Today’s beautiful, factory-built homes are not only affordable but every bit as safe as site-built homes during a storm, regardless of whether the storm is a wind storm, a hurricane or a tornado.
- 1974 Congress passes the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Act (“HUD CODE”). Manufactured Housing is the only form of single-family housing subject to a federal code.
- 1994 HUD implements new wind safety standards for Windzone III manufactured homes that are more stringent than regional and national building codes for site-built homes!
- 2004 An Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety test found that manufactured homes performed better at high winds than site-built homes.
FACT: Manufactured Homes are as Safe as Traditional Homes During a Storm*
All homes in Rexmere Village and Paradise Village built after July13th 1994 can withstand SUSTAINED hurricane winds of 110mph.
*Source: 2004 – 2005 Florida Hurricane Damage Assessment. Summary of Findings from Mobile Home Damage Assessments Regarding Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan & Jeanne 152 Mobile Home Parks surveyed. Homes Built after 1994: 4,056 Homes surveyed, 0 destroyed. A recent study by Dr. K.R. Grosskopf at the University of Florida found that not one manufactured home built after the 1994 HUD Code changes was destroyed or seriously damaged by four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004. The same phenomenon occurred in the Gulf Coast region during Hurricane Katrina, with newer manufactured homes performing beyond expectations.
** In 2001, a Texas Tech study found that manufactured homes performed well with limited damage at 90+ MPH. All homes sold in coastal counties are built to even higher, special hurricane-resistant standards.
*** As a result of stringent requirements manufactured homes produced since 1994 have been proven to be equal, and in many respects safer, than site built homes during tornadoes and hurricanes. (It is important to note that there are not any homes built to withstand winds of 200+miles per hour winds.)
**** In areas prone to hurricanes, the standards for manufactured homes are comparable to the codes for site-built homes. Damage is primarily caused by flooding and debris rather than high winds.