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I'M HOME Opens Doors to Homeownership with Manufactured Homes
By Alton Gary Simpson
Innovations in Manufactured Homes (I'M HOME), an initiative of the Corporation for Enterprise Development, is using June -- National Homeownership Month -- to dispel myths and open the doors of homeownership by improving housing in the manufactured homes sector. Home equity is the most important source of wealth for most American families, yet for many the cost of homeownership is increasingly out of reach. I'M HOME is a multiyear initiative seeking to ensure that families who own manufactured homes can reap the same benefits of homeownership as those who buy other kinds of homes. Towards that end, I'M HOME is providing $5 million of funding for manufactured home initiatives over the next few years. Major funding for I'M HOME is provided by the Ford Foundation.
"Manufactured homes not only provide long-term lower-cost housing, but they can also help build financial security for millions of families through ownership," said Andrea Levers, president, CFED. "National Homeownership Month is an opportunity to bring awareness across the country that there is a great opportunity to create better financed housing in this very large market."
Manufactured housing is a significant source of affordable housing that opens the doors to homeownership for families, who cannot afford to buy a site-built home in many of the nation's housing markets. According to the Manufactured Housing Institute, "As of 2005, the average cost per square foot for a new manufactured home was $39.06, compared to a cost of $90.63 for a new site-built home. Cost per square foot excludes land costs in both cases." By some counts, 10 million American families live in manufactured homes. I'M HOMES supports programs across the country that help families who chose manufactured homes make certain they are good investments.
Modern manufactured homes are high quality and are built to a uniform federal building code so they are safe and storm resistant. This is in contrast to popular perception of manufactured housing based on the millions of older, substandard homes, which has often fueled community resistance to such housing.
"The origins of the industry are in post-war travel trailers," explained I'M HOME director Kathryn Gwatkin Goulding. "In the last 50 years, the product has evolved -- these are permanent and not 'mobile' homes now -- but the underlying business model has not kept pace."
I'M HOME is developing attractive new housing and replacing dilapidated homes, changing the way manufactured homes are financed, working with families who live in "parks" where there are special challenges, and working with policymakers to ensure the same benefits and protections are available to everyone who buys a home regardless of how it's built.
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