MANUFACTURED HOUSING IN NONMETROPOLITAN AREAS:
A DATA REVIEW

© Housing Assistance Council, 1996

Permission is granted ONLY to nonprofit community-based organizations to reproduce and/or adapt this document, and only for their own use.

FOOTNOTES

¹National Commission on Manufactured Housing, Final Report (Washington, DC: National Commission on Manufactured Housing, 1994).

²U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, American Housing Survey for the United States in 1993 (Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, Current Housing Reports, H150/93, 1995).

³The AHS definition of mobile home has changed over time. Before 1984, the AHS did not call a unit a mobile home if a permanent room addition had been made. This report does not compare pre-1984 and post-1984 AHS data.

⁴U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, American Housing Survey for the United States in 1985 (Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, Current Housing Reports, H150/85, 1988), IX.

⁵U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of Commerce, Characteristics of New Housing: 1993, Current Construction Reports (Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, C25/93-A, 1994).

⁶Richard R. Gardner, “The Mobile Home Challenge,” American Land Forum Magazine, Spring 1985, 7.

⁷Janet Krofta, Evelyn Franklin, Marjorie Inman and Doris Williams, “Housing Risks and Implications Concerning the Growing Number of Older People in Nonmetro Areas, A Comparison of the North Central Region with the United States,” The Small City and Regional Community, Proceedings of the 1992 Conference (Stevens Point, Wisconsin: Center for the Small City, Foundation Press, University of Wisconsin, 1993), 626-634.

⁸AHS data on race and ethnicity refers to the race or ethnicity of the householder, and is based on self-identification by the respondent. There is some overlap between the Black-headed and Hispanic-headed categories shown in this table. Hispanic persons may be of any race. Published data for the 1991 AHS is available for non-Hispanic whites and Hispanic whites in all the geographic areas shown in this table, but not for non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanic blacks. Published data does indicate that very few Black-headed households are Hispanic, however -- only 1.8 percent in the United States -- so the overlap is not large. This report uses the terms Black and Hispanic because those are used in the AHS and other official government publications, although they may not be the terms preferred by the persons whom they describe.

⁹Larry Rodgers, 1990 Census Population and Housing Characteristics of the Navajo Nation (Window Rock, Navajo Nation, Arizona: Navajo Government, 1993), 45-46.

¹⁰The American Housing Survey defines a unit as having severe physical problems if it has any of the following five problems:

Plumbing. Lacking hot or cold piped water or a flush toilet, or lacking both bathtub and shower, all inside the structure for the exclusive use of the unit.
Heating. Having been uncomfortably cold last winter for 24 hours or more because the heating equipment broke down, and it broke down at least three times last winter for at least 6 hours each time.
Electric. Having no electricity, or all of the following three electric problems: exposed wiring, a room with no working wall outlet; and three blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers in the last 90 days.
Upkeep. Having any five of the following six maintenance problems: water leaks from the outside, such as from the roof, basement, windows, or doors; leaks from inside structure such as pipes or plumbing fixtures; holes in the floors; holes or open cracks in the walls or ceilings; more than 8 inches by 11 inches of peeling paint or broken plaster; or signs of rats or mice in the last 90 days.
Hallways. Having all of the following four problems in public areas: no working light fixtures; loose or missing steps; lose or missing railings; and no elevator.

   A unit has moderate physical problems if it has any of the following five problems, but none of the severe problems.

Plumbing. On at least three occasions during the last 3 months or while the household was living in the unit if less than 3 months, all the flush toilets were broken down at the same time for 6 hours or more.
Heating. Having unvented gas, oil, or kerosene heaters as the primary heating equipment.
Upkeep. Having any three or four of the overall list of six upkeep problems mentioned above under severe physical problems.
Hallways. Having any three of the four hallway problems mentioned above under severe physical problems.
Kitchen. Lacking a kitchen sink, refrigerator, or burners inside the structure for the exclusive use of the unit.

¹¹Manufactured Housing and Construction Standards Division, Eighth Report to Congress on the Manufactured Housing Program (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1991), III-3.

¹²Robert Johnson, “Manufactured Housing Quality,” Manufactured Housing Research Project (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, 1993), 16.

¹³Manufactured Housing and Construction Standards Division, Eighth Report to Congress, III- 3.

¹⁴Rural Homes, Inc. of Madison, Wisconsin, has developed a project in which prisoners learn job skills by rehabilitating old mobile homes, which are then supplied to low-income households. The organization reports that retailers offered about 1,000 seriously deteriorated used homes to the project. The quote is from a recent grant application.

¹⁵Carol Meeks, “Manufactured Home Life.”

¹⁶Johnson, “Manufactured Housing Quality,” 15.

