Building Affordable, MADE-To-Last Homes

Despite the steady demand for affordable homes, builders are developing fewer site-built homes for first- time homebuyers. Competition from the manufactured homes industry and expectations of new homebuyers are making it more difficult for builders to produce and sell well-built, affordable starter homes. Marketability, affordability, and durability are often seen as competing ideas that cannot be combined in one home.

To increase the number of site-built, entry-level homes, HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research recently released a manual illustrating how developers can construct housing that is high in quality, energy efficient, durable, and affordable. A Builder's Guide to Marketable, Affordable, and Durable Entry-level Homes (MADE) To Last, developed as a part of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH), provides builders with:

• Tools to market affordable housing to entry-level buyers.

• Successful techniques for building affordable, durable housing.

• Methods to define homebuyer expectations and fulfill their needs both before and after a sale.

• Preliminary plans illustrating how many of these techniques fit into a MADE-to-last demonstration home.

To develop the MADE prototype, researchers consulted housing experts and surveyed first-time homebuyers and some of the Nation's top affordable homebuilders. They also reviewed statistics on home sales, housing characteristics, and durability issues. Although they are price conscious, first-time buyers want an attractive home, the ability to expand it as their families grow, and a flexible floor plan. The manual provides tips on how to achieve these characteristics while controlling construction costs. Case studies also provide insight on how builders are successfully using these techniques.

Another section focuses on reducing the costs of home maintenance. The text looks at ways to increase durability and prevent problems that increase maintenance costs such as poor drainage, foundation wall cracks and water leakage, soil swelling or settlement, termites, and buckled siding. The manual includes preliminary plans for a MADE-to-last home.

A Builder's Guide to Marketable, Affordable, and Durable Entry-level Homes (MADE) To Last is available from HUD USER for $5. Use the order form.

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In the March/April Issue of FieldWorks... HOPE VI transforms Seattle public housing. Utah links welfare reform with public housing. State attorney general gives anticrime resources to Massachusetts communities. Bank runs training classes for low-income homeownership. Internet resources for community crime fighting. To order copies, use the Order form