MAY 7, 2012

 

TO:                 MHARR MANUFACTURERS

                        MHARR TECHNICAL REVIEW GROUP (TRG)

FROM:           MHARR

RE:                 HUD TRIES SHORTCUT ON WOOD DESIGN VALUES

Attached for your review and information are copies of an April 26, 2012 letter (with attachments) sent by HUD Acting General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing – Acting Deputy Federal Housing Commissioner, Ronald Y. Spraker, to all Primary Inspection Agencies regarding a March 2012 addendum to the National Design Values for Wood Construction (NDS Addendum), as well as a May 7, 2012 MHARR communication to HUD on this matter.

In the April 26, 2012 letter, HUD unilaterally announces that effective June 1, 2012, the significantly increased design values of the NDS Addendum for Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) will become a mandatory part of the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards as an update to an incorporated reference standard.  MHARR, in its reply, requests that any action to implement the NDS Addendum be delayed for at least six months, or longer, pending full Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) review and formal notice and comment procedures under the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000.

As the self-explanatory MHARR response makes clear, there are compelling legal and factual reasons for HUD to withdraw this ruling and defer further action pending full compliance with all of the procedural safeguards of the 2000 law.

First, as MHARR emphasizes, the 2000 law procedure for all new standards requires: (1) MHCC consensus review; (2) notice and comment rulemaking; (3) adoption via an “order” by the Secretary; and (4) an effective date not sooner than 180 days after the issuance of that “order,” and makes no distinction between reference standards or any other kind of proposed standard.

Thus, there is no valid legal basis for the attempted implementation of a new standard (or regulation) via an informal letter issued to one or more PIA – as MHARR has consistently maintained in connection with HUD’s effort to implement expanded in-plant regulation without complying with all the procedural safeguards of the 2000 law.  Indeed, it is partly out of concern that implementation of expanded in-plant regulation could create a precedent for similar abuses elsewhere within the program, that MHARR has aggressively pressed HUD for full compliance with letter and intent of the 2000 law in connection with that issue.

Second, as a practical matter, MHARR stresses that irrespective of the statutory 180-day minimum waiting period or other applicable procedures, it is simply unrealistic to expect that manufacturers will be able to re-evaluate, re-test and re-certify all affected designs within a less than 30-day period, subject to enforcement action and potential penalties for failure to comply as of June 1, 2012.

Accordingly, MHARR letter requests that HUD defer any action on this matter pending full MHCC review  and rulemaking as required by the 2000 law – or, at a minimum, a delay of at least six months prior to the implementation of any new values required by the NDS Addendum.

MHARR will keep you updated on this matter as new developments unfold.

cc:  Other Interested HUD Code Industry Manufacturers

Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform
1331 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Suite 508
Washington, D.C. 20004
Phone: 202/783-4087
Fax: 202/783-4075
Email: MHARRDG@AOL.COM