¹⁷D.M. Burch, Indoor Ventilation Requirements for Manufactured Housing (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1991); Johnson, “Manufactured Housing Quality,” 27-28; Manufactured Housing and Construction Standards Division, Eighth Report to Congress, II-5.

¹⁸John R. Hall, Manufactured Home Fires Interim Report Through 1988 Fires (Quincy, Massachusetts: National Fire Protection Association, Fire Analysis and Research Division, 1990).

¹⁹American Association of Retired Persons, Issues in Manufactured Housing (Issue Brief No. 14, September 1992), 3.

²⁰National Fire Protection Association, 1986-1987 Manufactured Home Fires Final Report, in Manufactured Housing and Construction Standards Division, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Eighth Report to Congress, VI-5. The study noted, however, that in 1987 -- the most recent year studied -- there was “an unusual jump in deaths” and an unusually small difference in injury rates in manufactured homes built after 1976. Later data would be needed to determine whether that change indicated a trend. The study found that the average dollar loss per fire was higher in post-1976 homes, but noted that could occur for reasons unrelated to the HUD Code. First, owners of newer homes might be more affluent and therefore have more expensive possessions destroyed by a fire. Second, since post-1976 homes are newer, the structures themselves are worth more. Ibid., VI-13.

²¹Foremost Insurance Company, Fire Loss Study (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Foremost Insurance Company, 1986).

²²U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and National Conference on State Building Codes and Standards, Hurricane Andrew’s Effect on Manufactured Housing in Florida and Louisiana (Washington, DC: October, 1992).

²³Ibid., 21.

²⁴Federal Emergency Management Agency, Manufactured Home Installation in Flood Hazard Areas (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, No. 529-684/31054, 1985).

²⁵National Commission on Manufactured Housing, Final Report, 41, 54-56.

²⁶Ibid., 41, 56.

²⁷National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards, 1994 SAA Survey Results (Washington DC: Prepared under contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development), 1994.

²⁸National Commission on Manufactured Housing, Final Report, 65-66.

²⁹Ibid., 1.

³⁰Data on 1993 median prices of all homes is from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, State of the Nation’s Housing 1994 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Joint Center for Housing Studies, 1994), and on mobile homes from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Construction Statistics Division (Washington, DC: 1994).

³¹Robert Johnson and Jeff Scheuer, “Manufactured Housing Costs and Finance,” Manufactured Housing Research Project (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, 1993).

³²U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General, Review of the Title I Manufactured Home Loan Program 88-TS-122-0012 (Washington, DC: Department of Housing and Urban Development, 29 August 1988), 8, cited in American Institute of Retired Persons, Issues in Manufactured Housing, 5.

³³Kate Warner and Jeff Scheuer, "Manufactured Housing Values," Manufactured Housing Research Project (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, 1993).

³⁴Hebert Research, Inc., Washington Manufactured Housing Association Appreciation Research (Bellevue, Washington: 1994).

³⁵The American Housing Survey defines monthly housing costs for owner-occupied units as the sum of monthly payments for all mortgages or installment loans or contracts, real estate taxes (including taxes on mobile homes or trailer sites if the site is owned), property insurance, homeowners association fee, cooperative or condominium fee, mobile home park fee, land rent, utilities (electricity, gas, water, and sewage disposal), fuels (oil, coal, kerosene, wood, etc.), and garbage and trash collection. For renter-occupied housing units, monthly housing costs include the contract rent plus the estimated average monthly cost of utilities and fuels, property insurance, mobile home land rent, and garbage and trash collection if paid for by the renter.

³⁶Retailers is the term preferred by the manufactured housing industry for the local sellers often known as dealers.

³⁷Manufactured Housing Institute, Manufactured Home Financing in 1993 (Arlington, Virginia: 1994).

³⁸William O’Hare and Barbara Clark O’Hare, “Upward Mobility,” American Demographics, January 1993. The authors report that 37 percent of mobile home residents rent a place in a park and 6 percent own a lot in a park. Another 17 percent of manufactured home owners live on someone else’s land.

³⁹Steven W. O’Heron, The Evolution and Outlook for Manufactured Housing: A National and Eleventh District Overview (Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco: 1986).

⁴⁰Manufactured Housing Institute, Manufacturing Report (Arlington, Virginia: July, 1994).

⁴¹American Housing Survey data includes as mortgage debt all forms of debt where the property is pledged as security for payment of that debt. For mobile home installment loans, a lien is placed on the property until the debt is paid.

⁴²Manufactured Housing Institute, “Empty Nester Finds Best of Both Worlds,” Housing Currents, October 1993.

