Last year, 102,700 manufactured homes were built in the U.S. That’s only about a third of the 300,000 manufactured homes the country averaged every year from the 1970s through the 1990s, according to the latest Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies’ State of the Nation’s Housing report. Even as cities and counties scramble to find affordable housing amid a national shortage, the traditionally low-cost manufactured home has been stifled due in part to a longstanding rule that experts say drives up the cost of their construction: the requirement that manufactured housing be built on permanent chassis. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s requirement of a permanent chassis, a 10- to 12-inch metal frame that enables a mobile or manufactured home to be transported, dates back to the 1970s and has gotten renewed attention from lawmakers seeking to boost affordable housing options. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act, passed by Congress on Tuesday, eliminates the requirement. “It makes it easier and cheaper to build new manufactured housing by removing outdated chassis requirements, and brings down the cost of a new unit by up to $10,000,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said ahead of the bill’s passage earlier this month. The clock is now ticking on whether President Donald Trump will sign the legislation or veto it, or take no action at all. Beginning at midnight on the closing day of presentment, the president has 10 days, excluding Sundays, to sign or veto the bill. If the bill is signed in that 10-day period, it becomes law. If the president declines to either sign or veto it, it becomes law without his signature, except when Congress has adjourned under certain circumstances. Both the House and Senate, meanwhile, are nearing recesses that could extend until mid-July, Politico reported. HUD is also