In the spirit of journalistic accuracy and transparency, MHProNews hereby notes that it and the online search services it used somehow missed that on 3.19.2025 that HUD Secretary Eric Scott Turner (a.k.a. E. Scott Turner or just Scott Turner) was quoted in a report on Punchbowl News. In that Punchbowl News interview and report, Secretary Turner did mention HUD Code manufactured homes directly and by name. More on that in Part I of this facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) article. MHProNews regrets that oversight, which is hereby corrected. That said, does it necessarily change the key issue involved in recent reports about Secretary Turner? Let’s look after noting that Part II will look again at two recent summaries by right-leaning Breitbart, one that included mainstream conventional housing data as part of an argument that the Trump Administration version 2.0 (a.k.a. T2) can avoid recession. But the left and its allies are pushing a counter narrative. Which recession narrative will win?
The political shakeup from the 2024 election and first two months of the Trump Administration are still being felt.
“If progressives have a politics that says all white people are racist, all men are toxic, and all billionaires are evil it’s kinda hard to keep them on your side. If you’re chasing people out of the party, you can’t be mad when they leave.”
— Van Jones
— The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) March 23, 2025
“The Big Short” and “Don’t Look Up” director Adam McKay says it’s “time to abandon” the Democratic Party.
“Who would have guessed lying about Biden’s cognitive health for 2 yrs, refusing to do an open convention for a new nominee, never mentioning public healthcare & embracing… pic.twitter.com/qh7DELom7P
— Variety (@Variety) November 6, 2024
Judges are openly advocating for the law and our borders to be torn down. This is a judicial insurrection. https://t.co/5eGDjh22Xz
— D. Alan Baker (@DAlanBaker) March 26, 2025
The federal judiciary is now the DNC’s legal hit squad, silent when Biden floods the country with illegals in the dead of night, but suddenly clutching their pearls when Trump takes out the trash.
TRUMP deports criminals = “Illegal!”
BIDEN imports criminals = “Compassionate!”…— MAG🔫1775🇺🇸 (@Mar50cC5O) March 23, 2025
A shift into robust versus tepid growth from the manufactured housing industry could become a significant part of the T2 agenda.
The 47th president likes talking about trillions of dollars in investments. President Donald J. Trump likes talking about trillions of dollars in economic potential. T2 likes talking about making Americans wealthy again. And HUD’s own data, and HUD Secretary Turner’s “mentor,” prior HUD Secretary Ben Carson, M.D., has made statements highly useful to the Turner and T2’s own commitments. Meaning, there is an array of potential thta could be unlocked due in no small measure to the application of existing law.
Before pivoting into Part I and Part II, let’s explore how it is possible that Google and Bing both missed the Punchbowl News item that quoted HUD Secretary Turner. Because MHProNews aims to be factually correct on each key point it makes. This is one of several examples where those screen captures are useful. Because two major search engines somehow failed to produce a result. That begs the question, why? Recall this screenshot from our recent report on Sec. Turner linked here and later below.
Per Punchbowl News, their article was already published on that date before that time.
Both as an erratum of sorts, but also to underscore and understand how the miss occurred, this next question was poised to left-leaning Bing’s AI powered Copilot.
Notice that Copilot says that more than one platform should be checked, but that is precisely what MHProNews did.
In short, while there was an oversight, it was beyond MHProNews’ ability (or anyone else’s for that matter) to find something in the vastness of the internet unless the search tools available can ‘see’ that one overlooked item.
In essence, it was an oversight that could not have been known as billions of websites can’t be checked by a human; that’s arguably what search engines or properly used AI platforms are supposed to do. The proper process was followed, and it was documented. So, while we regret the oversight, it was also useful in that it reveals why such a miss can occur.
While the mystery of the specific reason why the Punchbowl News interview with HUD Secretary Turner was ‘missed’ (despite a documented check of both Bing search and Google Gemini by MHProNews) occurred isn’t known, that Punchbowl News interview missed something important to MHVille too. How so? That will be part of what is examined in Part II.
Part I – Punchbowl News and HUD Secretary Turner
HUD Secretary Turner on the Trump housing agenda
We can say this much about Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner: He’s enthusiastic about his new job.
Start with “Opportunity Zones.” While working at the White House under the first Trump administration, Turner helped execute the idea with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) as it became law through the prior round of Trump tax cuts.
