Manufactured homes are one of the most cost-effective starter homes, allowing homeowners to enter the market and have a detached yard for privacy and a safe children’s play area. Comparing manufactured homes to apartments, the occupants in manufactured homes have their own entry and separate yards for kids to play in and they can easily join children in their cohorts without mixing with other people and also getting fresh air.
The main benefit that manufactured homes address include its impact on the environment, the economy, its affordability, and social norms regarding Covid-19.
Environment:
- Takes up a smaller footprint than traditional housing.
- More efficient to build so there is less waste.
- Easier to deliver to a smaller population base area or remote locations compared to sending an entire crew.
- Less mess and pollution as all construction debris is contained at the factory site.
- Manufactured homes are built to current building codes, making them very energy efficient as they can be put on concrete foundations.
Economy:
- Skilled workers are in short supply. As it is more efficient to make manufactured homes, it would help reduce the skilled labour shortage, especially in remote locations.
- Housing units can be produced at a much lower price point. This creates more affordable housing and gives the home owner more disposable cash to spend on other items which improves their standard of living and creates job growth in other sectors of the economy.
- Homes can be built and delivered anywhere trucks can go, so cost effective housing can be delivered for workers in very remote areas or in areas that need cost-effective quality accommodations quickly.
- This could greatly increase the feasibility of some projects that are being built near an existing community that needs a large long term increase of housing quickly but would be too costly or impractical for a camp.
Affordability:
- In smaller communities, there is a lack of skilled trade workers so while there is land available to build on, there are not enough workers to build houses on-site, which greatly increases costs and may prevent construction all together.
- After sites are prepped, manufactured houses could be brought in, thereby increasing housing stock, affordability and supply for homeowners and residents.
- Manufactured homes have a smaller footprint then traditional homes, allowing for greater density and reducing land and development costs per housing unit.
- Housing costs are the largest expense for most homeowners and reducing this cost will allow more breathing room in the budgets of young families and seniors, allowing them to improve their standard of living by giving them more disposable income for other family needs.
Covid-19:
- People need to maintain social distancing and with separate entrances for each living unit and private yards, residents can do this.
- Families can socialize safely outside and stay in their own cohorts.
Benefits to all government levels
- Every campaign at the federal and provincial government level addresses housing affordability. Manufactured homes are very cost effective.
- Current affordable housing programs in the larger metro areas are all just “rental housing”that is benefiting the developers and investors but not making it any easier for renters to step out of the rental pool and join the ranks of homeowners.
- Smaller communities that want more residents and a larger population base can easily address zoning and allow for new developments utilizing manufactured homes.
- Smaller building footprints mean more residents for less utility installation costs and ongoing maintenance.
- Small town mayors allowing cost effective housing options will see their communities grow and will make a lot of residents happy that they are able to get into their own housing for the first time. You can’t move to a town where there are no accommodations available.
- Brain drain and skilled worker shortage: Workers that live in cities or provinces that they will never be able to afford a home in think about going to where home ownership will be a possibility and many do relocate.
- Creating more entry level homes creates more options for first time buyers and also allows empty nesters and seniors to down size creating a ripple effect of housing availability for all price ranges.