Home Truths

When Sam Landy, the CEO of UMH Properties and a proponent for affordable housing, stood before a local planning board in northern New York state, he experienced plenty of pushback on the company’s proposed 130-unit expansion of its nearby manufactured home community. 

The local civic leaders, it seemed, weren’t understanding the dire need for affordable housing. But Landy knew that local businesses were having trouble attracting workers in large part because there was no housing available that didn’t involve exhausting commutes. 

Landy was ready for his proposal to be shot down when, surprisingly, the chair of the zoning board took him aside for a private chat.

He told Landy that he was the CEO of a major manufacturing company in the area, as well as the owner of a number of retail stores.

“He told me how his company really needed the housing we provide for his factory workers,” Landy recalls. “He said that he couldn’t hire the workers he needed unless there was quality affordable housing nearby.” 

The planning board chair was very impressed with how factory-built homes in communities could solve the affordable housing crisis. During workshop hearings, he suggested improvements to the plan that could appease the objectors to the plan, which resulted in its approval.

An Affordable Housing Solution

Except for the residents of the UMH Properties’ award-winning 138 manufactured home communities in 12 states (consisting of 26,200 manufactured home lots and 10,000 rental homes), no group is more acutely aware of the need for affordable housing in the country than business executives. For them, much of the trouble in filling open job positions is because there is no affordable housing within a manageable commute for potential employees.

Since 1968, UMH Properties has built, expanded and modernized manufactured home communities, often working together with corporations. For example, it owns a community directly adjoining a JM Smuckers plant in Orrville, Ohio as well as one across the street from the Scotts factory in Marysville, Ohio.

“We are eager to work with every corporate CEO who has trouble hiring workers because of the lack of nearby affordable housing to help overcome that hurdle,” Landy says. 

The company offers homes, up to four bedrooms, on 460-square-meter plots. Because the factories that build the homes are the largest purchasers of flooring, kitchen and bathroom fixtures and appliances, water heaters and heating units they use the best materials at the lowest prices, Landy explains. 

This results in UMH Properties being able to provide brand new homes for sale or rent starting at US$1,000 per month for a three-bedroom, two-bath home, with plenty of space for a garden, barbecue area and a place for residents to play with their dog. Its communities have clubhouses, dog parks, community gardens and more. 

A Growing Need

Landy plans for UMH Properties to continue to lead the affordable housing sector with three innovative programs.

First is its corporate partnership plan where companies can actively help the company obtain zoning approvals on land adjacent or close to a factory or planned expansion. 

“Generally, manufactured homes in our communities, placed on 50 by 100-feet [460-square-meter] lots, allow for eight homes per acre [20 homes per hectare],” Landy says. “Therefore, if an employer needs to hire 200 workers, we can work with that company to set aside 25 company-owned acres [10 hectares] adjoining its future factory or warehouse as a manufactured home community to be built by UMH Properties. 

“When the permits are obtained, UMH buys the land from the employer, and then constructs the community – and either sells or rents the homes to potential hires.”

Secondly, UMH Properties is helping these working-class families build a stronger financial future. Not only are its homes supremely affordable, but the company gives residents an option to obtain a 25-year lease on the land under their new home, matching the term of the loan used to buy the new home. With each monthly finance payment, the homeowner builds equity in their house which they can recover when they move and sell their home.

Third, UMH Properties is pioneering the next chapter in manufactured homes. Called the UMH Adorable Tiny Home duplex, the center of these innovative houses becomes a firewall to divide the building into two separate units, Landy explains. 

For the renter, the young couple just starting out in life or the retired couple looking to downsize, the tiny duplex is an energy-efficient home that rents for US$900 and provides an affordable and safe home in a community with a pool, garden and yard. 

For UMH Properties, the tiny duplex is a win–win, as well. Not only will the company be able to create affordable housing for an increased number of families, but its revenue stream for the lot, which for a regular-sized home would have come to roughly US$1,200 a month, jumps to US$1,800 a month, an increase of 50 percent.

Landy’s ultimate ambition, however, is to see the company his father started in 1968 with just a single community go national.

“We know there is a national need for what we do,” he enthuses. “And what we do is manufactured home communities with homes for sale or rent, providing quality, affordable housing.”