2026/07/15 by Zachary Lamb, Esther Sullivan, Andrew Rumbach · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism #Urban Planning and Governance #Urbanization and City Planning
paper · doi:10.1177/00420980261455276
openalex publication_date 2026/07/15 · openalex created_date 2026/07/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/16
Manufactured housing (MH) provides a key source of affordable housing in the United States and elsewhere, including in Canada and Australia. In this editors’ introduction, we argue that MH and manufactured home communities (MHCs) deserve more attention from researchers, planners, and policy makers because they are home to millions of people and because they provide a lens through which to understand critical contemporary issues in the study of housing and urban settlements more broadly. We provide an overview, define key terms, and describe the scale, and some advantages and disadvantages of manufactured housing. The introduction also defines manufactured home communities (also commonly called by other names, including “mobile home parks” and “trailer parks”) and describes their broad diversity. We introduce the articles in the special issue, summarizing key areas of concern that shape housing affordability, security, and equity for residents of MH and MHCs. These include: (1) regulation and location of manufactured housing; (2) housing tenure, ownership, and finance; (3) resident experience, social relations, and politics in manufactured home communities; and (4) hazards and climate change. This introduction and the other articles in this issue make the case that manufactured housing should be repositioned from the margins to the center of scholarship on housing and urbanism because the challenges facing manufactured housing residents, from financialization and tenure insecurity to heightened climate change vulnerability, are relevant and revelatory for research in other marginalized communities and housing types around the world.