States Loosen Manufactured Housing Restrictions
Multiple states updated regulations on manufactured housing during the 2024 legislative session to expand the areas of land available for siting these new homes.
Maine and Maryland legalized manufactured housing wherever single-family dwellings are allowed. Rhode Island passed a similar bill through the House and awaits consideration by the Senate. In New Hampshire, the new law prohibits municipalities from entirely restricting manufactured housing.
Renewed attention to manufactured housing, which is built off-site in a factory and transported to a fixed location, comes as states grapple with a shortage of affordable housing, spurred in part by elevated construction costs. “Manufactured homes cost 45% less per square foot than site-built homes,” according to Freddie Mac.
Source: The Office of Manufactured Housing Programs (HUD)
A much higher proportion of the nation’s housing stock consisted of manufactured housing between 1975 to 2000, averaging around 20 percent of new single-family units and reaching a peak of about 30 percent. Today, that figure remains closer to 10 percent, despite ongoing improvements to quality and durability standards.
Maine
Title: L.D. 337 – An Act to Amend the Regulations of Manufactured Housing to Increase Affordable Housing
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Cheryl Golek
Synopsis: “The amendment provides that a municipality must allow manufactured housing wherever single-family dwellings are allowed, subject to the same design criteria as the municipality may establish for single-family dwellings.”
Status: March 19, 2024 – Signed by Governor
Maryland
Title: H.B. 0538 – Housing Expansion and Affordability Act of 2024
Primary Sponsor: Speaker Adrienne Jones by request of Governor Moore’s administration
Synopsis: Part of this legislation includes “…prohibiting a local legislative body from prohibiting the placement of certain manufactured homes or modular dwellings in a zoning district that allows single-family residential uses under certain circumstances…”
Status: April 25, 2024 – Signed by Governor
New Hampshire
Title: H.B. 1361 – An Act Relative to Municipal Land Use Regulation For Manufactured Housing And Subdivisions
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Joe Alexander
Synopsis: “This bill requires municipalities that adopt land use control measures to provide reasonable and realistic opportunities for the siting of manufactured housing on individual lots and in manufactured housing parks and subdivisions within residential districts. The bill also directs municipalities to provide reasonable and realistic opportunities for expansion of existing manufactured housing parks.”
Status: May 20, 2024 – Signed by Governor
Rhode Island
Title: H.B. 7980 – An Act Relating To Motor And Other Vehicles – Mobile And Manufactured
Primary Sponsors: Speaker Shekarchi and Representatives Blazejewski, Cruz, Morales, Speakman, Spears, Craven, Azzinaro, Casimiro, and Solomon
Synopsis: “This act would make several amendments relative to manufactured homes, including adding a definition for manufactured home and a provision allowing for certain manufactured homes to be considered a single-family home if on a lot designated for such use.”
Status: April 16, 2024 – Passed by House and referred to Senate committee
Update: H.B. 7980 was signed into law by the governor on June 25, 2024.
In February 2024, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched a “first-of-its-kind federal funding opportunity” focused on preserving manufactured housing. The Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) Program provides $225 million in competitive grant funding available to states and other entities for the purpose of rehabilitating and upgrading manufactured homes.
