Beyond the Trailers: Rethinking Affordable Manufactured Housing in the U.S.

There are entire possibilities in low-income housing that the manufacturedhousing industry has not included or explored sufficiently. Research in thelow-income areas of the periphery of some American cities shows an elaboratespatial complexity, building inventiveness, and growing resourcefulness. Oneof the most important characteristics that make housing in these areas interestingis its progressive character in which investment in housing is limited bythe financial available resources. Housing is then built in two or more stagesin which household needs are matched with household savings. Some of theseresidential environments show great potential to consolidate into good urbanhabitats and become incorporated into cities as healthy neighborhoods.This paper is based on a study of the long term changes operated in lowincomeperi-urban areas of Texas. The study identified the characteristics andtypes of investments made by households in their housing including space usepriorities, technology and materials, and amount of the investments made inhousing in time.This paper explores avenues for the manufactured housing industry to expandits offer of affordable housing by developing new products and integrating intotheir existing products many of the notions operating in low-income housingenvironments that were observed. The paper proposes concrete examples onhow this could be done.

Volume Editors
John Quale, Rashida Ng & Ryan E. Smith

ISBN
978-0-935502-85-5