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Politics & Government

Niskanen Center Praises Manufactured Home ‘Cost Savings’ and ‘Quality’

'Achieve cost advantage because consistent workforce more efficient compared to job site with subcontractors frequently coming and going'

L. A. "Tony" Kovach's profile picture
L. A. "Tony" Kovach, Neighbor
Base image credit: Copilot/Designer. Text and collage credits: MHProNews' L. A. "Tony" Kovach for the Patch.
Base image credit: Copilot/Designer. Text and collage credits: MHProNews' L. A. "Tony" Kovach for the Patch.

According to their website: “Named the “The Most Interesting Think Tank in American Politics” by TIME Magazine in 2023, the Niskanen Center promotes policies that advance prosperity, opportunity, and human flourishing, guided by the belief that a free market and an effective government are mutually dependent.” The Niskanen Center’s Andrew Justus and Alex Armlovich said the following in an article on their website dated 10.21.2024: “Manufactured homes currently provide 8.4 million affordable, unsubsidized homes across the United States, with an additional 100,000 new units entering the housing market each year. Unlike the mobile homes of the past, today’s manufactured homes, built to HUD Code standards, undergo rigorous quality control and must pass independent inspections before they leave the factory.

These homes achieve their cost advantage over traditional site-built homes by being constructed in a factory setting, where a consistent workforce operates more efficiently compared to a job site with subcontractors frequently coming and going. According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, excluding land costs, a manufactured home can be 27% to 65% less expensive than a comparable site-built home.”

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In a time when new homes are in short supply and the pipeline for new construction is limited, reforms that enable more efficient building methods offer significant potential. If consumers are provided with the option to build homes faster and with less material waste, it should become an appealing choice.”

MHProNews' has reported on the Niskanen Center and their research into manufactured housing on several occasions. Two of those reports are linked below.

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Niskanen Center has been spotlighting the need for more manufactured homes. https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/andrew-justus-j-d-niskanen-center-housing-policy-analyst-hill-op-ed-asks-and-answers-whats-holding-back-manufactured-homes-sunday-weekly-mhville-headlines-in-review/
https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

Over half of their report of 10.2024 is not quoted above. Why? Because while these authors for the Niskanen Center appear to be sincere in their desire to promote the reasons and need for more manufactured homes, they have also cited in those unquoted sections statements that are arguably questionable or disputed. It is my goal to promote accurate information for Patch readers.

For instance, the Niskanen Center authors Justus and Armlovich seem to be enthusiastic about the so-called ROAD to Housing Act, which the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) has flagged as potentially problematic. MHARR favors a removable chassis, but only if it that is accomplished by the surgical removal of the current legislative language that mandates a chassis. That doesn’t appear to be what the actual ROAD to Housing Act bill is going to do. Time will tell, because MHARR has not yet responded publicly to this most recent language for the proposed bill. As a longtime proponent of the removable chassis (their advocacy for that goal dates back to the early 1990s), MHARR's expert views on the topic are relevant.

Niskanen also noted that HUD updated some aspects of the code. To clarify aspects of their remarks on that point, the report linked below goes into greater depth on that issue that they raised.

To learn more about some of the reasons why manufactured housing is underperforming during an affordable housing crisis, see the linked reports that follow.

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

See more topics over an array of issues, including affordable housing, published here for you by your neighbor on the Patch.

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Notice: there are polls that indicate that Kamala Harris could be the Democrats front-runner for their party's nominee in 2028 and that she may be ahead if she opts to run for governor of California. Don't think that the history that follows is unimportant. It matters for many reasons, including your understanding that when reports like this are grounded in facts, evidence and sound reason is applied the result is information that routinely stands the test of time.

--> Deception & Misdirection-3 Tricks-Paltering, Posturing and Projecting

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--Affordable housing, mobile homes and manufactured homes related topics:

--> Realtor-What Is a Manufactured Home? The Next Step Beyond Mobile Homes

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L. A. “Tony” Kovach is a publisher who has earned multiple awards in history. He and his family live in a manufactured home on private property in Winter Haven, FL. He is the co-founder of ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com (MHLivingNews.com) and

ManufacturedHomeProNews.com (MHProNews.com), trade publications serving segments of the manufactured home industry. Having worked in several segments of the manufactured home industry for over 3 decades, Kovach is a widely acknowledged and often praised expert on manufactured housing. ###

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