⁴³Kate Warner and Jeff Scheuer, “Manufactured Housing Impacts on Adjacent Property Values,” Manufactured Housing Research Project (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, 1993), 3-4.

⁴⁴Kate Warner and Azza Eleishe, “Manufactured Housing and the Senior Population,” Manufactured Housing Research Project (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, 1993). See also Manufactured Housing Institute, “Large Site- built House Too Much Work for Retirees,” Housing Currents (Arlington, Virginia: Spring 1994).

⁴⁵Sources drawn upon for this discussion include American Association of Retired Persons, “Issues in Manufactured Housing”; Charles Mahtesian, “Taking Aim at Trailer Park Tyranny,” Governing, July 13, 1993; O’Heron, The Evolution and Outlook for Manufactured Housing; Jonathan Sheldon and Andrea Simpson, Manufactured Housing Park Tenants: Shifting the Balance of Power (Washington, DC: American Association of Retired Persons, 1991); Kirby White, Mobile Home Survival (Albany, New York: New York State Coalition of Mobile Home Owners, Inc., 1986); and Deborah Wood, Cooperative Ownership of Mobile Home Parks in Oregon: A Working Manual (Salem, Oregon: State Housing Council of Oregon, 1986).

⁴⁶American Association of Retired Persons, Issues in Manufactured Housing, 12.

⁴⁷National Commission on Manufactured Housing, Final Report, 36.

⁴⁸Information in this section about existing state and local statutes is drawn from Sheldon and Simpson, Manufactured Housing Park Tenants.

⁴⁹Gladys G. Shelton and Anne L. Sweaney, Perceptions of Alternative Housing: Housing for Low- and Moderate-Income Families (Athens, Georgia: Southern Cooperative Series Bulletin for Southern Regional Project S-141.2, The University of Georgia College of Agriculture Experiment Stations, Southern Cooperative Series Bulletin 298, 1983).

⁵⁰National Commission on Manufactured Housing, Final Report; American Association of Retired Persons, “Manufactured Housing Commission Makes Sweeping Recommendations for Reform,” AARP Housing Report, Winter, 1994. The AARP article includes a description of the quality improvement efforts of Fleetwood Enterprises, the industry’s largest company. It reports that customer satisfaction ratings have increased to 92 percent in 1994.

⁵¹Based on Bureau of the Census, American Housing Survey for the United States in 1993 (Current Housing Reports, H150/93, Washington, DC, 1995). For further information, see “Explanations and Cautions” and Appendices A, B and D of that publication.

⁵² Don Carlson, "Our 30th Anniversary: A Look Back, A Look Ahead -- Industry Optimism Prevails Again," Automated Builder, February 1994, 10-13.

⁵³ Information here is from an interview with staff of the National Association of Home Builders, which does not record sales by rural/urban location. Certain kinds of kit and panelized homes -- like log and dome homes -- may be aesthetically more pleasing in rural settings than in typical urban locations.

⁵⁴ Data on manufactured home inventories and sales are maintained by the Construction Statistics Division of the U.S. Bureau of the Census and by the Manufactured Housing Institute, based in Arlington, Virginia.

⁵⁵ "Panelizers Report 9% Rise; Modulars up 8%," Automated Builder, January 1994, 18.

⁵⁶ George Rosenbaum, "Production Builders Note 6% Climb for 1993," Automated Builder, January 1994, 19.

⁵⁷ National Commission on Manufactured Housing, Final Report, 39.

⁵⁸ Ibid., 21.

⁵⁹ Code of Federal Regulations, Vol. 24, Sections 3282.7, 3282.401-3282.416.

⁶⁰ National Commission on Manufactured Housing, Final Report, Table 3, 26-27; Table 4, 28-30; 43.

⁶¹ Ibid., 32-36.

⁶² American Association of Retired Persons, Issues in Manufactured Housing, 5-6.

⁶³ Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing, "Not In My Back Yard": Removing Barriers to Affordable Housing (Washington, DC: Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing), 3-10.

⁶⁴ The Institute on Aging, Portland State University, "Innovations in Mobile-Home Developments for Older Americans," Pacific Mountain Review, VII (Fall 1989), 20.

⁶⁵ Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers, "Not In My Back Yard," 3-10.

⁶⁶ Ibid., 7-12.

⁶⁷ American Association of Retired Persons, Issues in Manufactured Housing, 8.

⁶⁸ Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers, "Not In My Back Yard," 3-10.

⁶⁹ American Association of Retired Persons, Issues in Manufactured Housing, 7-8.

⁷⁰ Housing Assistance Council, Overcoming Exclusion in Rural Communities: NIMBY Case Studies (Washington, DC: Housing Assistance Council, 1994).

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