Stating the obvious can bring clarity.
There’s a well-documented affordable housing crisis.
The most proven form of affordable housing in U.S. history are HUD Code manufactured homes.
Manufactured homes has attracted bipartisan support.
Despite the stigma, there are decades of third-party research debunking the common concerns.
Satisfaction with manufactured homes are high, but there is increasingly less interest in them. Why?
There are specific good aspects of laws on the federal books that would make manufactured housing more widely available.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson has done more than any of his peers at HUD in the 21st century to promote a balanced understanding of HUD Code manufactured homes and their acceptance.
So why is manufactured housing struggling for traction?
Hold that thought as this focused report examines a document from the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) that reflects a historic pivot by the Arlington, VA based trade group.
That item, per an informed source with ties to MHI, used to be publicly available on their website. But today, not only is it missing, so too are several others. Why? If they deemed it worth sharing publicly before, why is it now either removed or hidden behind a login?
First, let’s look at key pull quotes from a 3-page document reduced to less than 1 that are of keen interest.
Take it a step further. Here is an article by MHI’s former media relations professional, Bruce Savage. Note that it ends on a note of collegiality between MHARR and MHI.
Questions, Questions…
So, what explains:
- the fact that MHI once promoted “enhanced preemption” from their own website and now those words can’t even be found on their website?
- How to explain that MHI once promoted the obvious notion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be doing lending on all manufactured homes – while in recent years, MHI’s pivoted to pushing lending focus more on a so-called new class of homes? Or on commercial real estate that per residents has often resulted in an inversion of affordability for residents?
- How to explain that HUD was initially implementing “enhanced preemption,” but has since been largely dormant on the issue – unless they’ve been pushed into it?
- How to explain that FHFA has tolerated the spinning on its head the Duty to Serve (DTS) manufactured housing by the GSEs that are mandated by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) law?
Despite promises in recent years that they were promoting manufactured housing and that they had momentum, what reality reveals is that MHI has arguably postured without delivering the promised results. Is it coincidence or part of a plan that manufactured housing is underperforming during an affordable housing crisis?
Instead of doing what is normal for a business, sports team, or other enterprise – i.e.: pivot after proven failures – MHI has instead doubled down. That begs the question, who benefits from that pattern?
Bringing Wider Attention to Industry Issues
Under the News tab in Google at 12.18.2019 are the following 9 linked articles that provide a 200 word executive summary that provide strong clues. Pick one, check it out. Pass it on.
Search Results
Jacksonville, FL – The Florida Times-Union
Letter: Protecting Warren Buffett’s castle and moat vision
1 day ago – 12.17.2019
Letter: Protecting Warren Buffett’s castle and moat vision
1 day ago – 12.17.2019
Letter: Protecting Warren Buffett’s castle and moat vision
1 day ago – 12.17.2019
Letter: Protecting Warren Buffett’s castle and moat vision
1 day ago – 12.17.2019
Letter: Protecting Warren Buffett’s castle and moat vision
1 day ago – 12.17.2019
Keep in mind that our vision at MHProNews is that the apparent problems, properly understood, are opportunities in disguise.
Why did MHI pivot sometime after 2003? Ask them. But don’t expect a prompt answer. If you get an answer, forward it to us. We’ll unpack it together.
That’s a wrap on your Thursday installment of the manufactured housing trade media’s #1 source for “Industry News, Tips, and Views Pros Can Use,” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © (News, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary.)
Submitted by Soheyla Kovach for MHProNews.com.Soheyla is a co-founder and managing member of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. Connect with us on LinkedIn here and here.
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