Factory-built homes, the next generation
Sun photo by Larry C. Price.
That's New Colony Village in Howard County. And yup, it's manufactured housing. I mention this because factory-built homes have long had such a stigma attached to them that there's been no coordinated effort to use them in the affordable-housing movement, even though assembly-line efficiencies lower costs. But that's beginning to change.
Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake is bringing nine modular homes to a Fayette Street block in East Baltimore this week, its first foray into factory-built. (Cost for the homes and site work: 25 percent less than what Habitat spent building homes from scratch elsewhere in Baltimore.) The two-story rowhouses (artist's rendering here) will be set over basements, which you can see below:
Cherise Jones, who is buying one of Habitat's modular homes, stands on the construction site. Sun photo by Lloyd Fox.
Other affordable-housing advocates are re-evaluating the idea of using factory-built housing, too. But there are challenges. In today's story, I included some information about the ownership and financing problems facing people who lease their land, and what one organization is trying to do about it.
Another key issue: zoning. As in "don't put that here."
"It's mainly focused on manufactured housing," said Thayer Long, executive vice president of the Manufactured Housing Institute, a trade group that also represents the modular-home industry. (Modular homes are built to local-housing code, while manufactured housing is built to a federal code. Most factory-built housing is manufactured.)
"It's just a simple redline -- 'this property is zoned for this use except for manufactured housing.' Or commonly what they call it is mobile homes or trailers," Long said. "That's old terminology. That's not what our industry is. It hasn't been that way for 30 years."
Long brings 10 photos of homes with him when he visits policymakers to try to change their minds. It's a game: Can you guess which are factory-built and which are constructed on site? They never can, he says.
The zoning issue is one reason why factory-built housing is much more common in rural areas than urban and suburban.
"In our experience, it's not the home," Long said. "It's discrimination against affordable housing. Period. That's where we run into a lot of challenges."
I tried to get my arms around the zoning situation in Maryland, but it isn't easy. The Maryland Department of Planning sent me to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, which sent me back to Planning, which insisted I try Housing again. When Housing said it really couldn't answer questions about zoning, honest to God, I ran smack into my deadline and gave up.
The trouble is, zoning laws are set by the counties. I had hoped, though, that someone at a state level would know whether the counties' rules are generally manufactured-housing-neutral or not.
Anyone? Bueller?
Categories: Manufactured/modular homes
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Comments
Jamie, in the article several cost numbers were referred to. Could you please clarify?
Maybe break down the site acquisition, utilities, foundation and other prep work cost for everything through the foundation ($160K?) that the (2 level) modular items will be attached to ($120K?) and then however much additional on site finish work is needed or planned (unstated)?
Thanks.
Posted by: MrRational | September 9, 2009 7:45 AM
I don't understand this stigma anymore. I bugs me that people think trailer park when someone says modular home, but that is so far from the truth these days. To me I don't care if they build my house in pieces at the factory and put it all together. How is that different from stick building on site? It looks the same, it's built with the same materials, but it is cheaper for the builder. I think the person quoted in your article hits the nail though, and that is, since building it is cheaper the value of the home is technically cheaper, and therefore the value of the property is lower...why do the counties hate that? Less tax money...
Posted by: Bill | September 9, 2009 8:06 AM
Thanks for your comments, folks.
MrRational, the $120,000 figure is the cost per modular home and the site work for that home -- everything, in other words, except the land acquisition cost. The $160,000 figure is the site work and construction cost per home at a project Habitat built from scratch last year -- again, everything except the land cost. I asked for an apples-to-apples comparison, and that was what Habitat provided. (I think it was difficult for the group to tease out the site work vs. the construction on last year's "stick-built" project, otherwise we could have had a structure vs. structure figure.)
Make sense?
Posted by: Jamie Smith Hopkins | September 9, 2009 8:33 AM
Glad to see someone finally sees the value in modular built home which are cheaper and if done correctly more energy efficient. Both my husband and I are waiting for the construction community to get with the program and not only build modular but also educate themselves about SIPS (Structurally Insulated Panels). Think ice cream sandwich with the insulation in the middle. If we are really serious about green building and saving energy SIPS is the way to go and modular homes is a step in the right direction. We have an addition planned and if all goes well we will definitely be using SIPS.
Posted by: Tracey Dorsey | September 9, 2009 8:44 AM
they look like junk to me
Posted by: Darwin Rules | September 9, 2009 9:49 AM
Modular homes are a wonderful, energy-efficient creation. I would love to reside in one.
Posted by: NotableM | September 9, 2009 9:54 AM
The way the non-modular homes are built in MD I don't really see a difference. In either case it's not something built from stone or bricks to last for generations. Sounds like a pure discrimination to me.
Can one actually disassemble a modular house and move it someplace else? That would be even better.
Posted by: Jelena | September 9, 2009 1:35 PM
I toured a few houses in New Colony Village. The insulation must have been that cheap recycled paper scraps stuff. They were very drafty, each had pipe and basement flooding issues, and you could hear everything going on outside. The lowest quality materials were used for everything. Hopefully Habitat for Humanity has better housing built for them. There's nothing wrong with modular or manufactured housing as long as they don't cut corners at every opportunity, which is normally what is done. There needs to be more focus on affordable housing or housing for regular people rather than the expensive and oversized "luxury" stuff.
Posted by: BigDragon | September 9, 2009 3:27 PM
BigDragon, the Habitat homes are supposed to be tight and energy-efficient, so that's the intention, anyway. Thanks for sharing your experience! Good to remember that "don't judge a book by its cover" applies to houses and their insulation.
Posted by: Jamie Smith Hopkins | September 9, 2009 3:43 PM