Minneapolis-St. Paul is a place where manufactured housing plays a small but important role in the affordable housing market and where existing mainstream affordable housing systems are robust. As the region plans for nearly 400,000 new households by 2040, of which 40% will earn less than 80% of area median income1, we can estimate that both the preservation and construction of affordable housing units will be critical to meeting the housing needs of its lower income residents.

The Metropolitan Council is the Twin Cities’ regional planning agency, created by the Minnesota legislature in 1967 to plan for growth, address issues that could not be sufficiently addressed within existing governmental arrangements and coordinate the delivery of regional systems including affordable housing, regional parks, transportation, water treatment and environmental services.

The Metropolitan Council’s 2040 Housing Policy Plan estimates that the region will need more than 13,000 new housing units per year to address expected new household growth2. Manufactured housing’s quick construction, low cost, high density and energy efficiency makes it worth adding to the toolkit of local affordable housing developers. At the same time, the preservation of existing affordable housing will be key to the strategy of meeting the Twin Cities’ affordable housing needs. The region’s 85 manufactured home communities—where more than 90% of manufactured homes in the Twin Cities metro are located—presents an opportunity to preserve affordable housing through resident ownership, nonprofit ownership and community land trusts. The Metropolitan Council’s estimates of affordable housing need do not account for the need to replace substandard homes or homes lost to gentrification or demolition. However, given that more than one-third of the manufactured homes in the region were built before 1980, a substantial portion of those homes may require either major repairs or replacement within the next decade. While working with manufactured housing requires some nuanced understandings of policy, housing development and community issues, it also already plays a critical role in serving the affordable housing needs of low- and moderate-income families in the Twin Cities. Leveraging the value of manufactured housing going forward could play a major role in increasing low-income families’ access to affordable housing and opportunity.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEED & THE ROLE OF MANUFACTURED HOUSING

TWIN CITIES

38,003residents or roughly

1% live in

14,740 manufactured homes in

the Twin Cities metro area

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For many low- and moderate-income households, manufactured housing is more affordable than other types of housing.

A manufactured home is a type of prefabricated

housing that is constructed in a factory and then

transported to a site for installation. These homes

are built to a federal code administered by HUD that went into effect in

1976. Factory-built homes constructed before 1976 are called mobile homes. Modular homes are also prefabricated in a factory, but differ from manufac-

tured homes because they are built to a local building

code.

75% of manufactured

housing is affordable, compared to only 28% of all other housing types

Housing is “affordable” if total housing costs account for 30% or less of household income for households earning incomes be-low 50% of area median income.

Note: This Data Snapshot is designed to assess the role of manufactured housing in local markets and the extent to which manufactured housing contributes to a set of solutionsfor affordable housing needs in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The geographic area referred to within the Twin Cities metro area includes 186 cities and townships across the

following seven counties in Minnesota that make up the Metropolitan Council’s Planning Area: Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington.

Monthly Housing Cost Comparison

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$250

$500

$750

$1,000

$1,250

$1,500

Manufactured Homeowners

All Homeowners

All Renters

Manufactured Housing Metropolitan Opportunity Profile: Data Snapshot OCTOBER 2015

$0

1 Metropolitan Council, 2040 Housing Policy Plan (Minneapolis: Metropolitan Council, 2014), 2. 2 Metropolitan Council, 2040 Housing Policy Plan, 6.

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120

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WHO LIVES IN MANUFACTURED HOMES? Residents of manufactured homes differ in some key ways from their neighbors in other types of housing. Owners of manufactured homes are less likely to have access to mortgage financing and typically finance their homes with higher-interest personal property loans instead. This means that, even though owners of manufactured homes tend to have a lower housing cost burden than other low- and moderate-income homeowners, they are forced to use financial products with higher fees and fewer protections. Owners of manufactured homes in the Twin Cities metropolitan area are also more likely to be Hispanic, speak Spanish at home, work in low-wage jobs and be single-parents than other homeowners. The educational attainment of owners of manufactured homes falls significantly behind renters and other homeowners: 12% of manufactured homeowners have an Associate’s degree or higher, compared to 52% of other homeowners and 35% of renters. Overall, these data show that owners of manufactured homes are vulnerable to the perils of unaffordable housing and highlight the need to expand access to opportunity in the communities where these homes are located.

JOBS Owners of manufactured homes often work in industries that typically feature lower-wage jobs.

EDUCATIONBy 2019, an estimated one in three jobs in the Twin Cities will require a post-secondary education. Today, owners of manufactured homes are much less likely to have completedhigh school or post-secondary education compared to other homeowners and renters.

