NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks with Adele Peters of Fast Company about communities are embracing manufactured homes, which offer a potential solution to affordable housing.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
When you think of a community of manufactured homes, you might picture a trailer park. But manufactured homes have changed a lot in recent years. Today, they may have steeper roofs. They may have a porch. They look much like a traditional single-family home.
HECTOR CARDENAS: It’s big. It’s spacious. I could tell that it was made at a very high caliber.
KELLY: Hector Cardenas just bought one of these new manufactured homes in a development in Petersburg, Va. He paid a quarter million dollars for it. And he says the relatively cheaper price compared to a stick-built home was a big factor in his decision.
CARDENAS: The pricing was, like, I think the best part. With these inflated interest rates in the market right now, to be able to find the house of this caliber for the set price, it’s – I don’t think you could beat it.
KELLY: Well, a number of cities around America are taking a new look at manufactured homes as a solution to the nation’s housing shortage. Adele Peters wrote about it for Fast Company. She’s with us now. Hey, there.
ADELE PETERS: Hi. Great to talk to you.
KELLY: OK, so I mentioned this new generation of manufactured homes. They look a lot more like a traditional single-family home. Are there other ways they are redefining our notion of what a mobile home can be?
PETERS: Yeah. I think the appearance is a big factor here, and I think people also may have some outdated ideas about the quality of manufactured homes. And that has really changed over the years as well. These are regulated by federal building codes now, unlike any other type of housing, actually, and that sets certain quality standards. And I think studies have shown that these are – these can be just as durable as a traditionally built home as…
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