pearce; Lesli Gooch, the CEO of the Manufactured Housing Institute; UMH President and CEO Sam Landy; Occupi co-founder and CEO Taylor Peake; and Cesar Mascorro, Jr., founder and president of Manufactured Home Sales Mastery.

Interviewees throughout the series will share with the MHInsider audience lessons learned during their time in the industry, stories about their formative years, inspiration that carries each through their daily efforts, and thoughts about where the industry is headed and why.

MHInsider has a national audience of more than 44,000 industry professionals who will receive the new MHInFocus video interviews with industry leaders. MHInFocus content will land in the inbox of the publication’s controlled circulation participants once per month, in a fashion that is similar to the current MHInsider email newsletter.

MHVillage.com is where industry professionals list their homes for sale or rent, promote communities, and advertise products and services that help maintain and grow a business. The site garners about 25 million annual unique visitors and generates about $3 billion in annual home sales.

“MHInFocus continues the tradition of creating meaningful formats for manufactured housing professionals to refine their businesses and better understand why we do what we do for the housing market and for the consumers who are looking to buy our homes,” MHVillage Co-President and Chief Business Development Officer Darren Krolewski said.

Each season will consist of…

  • Five episodes
  • A series of easily consumable 3- to 4-minute videos
  • A landing spot to revisit the content outside of the email inbox
  • Information on sponsors and sponsorship opportunities

The next phase of MHInFocus will include a premium offering that will provide industry professionals with an opportunity to view expanded interview content from each of the sit-down conversations.

For more information on the MHInFocus video series, visit MHInFocus.com, or contact MHInsider Publisher Patrick Revere at patrick@mhvillage.com or (616) 888-6994. The MHInsider advertising and sponsorship sales team can be reached at (877) 406-0232.


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured homes.

Housing Bill Becomes Law Without White House Approval

affordable housing road to housing congress senate house senator tim scott comments to committee fair housing affordable housing
“Public service should not be about those of us in public service. It should be about the journey we took to get here. For me, that journey was as a kid born in poverty to a great mother who believed in faith, perseverance, and opportunity. If we do our part, more kids today being raised in situations and circumstances similar to mine might have hope in the American Dream.”

ROAD to Housing Speeds Through Congress, Sustained by Bi-Partisan Support

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is now law.

In late June, the Senate overwhelmingly — 85-5 — approved the biggest piece of housing legislation in decades, and the House of Representatives followed suit the next day, approving the bill 358-32.

“The House’s passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act marks a major milestone in the effort to address America’s housing challenges. With both the House and Senate now having approved the legislation,” National Housing Conference President and CEO David Dworkin said. ”This achievement reflects years of work by housing advocates, industry leaders, community organizations, and policymakers from both parties who recognized the urgent need for action.”

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, a Republican representing South Carolina, shed light on how the bipartisan and bicameral legislation addresses America’s housing affordability crisis.

“If you build more housing, you should get more incentives,” Scott said. “If you don’t build more housing, you should lose those incentives, and they should go to the places that are building more housing. Finally, I’ll say that the House of Representatives did a fine job embedding in this housing legislation important priorities that I believe will make housing more affordable and more accessible, and will help banks, especially community banks, which are the primary places people go for mortgages, become more engaged in this process.”

Some aspects of the bill, including new investor rules, permitting reforms, and disaster recovery allocations, are effective immediately. However, other aspects of the bill that involve more structural changes will be instituted 180 days from the bill becoming law.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, though quick through Congress in its current form, reflects years of work, Scott said, most notably with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a democrat from Massachusetts, Congressman French Hill, a Republican from Arkansas, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California.

The act, which has been called the most significant bipartisan housing reform effort in decades, focuses on expanding housing supply, cutting red tape, and lowering housing costs for American families, is built around “four core pillars”:

  • Cutting red tape
  • Unlocking housing supply
  • Lowering costs for families
  • Including no new federal spending

“Public service should not be about those of us in public service. It should be about the journey we took to get here…For me, that journey was as a kid born in poverty to a great mother who believed in faith, perseverance, and opportunity.

“If we do our part, more kids today being raised in situations and circumstances similar to mine might have hope in the American Dream.”
— Senator Tim Scott

It streamlines environmental reviews, modernizes manufactured housing rules, unlocks private investment, updates multifamily financing tools, streamlines construction activities across programs, and limits certain large institutional investors from crowding out families in residential markets.

