The Solution to the Housing Crisis

America is short 4.03 million homes—and pioneers of the factory-built home construction business are hopeful that a spate of new law changes could help turn the tide. But the construction of these homes isn't the only hurdle they face. The first starts at the very definition of factory-built homes.

"The major challenge is that big players are manufacturing both HUD-regulated double-wides and locally regulated modular homes, and no industry or government bodies are doing a good job of separating the two," says Berner. "Part of a policy revamp should be better data classification and collection."

Either way, manufactured housing, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, remains a relatively niche aspect of the homebuilding industry.

HUD recorded 112,800 manufactured home shipments in 2022, 89,000 in 2023, 103,300 in 2024, and 102,700 in 2025. Each year, it accounts for between 5.9% and 7% of the total housing starts.

January of this year marked a 16.4% decline in manufactured housing shipments, to 7,400 homes.

And the nation lost five factories devoted to housing, falling to 143 in 2025, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy said in its annual report on the business.