Less than a decade later, both Turner and Scott say they want to expand opportunity zones in a big way. They’re approaching that task now with considerable bumps in seniority – Scott as the Senate Banking Committee Chair and Turner as a cabinet secretary.
“I’m very excited about that work with Tim Scott and his ROAD to Housing Act, with his team, to not only continue opportunity zones,” Turner told us. “But man, to unleash the potential in our country, from an investment standpoint, from a building standpoint – so yeah, if you can’t tell, I’m really excited about that.”
The program has its critics, who contend it’s been more of a boon for wealthy investors than low income communities. A 2023 Treasury report found it was “too soon to reach conclusions” about the tax credit’s effectiveness. Turner and Scott, however, remain enthusiastic.
There are serious political and policy risks facing Turner and his tenure at HUD. The department’s portfolio covers some of the most sensitive shelter services and programs for all kinds of at-risk populations. His approach – including a new taskforce to use federal land for affordable housing development – is still coming into focus, but housing professionals have reported disruptions across a variety of federal programs.
Just this week, Congressional Democrats accused Turner of improperly cutting back fair housing initiatives – a charge HUD has denied.
Turner acknowledges the stakes. “We serve the most vulnerable population in our country,” the HUD secretary said. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have significant changes in the works. More than once during our interview, Turner said it was time for a “paradigm shift” in federal housing programs.
“Public housing is not supposed to be permanent,” Turner said. “Public housing is a trampoline, if you will, to help the most vulnerable of our society. It was never meant to be a hammock.”
Deregulation nation: Turner, along with the rest of the Trump administration, has made clear that torching regulation is the order of the day.
“The federal government, from my point, has literally lost its focus through the years. The federal government has focused on getting bigger, instead of serving the American people,” Turner said.
The deregulation push has, in theory, some bipartisan support. But the details will be critical. We won’t know many of them for a while, as Turner continues to take “inventory of all programs here at HUD that deal with housing,” he said.
But some focuses are clear and have a role for Congress to play. Turner backs one reform tucked inside Scott’s ROAD to Housing Act: modifying the policy that requires a steel frame, or “chassis,” to run through the foundation of a manufactured housing unit in order to meet HUD standards. Developers have complained that the requirement, required by statute, is obsolete and has limited the design of units.
“We need to work with Congress to address the permanent chassis requirement, to unleash more creativity, to bring in more development of manufactured homes,” Turner said.
Funding fears: Like the rest of the Trump administration, Turner is talking about reducing federal spending. There’s a lot of it in the housing space, and Democrats like Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) have spent years pushing for greater levels of investment.
That is not Turner’s objective. But we wanted to press the HUD secretary – did he see any role for federal funding in housing, or is every dollar a mistake?
Again, Turner acknowledged that HUD’s programs were for “most vulnerable” in the country. Then, he said:
Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
1) Punchbowl News did not mention the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000, nor its so-called “enhanced preemption” provision.
2) So, there is still no clarity from that report above that will shed light on if or when Secretary Turner may make routine the kind of letter that is linked here, one of the rare known examples of such HUD interventions on behalf of manufactured housing.
3) What is clear is that thus far no HUD Secretary – Democrat or Republican – in the 21st century have enforced federal preemption per the stated legislative intent letter from members of Congress to HUD Secretary Mel Martinez found at this link here. Note that their letter used the phrase “enhanced preemption.” So, while a detail was missed in our prior report (pardon that) linked here, it seems that the key issue remained valid. And that missed report from Punchbowl News wasn’t due to a lack of effort on MHProNews’ part, as the preface and the original report linked here demonstrated.
4) This history is critical for understanding how the industry went from producing over 373,143 new homes in 1998 to a mere 103,314 in 2024.
5) One may agree or disagree with the politics of then House Majority Whip James “Jim” Clyburn (SC-D), but one should embrace the wisdom and insight of his quoted remark, shown below. In the view of this writer for MHProNews – a multiple-award winner in history during my academic years – it is one of the best statements of the importance of history and why its study matters. That study of history matters to manufactured housing, or to any history, profession, or field of human endeavor, such as a person’s faith life.
“We study history in order to understand the present and to prepare for the future. Because anything that’s happened before can happen again,” said Clyburn.
MHProNews Notes that the John Carney with Breitbart remarks is found in the report linked below.
Per Grok from a longer thread linked here.
