The Biden Administration this week announced plans to close the housing gap in five years through a multi-pronged approach that includes creating improved financing for manufactured homes.
“The plan’s policies to boost supply are an important element of bringing homeownership within reach for Americans who, today, cannot find an affordable home because there are too few homes for sale in their communities,” the White House communication stated. “And it will help reduce price pressures in the economy, as housing costs make up about one-third of the market basket for inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.”
Among the new financing mechanisms the White House intends to deploy with the goal to build and preserve more housing is for “manufactured housing (including with chattel loans that the majority of manufactured housing purchasers rely on), accessory dwelling units (ADUs), 2-4 unit properties, and smaller multifamily buildings.”
In addition, the administration is looking to expand programs for construction to perm loans, often used in the industry to begin construction and convert to a conventional mortgage upon completion and home placement.
The Manufactured Housing Institute issued a statement indicating the White House plans toward other industry priorities as well, including “keeping the HUD Code up to date, addressing zoning barriers, easing supply chain constraints, and addressing the shortage of construction workers.”
Land-Use Reforms
The White House plan intends to tie federal funding to local land-use practices, including planning and zoning efforts.
“One of the most significant issues constraining housing supply and production is the lack of available and affordable land, which is in large part driven by state and local zoning and land use laws and regulations that limit housing density,” the statement said.“Exclusionary land use and zoning policies constrain land use, artificially inflate prices, perpetuate historical patterns of segregation, keep workers in lower productivity regions, and limit economic growth.”
Materials and Labor
In the months ahead, the Biden Administration said it is “committed to working with the private sector to address near-term constraints to supply and production – with the goal of achieving the most completed housing units in a single year in 15 years.
The plan calls for U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to meet with private sector organizations that face supply chain disruptions, as well as promote alternative building methods, and recruit more qualified labor to the construction and craft trades.
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