A State’s Guide to Advancing Factory-Built Housing With the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act

The bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which became law in July, introduced the most consequential reform to factory-built housing in decades. The National Housing Crisis Task Force’s Builder’s Manual offers states and their partners a roadmap of actions they can take to unlock these possibilities. 

Among other valuable provisions, Section 301 of the ROAD to Housing Act removed the permanent chassis requirement from the federal definition of manufactured housing. Currently, manufactured housing, a type of factory-built housing regulated under the federal HUD Code, is required to have a steel frame known as a chassis. This requirement adds cost to producing manufactured housing and limits units’ size, shape, and configuration, even as the housing type has come to more-closely resemble traditional homes. By removing the chassis requirement, the federal government has begun the process of opening up additional possibilities for manufactured housing to serve as high-quality and low cost starter homes, apartments in small buildings, and accessory dwelling units.

States need to act to take advantage of this law change, both to come into compliance and to lead technological innovation in construction. This guide outlines the actions states must take to meet legal minimums, early strategies states can take to lead in manufactured home development, and ways states and private sector actors can use this law change to advance a broader array of factory-built housing strategies. The guide also provides potential legislative language, highlights key timing considerations in the process, and raises examples of state leadership from around the country that advance factory-built housing.

View the full guide here.

A new research brief from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation complements the Task Force’s Builders Guide.

The brief takes a closer look at an amendment in ROAD that could have a large impact on housing supply: the removal of the requirement for manufactured housing to have a permanent chassis—the components needed to tow the units, even after placement on a permanent foundation. Terner Center researchers explore what this shift could mean for manufactured housing—about 10 percent of all U.S. homes being built—and provide guidance for states, given the law’s requirements to update the federal code and states’ laws and statutes.