Three Ways to Reach Our Affordable Housing Goals Sooner Than Later

So many people, local governments, and lots of modular and manufactured home factory owners have been trying to find ways to meet the demand for affordable housing in their areas. There has been limited success in the efforts.



The Affordable housing crisis is causing distress for millions of people who are struggling to find affordable places to rent. It’s causing trouble for business owners, too. In Qualicum Beach, B.C., the town’s most popular restaurant – Lefty’s – had to close in 2022 because its staff couldn’t find anywhere to live nearby.

The long-term solutions are clear: end exclusive single-family zoning; massively expand the rental housing supply, with special emphasis on public and non-profit housing and cooperatives; and tax land wealth. But all this takes time. What can governments do now, to produce rapid results?

Protect and encourage manufactured homes



Every local government could upgrade its bylaws to cease being so restrictive when it comes to mobile homes. Let tiny homes have wheels. Let them have sleeping lofts. Let them have composting toilets. Allow mobile homes on private property, as Oregon has done, as long as they follow health and safety standards. Make permitting quick and easy. Let them be clustered in villages.

Restrict short-term vacation rentals



Shall we rent our second home to a permanent tenant, or earn more by turning it into a short-term vacation rental unit? In too many places, owners have chosen the latter. In Greater Victoria, Canada, where the vacancy rate for an affordable two-bedroom unit is a miserable 0.2%, causing massive distress, Vrbo boasts of having more than a thousand units for rent, while Airbnb has hundreds more.

Allow secondary Dwellings on single-family lots



It’s an obvious way to create more rental housing, but too often an application takes months to wind its way to approval. To speed up approvals, municipalities should have preapproved ADU and small dwelling designs available through local “vertically integrated” modular and manufactured home factories. These homes should not have parking requirements placed on them.

CLICK HERE to read the entire article from Corporate Knights, written by Guy Dauncey which could yield some solutions that could work if everyone simply began to use them.

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Gary Fleisher

Gary Fleisher, “The Mod Coach”, has been entrenched in the offsite construction industry for most of his life. Having started his career in the lumber industry, Gary spent decades working with manufactured and modular home producers and homebuilders. For the past 15 years his blog and LinkedIn postings have introduced thousands to the benefits of factory-built construction and have served as a forum for industry professionals to share insights and perspectives. Gary lives in Hagerstown, MD with his wife, Peg.

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