Louisa was unfamiliar with and a little skeptical about manufactured homes

“We are blessed and forever happy now,” says new homeowner, Louisa Padilla. She’s a single mother with three kids—Sarafina (10), Analisia (7), and Santiago (4)—who recently purchased a manufactured home in Oakland, California.

Louisa was unfamiliar with and a little skeptical about manufactured homes, which are built in a factory on a metal frame. But seeing the house allayed all of her concerns. It looked like any other house, with a peaked roof and a generous porch overlooking the front lawn. She was excited about having a home for her family to call their own.

And while stereotypes about the “trailer” origins of manufactured housing still persist, Louisa says, “It’s just like a regular house. It is a regular house.”

Louisa had never owned a home before. Growing up, she lived in an Oakland housing project where she shared a room with her three brothers. Before buying their
home, Louisa and her children were renters using Section 8 vouchers—a federally combined with one-third of her wages as a bus driver to afford the rent.

As a manufactured home owner, Louisa joins almost 10 million Americans who find that a manufactured home is affordable— often their only affordable option.These
homes are not only a feature of rural communities, but are increasingly used in high-cost cities and suburbs.Those manufactured after 1976 are subject to a
strict federal building code and can provide safe, sound, and attractive housing that enhances the neighborhood.

Manufactured homes suffer from unfair negative stereotypes, but they do have some real and serious problems. Homebuyers rarely can get affordable, longterm mortgage loans. And unlike Louisa, many owners do not own the land beneath their homes, and can be evicted with little or no notice.

CFED is working with the Ford Foundation and local partners like Oakland Community Housing, Inc. to improve the way manufactured housing is financed and developed. CFED is looking for creative solutions to the problems around manufactured housing to enable millions of homeowners like Louisa to build home equity as their foundation for greater economic security.
 
“This is a real investment,” says Louisa. “Instead of just paying rent, I feel like the money is coming right back to me because I’ll be able to pass this house down to
my kids.”

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