Senate approval marks the culmination of a volley of housing-related changes in multiple bills that rose from the committee level in multiple arenas and came together in a single package that now nears the finish line.

The bill includes U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s Housing Supply and Affordability Act, which creates a HUD regional housing planning grant program to help states and localities modernize zoning and expand housing development.

“Democrats and Republicans came together to make it easier to afford a home. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will help build more homes, including in rural communities, and stop private companies from buying up homes and raising the price of housing. We need to drive down costs for renters and homeowners, and this legislation will do just that,” Klobuchar said. “This bipartisan legislation includes my bill to give state and local governments the tools and zoning flexibility they need to build more homes. By helping communities remove barriers to building, we can make it easier for Minnesotans to pay their rent and buy a home.”

Manufactured Housing Provisions in ROAD to Housing Bill

Manufactured Housing under new administration

On June 17, the Manufactured Housing Institute commended Congress for reaching an agreement on updated language in the bipartisan housing legislation that further addresses the nation’s housing supply challenges, and urged action to get the bill to the White House.

Part of the ROAD to Housing bill is a section that is entitled Manufactured Housing for America.

“[It] underscores the growing recognition of manufactured housing as an essential segment of the nation’s housing market and as a proven source of attainable, unsubsidized homeownership,” MHI stated in the news alert. “This legislation reflects meaningful progress in aligning federal policy with the realities of the housing market and the need to deliver high-quality, affordable homes at scale to help improve affordability nationally.”

top builders n.c.
A Cavco Industries home building facility. Photo courtesy of Cavco.

MHI, in the statement, also said it particularly appreciated the inclusion of the following measures in the landmark bill:

  • Removal of the requirement for all manufactured homes to be built on a permanent chassis
  • Clarification on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the primary and final regulator for the manufactured housing industry
  • Provisions on zoning for manufactured housing
  • Expansion of support for small-dollar loans
  • Efforts to preserve manufactured housing communities

As the legislation is implemented, it will be important that program rules are structured to ensure that funding is allocated in a manner that is neutral across community ownership models, tied to clear preservation outcomes, and focused on long-term community stability, MHI stated in its June 17 communication. Further, program rules should clarify that an ‘eligible manufactured housing community’ qualifying on the basis that it is resident-owned must provide residents with a direct and beneficial ownership interest in the land — not merely membership or occupancy rights.

“We appreciate the strong bipartisan and bicameral leadership behind this effort and are encouraged by the momentum as the bill moves to the House. We look forward to working with policymakers to see these final steps through to enactment,” MHI CEO Lesli Gooch said following the vote.


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured housing.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Asks for Input on Changes to Duty to Serve, Manufactured Housing

manufactured housing finance fhfa building duty to serve fannie freddie

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has posted to the Federal Register a request for input on a programmatic change in regard to the Enterprises’ Duty to Serve plan as well as a potential reconsideration of the overall legal definition of what constitutes a manufactured home.

In summary, the agency wants input on its desire to grade Freddie and Fannie on its Duty to Serve performance by its results in the marketplace rather than by research, discovery, and planning, as it has been. It also wants to test the industry and the public on the merits of including other forms of factory-built housing within the definition of a manufactured home.

From the Federal Register, the considerations run 26 dense pages. Below are direct excerpts from the agency’s language…

Executive Order 14394 — Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction —  was issued by the White House in March and “directs FHFA to reform programs that constrain residential development and impede housing affordability, including specifically ‘FHFA’s guidelines and regulations regarding chattel lending for manufactured housing.’ The strategic shift reflected in the proposed rule, away from prescribed Regulatory Activities and toward innovative and market-driven ‘eligible actions,’ is responsive to that direction. It would remove any perceived barriers to chattel lending in the existing regulation and present a new opportunity for the Enterprises to direct their attention to establishing appropriate underwriting standards, risk management protocols, and the securitization infrastructure necessary to expand their impact in the chattel lending market.

“Consistent with E.O. 14394, FHFA expects the Enterprises to develop and implement robust, responsible chattel financing initiatives and will assess them on their progress in expanding liquidity, supporting sustainable credit, and enhancing consumer choice in the manufactured housing market.”

