But Kate Warner believes we already have the technology to house far more people and to build stable communities in the bargain, and she has dedicated the last several years of her career to spreading the news. I went ballistic. She insists that these parks, which date from the 1950s and '60s, are relics. Manufactured homes no longer look like trailers, she says, and they're not all in parks. Some purchasers place their homes on their own private lots instead of renting space in a park.
Manufactured homes are now more stable and weather-resistant too.
In a major 1993 study of manufactured homes in Michigan for the state Department of Commerce, Warner and her colleagues found that federal regulations enacted in 1976 to strengthen construction and inspection standards helped to improve structural durability, fire and wind safety. We can produce homes of quality at less cost than site-built housing, and we can produce them faster. The same number are satisfied with their manufactured homes and with the community. She has recently joined the Department of Housing and Community Development in Kansas City, Missouri.