CityLab Daily: White House Touts Factory-Made Homes as Affordable Housing

Tourists and residents in Washington, D.C., were able to tour models of factory-made homes on the National Mall over the weekend during a three-day housing festival. The Innovative Housing Showcase is part of the White House’s push to boost mobile homes, backyard flats and other manufactured units as solutions to the national housing crisis, in part by challenging the stigma of living in one.

Manufactured housing was a popular option for single-family home construction in the 1960s, and companies today say their factories can help satisfy the new housing market while preserving existing affordable options. Because these homes can be built at scale and assembled on site, some experts say, they can offer savings on labor costs and materials. But first, local zoning codes that have made manufactured homes illegal in many communities must change, writes Kriston Capps. Today on CityLab: The Future of Factory-Built Homes Hits the National Mall