Spotlight on Zoning Practice
Manufacturing Affordability
The newly passed 21st Century ROAD to Housing law opens the door to new manufactured housing opportunities by eliminating the permanent chassis requirement. But are communities prepared to take full advantage of this change in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) code? To deliver on the new law's aspiration to expand housing affordability with a wider variety of housing types, planners will first need to work with local officials to identify and fix outdated zoning regulations.
In the Zoning Practice issue "Equitable Zoning for Manufactured Housing," George Frantz, AICP, explores the persistence of exclusionary zoning for manufactured homes across five states and challenges planners to lead efforts to replace outdated regulations with standards that reflect the important role manufactured housing plays in supporting housing choice and affordability.
The Market Needs Manufactured Housing
On a per-square-foot basis, new manufactured homes cost 46 percent less than site-built homes. These savings translate into meaningful affordability gains. As Frantz notes, even though most households who live in manufactured homes earn less than $40,000 per year, they are significantly less likely to be cost-burdened than households who live in duplexes and apartment buildings.
Despite its affordability advantages, manufactured housing's share of the occupied U.S. housing stock has been slowly eroding for years. This may be partly due to metropolitan areas growing faster than nonmetropolitan areas (though there are signs this trend at least temporarily reversed in recent years). Manufactured homes are disproportionately located in nonmetropolitan areas. But as Frantz's research suggests, exclusionary zoning for manufactured housing is widespread in communities across the urban-to-rural transect.
We Know How to Fix This
Conceptually, the zoning solutions are easy. Frantz stresses the importance of exorcising outdated use definitions that conflate pre-1974 mobile homes with HUD-certified manufactured housing. And he challenges planners and local officials to stop treating manufactured homes differently than site-built homes.
Beyond this, Frantz urges planners to consider the broader role manufactured housing could play in alleviating the housing crisis in communities across the country. For example, single-wide manufactured homes can be a great fit for narrow infill lots or a cheaper way to add detached accessory dwelling units.
This blog was updated on Oct. 5, 2026, to reflect the impact of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing passage means to planners. It was originally published on April 22, 2024.
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