The Federal Register’s language states that the proposed focus on ‘‘any eligible action’’ is intended both “to give the Enterprises greater flexibility to undertake actions that respond to market needs and to encourage innovation that supports meaningful outcomes. The transition to a more flexible approach does not signal a retreat from past, proven interventions that have stabilized or expanded liquidity in the underserved markets. Rather, the Agency anticipates that the Enterprises will leverage their accumulated institutional knowledge, proven strategies, and data-driven insights to iterate upon and scale high-impact activities from earlier Plan years.”

By grounding future innovation in the successes of the previous decade, FHFA stated, the Enterprises can ensure that novel strategies “are additive rather than duplicative.”

The language around a a potential revised definition a manufactured home is as follows:

“Under the existing regulation, the term manufactured home is defined to include only HUD Code homes. FHFA recognizes that other types of non-sitebuilt homes, including modular homes, serve as a source of new affordable supply and are often constructed in the same factories as traditional HUD manufactured homes. The Agency requests comment on whether the definition of manufactured home should be expanded to include a broader array of non-site-built homes such as modular homes, panelized homes, and other types of factory-built homes that are subject to state or local building codes. FHFA does not believe that appropriate methodologies exist for assuring the structural integrity of pre-HUD Code homes and is not reconsidering including those homes in the manufactured home definition at this time.”

The public and the industry have until July 24 to comment on any potential changes.


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured housing.

2026 MH FacTOURy Summit Opens Registration

manufactured housing industry events factory tours education rvmh hall of fame elkhart
Visit the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Eklhart, Indiana, to learn more about how off-site built homes are made and delivered.

Attendee registration is now open for this year’s MH FacTOURy Summit, the annual two-day event hosted at the RV/MH Hall of Fame, from Aug. 18-19, 2026.

The MH FacTOURy Summit brings two days of factory tours and educational seminars to Elkhart, Ind. Industry professionals from all over the country will have the chance to tour the region’s leading manufactured home building facilities, connect with factory representatives, and preview the latest innovations.

“This is the best opportunity for industry professionals to get a firsthand look at what our manufacturing partners are up to, and meet with factory representatives directly,” Indiana Manufactured Housing Association – Recreation Vehicle Indiana Council Executive Director Ron Breymier said. “Anyone in manufactured housing who’s looking to enhance their business should attend the MH FacTOURy Summit.”

Now in its fifth year at the RV/MH Hall of Fame, the MHFacTOURy Summit is geared towards manufactured housing professionals, particularly retailers and community owners, property managers, sales personnel, marketing team members, and new employees in the industry. Attendees will learn how to stay ahead of the competition, grow a high-performing sales team, and get a sneak peek at the newest industry trends.

The RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will precede the 2026 Summit, on the evening of Monday, Aug. 17. The ceremony will honor 10 manufactured housing and RV veterans for their industry service and enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Exhibit and Sponsorship Opportunities Available For the 2026 MH FacTOURy Summit

Exhibit and sponsorship opportunities have also opened for the 2026 MH FacTOURy Summit. These are ideal ways to increase company exposure and show everything it has to offer.

Sponsors can sign up for exclusive opportunities throughout the event to boost their brand visibility among manufactured housing professionals.

For more information regarding exhibit and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Teena Stephens at (317) 247-6258 ext. 106 or email info@imharvic.org.

Visit www.mhfactourysummit.com today to register for the MH FacTOURy Summit or to learn more about the event. The MH FacTOURy Summit is an industry conference for manufactured housing professionals and is not open to the general public.


MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured housing.

EVENTS

Manufactured Housing, Manufactured Housing Industry, MH Professionals, MHInsider

2026 RV/MH Hall of Fame Members Inducted

Annual Induction Dinner in Elkhart Honors Five MH Veterans On Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, five new members of the RV/MH Hall of Fame from the...
manufactured housing industry events factory tours education rvmh hall of fame elkhart

2026 MH FacTOURy Summit Opens Registration

Attendee registration is now open for this year’s MH FacTOURy Summit, the annual two-day event hosted at the RV/MH Hall of Fame, from Aug....
MHI CE expo hall vegas manufactured housing meeting

Manufactured Housing Industry Convenes in Las Vegas for MHI’s 2026 Congress and Expo

More than 1,500 manufactured housing professionals are expected in Las Vegas April 7-9 as the Manufactured Housing Institute’s Congress and Expo returns to the...