How the mobile home law change will impact San Diego
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Housing advocates across the country are heralding a change to requirements for mobile home construction that could increase housing supply, but it likely won't help San Diego's stubborn housing problems much.
Why it matters: Manufactured houses, or mobile homes, will become cheaper to make because the new law no longer requires the homes' steel under-frame used to transport them to remain attached
- That could help bring more affordable starter houses onto the market.
Zoom in: But San Diego housing experts told Axios it might not be that simple.
- The city has several mobile home parks, so the change could allow different designs of homes in those parks.
- But there also isn't space for more mobile home parks within city limits, so it probably wouldn't create more housing except in unincorporated parts of the county, real estate adviser Gary London told Axios.
"It's just sort of nibbling along the edges of the problem of the home and delivery system," he said.
- A bigger bite out of the problem would be creating more federal mobile home manufacturing standards, he said.
- That would allow more building of mobile homes on site, potentially leading to savings.
Yes, but: Only if more mobile home parks are built, London said.
- That would happen only if the county allowed them in more rural areas.
- "To really solve the housing problem, we need to open up targeted county lands for development," he said.
The change could also help make ADU manufactured homes cheaper, Jess Maxcy, president of the California Manufactured Housing Institute, told Axios.
Follow the money: Manufactured homes can cost 27% to 65% less than comparable houses built on site, according to an estimate from the Niskanen Center.
- Builders save $5,000-$10,000 if they can reuse the chassis, per the libertarian think tank's report.
- Considering that a new manufactured home recently averaged about $135,000, that could be meaningful savings for buyers — if manufacturers pass it along.
How it works: While most U.S. homes are "stick-built" on site, manufactured homes get built in factories.
- There are economies of scale — standardized materials, centralized purchasing, controlled weather conditions and a stable workforce (crucial at a time when construction labor is in short supply due to the immigration crackdown).