Opinion

Deleting five words could help millions of Americans buy a home

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In today’s edition:

• There’s no reason for a mobile home to stay on its chassis
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Fix the chassis

Here’s a wonky bit of housing policy: A huge swath of the American public is held back from homeownership by five words — “built on a permanent chassis.”

That’s the stipulation that a 1974 law tacked on to the construction requirements of manufactured homes, more commonly known as “mobile homes,” economists Lee Ohanian and James Schmitz explain. Until the mid-1970s, these houses were fabricated, wheeled into place, then de-wheeled and plopped onto a foundation.