The manufactured home of today is an evolution of style and amenities that has its roots in a history of answering the American public’s demand for quality housing at an exceptional value. From this demand the mobile home was born. Mobile homes were bigger in size, nicer in appearance and met the needs of prospective young American homeowners better than the “trailer coaches” that had been popular since the 1920s.
In 1974, Congress passed the National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act, also known as the HUD Code. This important piece of legislation made mobile homes the only form of private and single-family building subject to federal regulation. Even site-built homes were not so strictly regulated. These regulations, which went into effect in June of 1976, preempted any existing state or local construction and safety codes that applied to manufactured housing.
In order to more clearly define mobile homes as buildings rather than vehicles, the Housing Act of 1980 adopted this change officially, mandating the use of “manufactured housing” (factory-built homes) to replace “mobile homes” in all federal references to homes built since 1976.
The manufactured home of today is truly a home and bears little resemblance to the early trailers. Often, you may not even be able to distinguish a manufactured home from a site-built home. Thanks to sophisticated state-of-the-art production processes and the demands of today’s consumer, manufactured homes have become a model of efficiency, affordability, and innovative design options.
Learn more about the modern manufactured home on the home ownership page.