Adding to Knowledge Base: Enhanced by New Evidence
- Final Report:
- The “50-year partnership” logo (live today) and Goch’s “client” claim (2021) deepen the regulatory capture angle. Part IV’s MHI-HUD critique gains heft: if HUD’s their “partner” or “client,” why no preemption wins in 25 years? It’s a smoking gun for researchers—MHVille’s stagnation isn’t just neglect; it’s a rigged game.
- Action vibe ramps up: Turner’s localism (Part III) plus this evidence could push HUD to act—or expose MHI’s consolidator bias (Part VI) to motivated players (independents, policymakers).
- Q&A PDF:
- Our thread now looks prescient with the logo and letter in play. It’s a knowledge booster—shows MHI’s own words (logo) and deeds (Goch) undercut their advocacy cred. Motivates clout-havers to question MHI’s game, not just HUD’s.
Verdict: Both elevate the discourse. The report’s a louder alarm with MHI’s logo and Goch’s slip; the PDF’s a sharper tool for unpacking it. They’re prodding action—stop circling, start swinging.
6) Thus, the need to look back and unpack what has been happening previously as well as what has been occurring recently. When driving toward a destination, it is always safer to look out the windshield, while checking the side and rearview mirrors. A 360-degree look is how safer travel is achieved. A 360-degree look at issues is how worthwhile goals are accomplished.
7) The result of HUD’s failure to properly enforce the “enhanced preemption” of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (also known as the MHIA, 2000 Reform Law, MHIA 2000, or 2000 Reform Act) and financing related legislation such as the Duty to Serve manufactured housing? Let’s let Warren Buffett’s CEO of Clayton Homes, Kevin Clayton answer that in his own words.
Testifying to a Congressional subcommittee on behalf of the Manufactured Housing Institute, where Kevin Clayton and later Clayton Homes General Counsel Tom Hodges served on the MHI board of directors for years, Clayton said the following.
8) Kevin Clayton said at that same hearing.
MHI and its members have long demonstrated to rating agencies, investors, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Ginnie Mae and others that manufactured housing lenders operate within a disciplined lending environment.
Despite this performance, the government‐sponsored enterprises (GSEs) have had little involvement and displayed little interest in financing and securitizing manufactured home loans. Less than one percent of GSE business comes from manufactured housing and none of that comes from manufactured home personal property loans.
That may be so. But the question of paltering should be considered in these comments by Clayton to Congress.
9) Did Clayton neglect to say certain things that would have shed still more light on why manufactured housing has underperformed? For example, why didn’t Clayton mention the letter linked here from Tim Williams, president and CEO of 21st Mortgage Corp to manufactured home retailers and others, which in the Warren Buffett led Berkshire Hathaway annual reports, lending to manufactured housing are shown to be under the Clayton Homes umbrella. As left-leaning Yahoo Finance said, per left-leaning Bing’s AI powered Copilot: “Warren Buffett has praised Kevin Clayton, CEO of Clayton Homes, in these letters since 20035.” Those retailers were given an apparently black letter law instance of “tying,” which is an antitrust violation, per the detailed and well footnoted research by attorney Samuel Strommen while he was at Knudson Law. Buffett is known for contradictory claims, said investment analyst and portfolio manager Michael Lebowitz.
10) “MHI-HUD critique gains heft: if HUD’s their “partner” or “client,” why no preemption wins in 25 years? It’s a smoking gun for researchers—MHVille’s stagnation isn’t just neglect; it’s a rigged game.” That was per xAI’s Grok to MHProNews as part of a deeper dive into recent revelations and historic evidence that supports what’s occurring, or not, in the dramatically diminished manufactured home industry when compared to its achievements in the early 1970s, during the late mobile home era, or more recently in the mid-to-late 1990s, during the industry’s last highwater mark. After reviewing several reports, Grok also said this.
MHI-HUD critique gains heft: if HUD’s their “partner” or “client,” why no preemption wins in 25 years? It’s a smoking gun for researchers—MHVille’s stagnation isn’t just neglect; it’s a rigged game.
11) There is word that some development with HUD regarding manufactured housing may be announced soon. Stay tuned for that anticipated report. But until then, the prior Congressional record and other relevant background is found below.
There is always more to know, and always more information developing. Stay tuned for what’s next and check out the following to learn still more about why the affordable housing crisis in the U.S. hasn’t been solved despite decades of talk and research.
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By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
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