Clayton® Commends Enactment of Landmark Housing Legislation Modernizing Manufactured Housing Standards with Chassis Optionality

MARYVILLE, Tenn., July 14, 2026 – Clayton, a leading national builder of single-family attainable housing, applauds the enactment of bipartisan legislation to modernize the federal HUD Code by making the permanent chassis requirement optional for modern manufactured homes. This historic update represents a significant step forward in expanding attainable housing innovations to help reduce costs, create more desirable exteriors and allow for multi-story designs on narrower properties. 

“Removing the chassis requirement gives us greater flexibility to design homes that better meet the needs of today’s home buyers,” said Kevin Clayton, CEO of Clayton. “We join housing advocates and congressional leaders in celebrating this historic milestone, which expands housing choice and helps make homeownership more attainable for families across a wider range of home designs, price points and locations.”

This long-overdue policy update allows modern manufactured homes to be built with or without a chassis underneath, providing builders with the flexibility to design homes that fit a wider range of lots and homebuyer needs. Removing the steel chassis improves curb appeal, reduces material waste and helps lower homeowner costs. This also includes removing the chassis requirement when building multi-story designs, which will help improve land use through better density and increase square footage for future infill homes in narrow urban lots and suburban neighborhoods. 

The enactment of this legislation signals strong national alignment around the need to address the country’s growing housing shortage. Clayton extends its appreciation to the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) for its leadership in helping advance this important policy change.