Champion Homes Touts ‘Solution’ to Housing Shortages – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
TROY, Mich. – Champion Homes announced the delivery and installation of a new manufactured home in Versailles, Ky., as a part of a pilot program highlighting factory-built housing as a solution to housing inventory shortages in Central Kentucky.
Working with the Kentucky Manufactured Housing Institute (KMHI) and the City of Versailles, Champion Homes was selected to design, build, set, and install the home. Throughout the pilot, local officials and residents are invited to walk the home, view the quality of the construction, and learn about the energy efficient features. After the pilot concludes, the home will become a permanent residence for a local individual or family.
“We’re committed to helping increase housing availability during this critical time of widespread housing shortages across the nation,” said Champion Homes President and CEO Mark Yost. “The innovative pilot program in Versailles is raising awareness of what’s possible with manufactured housing.”
The pilot is the result of a year-long task force spearheaded by members of the Versailles City Council in collaboration with KMHI. Versailles City Council unanimously approved the task force’s plan to showcase a modern manufactured home on city-owned property to present a solution to the critical shortage of available housing inventory in Central Kentucky.
Factory-built housing presents a pivotal opportunity for regions like Central Kentucky that are facing housing shortages. Manufactured homes are affordable and faster to construct than traditional site-built homes. They’re a timely, attractive solution to increasing housing inventory. Prefab homes can also be less disruptive to local neighborhoods than site-built homes. Since most of the construction happens off-site, there is less noise and construction traffic impacting current residents in the community.
“This partnership exemplifies what can be achieved when local government and industry leaders work together to solve community challenges,” said KMHI Executive Director Logan Hanes.
Champion Homes displayed the pilot house at the Kentucky League of Cities Conference & Expo on September 24-27, 2024, in Lexington, located less than 15 miles from Versailles. Attendees representing municipalities from across the state were invited to view the home.
As a CrossMod, or crossover modern home, the pilot house combines the best of off-site and on-site construction. CrossMods are manufactured homes built to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development code while also featuring amenities typically found in site-built homes like garages, carports, and pitched roofs.
The house was also built to meet the requirements of Fannie Mae’s MH Advantage™ financing program. MH Advantage offers innovative and affordable financing on specially designated manufactured homes that feature site-built characteristics. Conventional financing for manufactured homes helps open the door to homeownership for more people for whom homeownership may have been out of reach.
Additionally, the house is an ENERGY STAR 3 home. The ENERGY STAR 3 certification, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and administered by the Systems Building Research Alliance, is applied to new homes constructed according to strict energy efficiency standards.
Champion Homes has the capability to build ENERGY STAR homes at 40 of its U.S. manufacturing facilities. The ENERGY STAR Certification is an optional upgrade available with most Champion homes. ENERGY STAR homes are on average 20% more energy efficient than typical new homes, and homeowners save an average of $250 a year in energy bills. The homes can offer reduced leaks and drafts, more consistent temperatures, and improved indoor air quality.
About Champion Homes, Inc.
Champion Homes, Inc. is a leading producer of factory-built housing in North America and employs approximately 9,000 people. With more than 70 years of homebuilding experience and 48 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and western Canada, Champion Homes is well positioned with an innovative portfolio of manufactured and modular homes, ADUs, park-models and modular buildings for the single-family, multi-family, and hospitality sectors.
In addition to its core home building business, Champion Homes provides construction services to install and set-up factory-built homes, operates a factory-direct retail business with 72 retail locations across the United States, and operates Star Fleet Trucking, providing transportation services to the manufactured housing and other industries from several dispatch locations across the United States.
