It was only two years ago that several manufactured home companies announced plans to introduce a new line of homes built to the Federal HUD building codes that could fit nicely into R1, Low Density, neighborhoods.
While the modular housing industry, whose homes are built to IRC standards, was gearing up to address this invasion of HUD Cross Mods into neighborhoods that had zoned HUD single and double-wide manufactured homes unacceptable in R1 areas, COVID-19 hit and all thoughts of Cross Mods was simply forgotten.
They still aren’t on the radar for the modular housing industry as everyone is now facing rising costs, shortage of materials, labor, and transportation costs and even the thought of having to worry about a HUD product replacing IRC homes for new home buyers is the last thing anyone in our industry is worried about.
Clayton Homes however haven’t put them on the back burner because of COVID-19. Instead, they have been quietly building neighborhoods of Clayton CrossMods.
The latest development was reported by the Bingham News Chronicle about a rezoning Clayton from Residential Agriculture to low-density Residential in Blackfoot, Idaho so that in the future they can develop the ground with homes. CMH Inc. is known for its modular homes and will be using its skills in building modular homes to create a new style of home known as a cross-mod home.
Although still factory-built, for the most part, the cross-mod home is placed on-site with a two-car garage and meets all of the requirements of the traditional “stick-built” homes, and will be placed on permanent foundations.
It looks like manufactured Cross Mods are once again going to be a topic of discussion within the modular housing industry.
Gary Fleisher is the Managing Director and contributor to the Modcoach Network and its affiliated blogs.
Email at [email protected]