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLDINCOME

HOMEOWNERSHIP Manufactured home residents are more likely to own their homes than residents of other types of housing.

88%of manufactured home

residents own their homes

69%of residents in other types of housing own their homes

HOME FINANCINGOwners of manufactured homes are less likely to have a mortgage and, presumably, more likely to have a personal property loan. Why does this matter? Personal property loans tend to have higher interest rates, shorter prepayment periods and fewer protections for owners. Plus, homes financed with personal property loans tend to be titled as personal property, like cars, which depreciate. This makes it much harder for homeowners to build wealth through homeownership.

Note: We expect that the American Community Survey (ACS) data at our disposal most likely misrepresents the share of manufactured homes with mortgages. Because the ACS defines mortgages as “all forms of debt where the property is pledged as security for repayment of the debt,” owners of manufactured homes who are asked whether they have a mortgage may respond affirmatively knowing that they are repaying a loan of some sort, even if that may be a personal property loan. As a result we expect that the ACS estimate for the share of manufactured home owners with a mortgage is inaccurate, so it has been omitted here.

76%

All Other Homeowners with a Mortgage

Some School, No HS Diploma

HS Diploma or Equivalent

Some College

Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree

Graduate Degree

Manufactured Homeowners All Homeowners All Renters

Manufactured Homeowners

All Homeowners

All Renters

$37,794$83,454$32,581

22%

44%

22%

11%2%

5%22%

21%

38%

14%

16%

25%

23%

27%

8%

9% 8% 3% 2%

Restaurant &Food Services

ConstructionLaborers

Retail Hospital WorkersElementary & Secondary Schools

3% 2%

Nursing Care Facilities

OWNERS OF MANUFACTURED HOMES ALL HOMEOWNERS

12%Speak Spanish

at Home

4%Speak Spanish

at Home

SNAP BENEFITSOwners of manufactured homes are seven times

more likely to receive SNAP benefits compared to other

homeowners.

LANGUAGEResidents of manufactured

homes are more likely to speak Spanish

compared to all other types of housing.

CITIZENSHIPCompared to other

homeowners, a larger share of those who live in

manufactured homes immigrated to the

United States.

HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION Families in manufactured homes are more likely to be headed by

single parents compared to other homeowners and

renters.

ETHNICITYOwners of manufactured

homes are more likely to be Hispanic or Latino and less likely to be Black or African

American than residents of any other housing type.

Note: The income and demographic data presented on pages 2 and 3 come from the 2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

ALL RENTERS

14% 2% 19%

HispanicBlack

2% 3%

Black Black

18%

7%Speak Spanish

at Home

Hispanic Hispanic

13%

2%7%

39%

26%

36%

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Married Couple

Single ParentHead

Non-Family

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Married Couple

Single Parent Head

Non-Family 27%

11%

62%

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Single Parent Head

Non-Family 56%

23%

21%

17% Immigrants 7% Immigrants 19% Immigrants

WHERE ARE MOST MANUFACTURED HOMES LOCATED?

Innovations in Manufactured Homes (I’M HOME) is a national initiative managed by CFED which seeks to ensure that owners of manufactured homes have the opportunity to build wealth through homeownership by improving the quality of new and replacement development, enhancing homeowners’ ability to enjoy long-term land security, expanding access to safe home financing and encouraging a supportive policy environment.

Manufactured Housing Communities and Proximity to Public Transit

IN WHAT CONDITION ARE MOST MANUFACTURED HOMES?More than one-third of manufactured homes in the Twin Cities were built before 1980. Why does this matters? Before HUD began regulating the construction of these homes in 1976, there were no consistent building standards for manufactured homes, so older units are more likely to be in need of repair or replacement.

Built 2000 or

LaterBuilt 1980 to 1999Built 1960 to 1979

Built

Bef

ore

1959

2% 35% 48% 17%

13,660of the manufactured homes in

the Twin Cities metro area

or

93%are located in

85 manufactured home

communities

LEGEND

Existing Rail Routes w/in .25 Miles of MHCs

Planned Rail Routes

High Frequency Service Network Bus Routes w/in .25 Miles of MHCs (10,18,19,64)

Manufactured Housing Community (MHC) Populations

Metropolitan Council. Additional alternative estimates calculated by CFED. (2010)

1-134135-314

315-549

550-814

815-2000

North Star Commuter Rail Stations

Planned Bus Rapid Transit Routes w/in .25 Miles of MHCs

Standard Bus Routes w/in .25 Miles of MHCs

07 14 21 283.5Miles

ANOKA

WASHINGTON

RAMSEY

HENNEPINWASHINGTON

CARVER

SCOTTDAKOTA