Manufactured housing puts homeownership within reach for many who otherwise could only afford to rent their own living space. And now, recession-driven incentives make this housing option even more attractive.

This spring, Knoxville, Tenn.-based Clayton Homes promised manufactured home buyers who purchase before June 30 that should they lose their jobs within 24 months, Clayton will pay three months in mortgage costs.

The company owns four retail sites in Utah. In the Salt Lake City area, the new models range in price from $45,000 to $175,000, said Chris Nicely, Clayton's vice president of marketing. Some boast two levels and up to 3,100 square feet of living space.

The company's offer has boosted consumer confidence, Nicely noted.

"We have not seen an increase in sales," he said. "But we have seen less anxiety by those who have already decided to purchase."

The deal gets sweeter for first-time home buyers who qualify to tap an $8,000 federal tax credit if they purchase by Dec. 1. New homes planted on the buyer's own ground could also qualify for a $6,000 state credit.

Low-income advocates applaud these incentives as a signal that attitudes toward factory-built housing are changing.

"It tells us that manufactured homes count as housing for people," said Francisca Blanc, policy analyst for the Utah Housing Coalition.

The industry, however, still has hurdles to clear.

Many of the structures are erected in parks that can change ownership -- and use -- at any time. And most lending institutions still view these not-so-mobile homes as vehicles that depreciate.

In recent years, a spate of Utah mobile home parks have shut down as the land was sold off to developers. Under state law, residents had few rights and few options.

Information on one Web site, www.mobilehomeparkstore.com/articles/how-to-make-money-in-the-mobile-home-park-business.htm, encourages mobile home park owners to raise space rents at least 10 percent every year.

"Push rents. Relentlessly. There is no better way to make money in the mobile home park business than to increase rents," touted the article.

This practice often equates to financial eviction, said Steve Anderson, president of the Utah Mobile Homeowners Action Group.

"It's a real occurrence, where they raise the rents so high that people end up walking away" -- often becoming subsidized renters, Anderson said.

Anderson, a transplant from California, is pushing for state legislation to give manufactured homeowners the chance to cooperatively purchase their communities when owners want to sell.

Such a measure failed to even get a bill number in this year's legislative session because of an outcry from park owners who oppose any restrictions on their ability to buy and sell.

And park closures continue to loom on the horizon.

"Several development projects threaten multiple mobile home communities throughout the Salt Lake Valley," said Melinda Gurr, mobile home issues coordinator for the Salt Lake Community Action Program.

"People are unable to move their homes and it can be a very predatory industry," Gurr added. "The good operators are rare."

West Valley City recently purchased the 16-unit Granger Mobile Home Park for part of their city center redevelopment project.

Gurr credits WVC officials with "doing it right" -- by being forthright with residents, paying all relocation costs and allowing ample time to move. Large parks, selling to private developers, might lack that capability.

A few Utah parks are already on their way to being resident-owned, said Mark Lundgren, director of Utah Resident Owned Communities (UROC).

"There's definitely a trend among manufactured home owners to safeguard their investments," Lundgren said. "And there is financing for residents to purchase their parks, I'm happy to say."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com