Industry news
HUD proposed dropping chassis on upper floors. That is not ROAD, and it is not modular.
HUD’s June proposal would let upper stories of a multi-story HUD-code home skip a permanent chassis. Comments closed Aug. 11. It is still a proposed rule, and it is not the ROAD statute Prefably already covered.
Two federal documents are circulating as “HUD dropped the chassis.” They are not the same.
The first is Public Law 119-101, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. That statute, and what still has to happen at HUD and in the states, is in Prefably’s ROAD note. Manufactured homes stay HUD-code. Modular homes stay on state and local codes. ROAD does not turn one into the other.
The second is a June 12, 2026 HUD proposed rule in the Federal Register. It would change the definition of a manufactured home so a transportable section used as an upper floor would not need to be built or hauled on a permanent chassis. The lowest level still would. HUD’s own summary frames it as a multi-story HUD-code change. Comments were due Aug. 11, 2026. It is not a final rule.
What the proposal actually covers
HUD says the statute requires the finished structure to sit on a permanent chassis, not necessarily every box that leaves the plant. The Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee told HUD to keep the chassis on the lowest floor, according to the Federal Register notice.
HUD cites manufacturer estimates that a chassis on upper floors adds thousands of dollars per home. In one place it uses about $4,800 to $6,700 for consumers; nearby it also cites $3,300 to $4,600 in production costs and $4,776 to $6,672 for consumers. Those are HUD-reported ranges, not a Prefably price. Do not put any of them on a listing.
The same notice says modular manufacturers and a modular association told the committee they opposed draft language because HUD-code homes and modular (local-code) homes could start to look alike. HUD adds that none of those modular commenters were in the room. That objection is the point for Prefably readers: a HUD-code multi-story box without an upper chassis is still a manufactured home. It is not modular.
What closed this month
On Aug. 13, the SBA Office of Advocacy posted that it supports the upper-story proposal. It also told HUD to go further, writing that “federal law permits manufactured homes to be built with or without a permanent chassis” and that HUD should align regulations with that standard. That sentence is about the broader ROAD statute, not about this narrower NPRM.
If a salesperson says HUD already made chassis-free HUD-code homes finance like modular, ask which document they mean: this proposed multi-story rule (not final) or ROAD Section 301 (statute, with HUD standards and state certification still in front of it). Then read Prefab vs modular and FHA modular home loans before you deposit.