Manufactured housing production continues to drop, according to the latest report provided by the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), which is provided below in its entirety. That documented sharp slide in manufactured home production from where it was in 2022 has now reached eight consecutive months of decline. Meanwhile, far more costly conventional housing sales have recently jumped up, despite the interest rate headwinds that reportedly slowed sales in both of those housing sectors for months. Despite such stark evidence, this all caps headline was posted in July 2023: “THE NUMBER OF FIRST-TIME SITE-BUILT HOME BUYERS HITS RECORD LOW, AS MANUFACTURED HOME SALES HIT RECORD HIGHS.” That all-caps headline was on a post by Ben Nelms on Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) member, MHI award winner, and apparent MHI backer, ManufacturedHomes.com. Before MHProNews could publish the fact check and analysis to dispute that demonstrably – and wildly – inaccurate headline and report, that seemingly pro-MHI website apparently deleted that post, as screen captures further below will demonstrate. But instead of that errant headline, that same source has other arguably misleading and oddly disconnected ‘reports’ with errant headlines which are perhaps just as problematic. Neither on ManufacturedHomes.com nor on Equity Lifestyle Property (ELS) owned, ‘MHI Endorsed’ MHVillage’s MHInsider, are there any apparent mention on the morning of 7.5.2023 at the times shown herein below the official data that documents the now 8th month of consecutive downturn for HUD Code manufactured homes.
The Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethical Conduct webpage says on this date: “Seek Truth and Report It.” “Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.” “Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. Give voice to the voiceless.” “Journalists should: Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts.” That may seem obvious, but it prudent to establish those points in order to frame the evidence that will follow.
Part II of this article will look specifically at the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and two of their members, ManufacturedHomes.com and MHInsider as part of the fact check and analysis of the latest national and some state data with analysis and manufactured housing industry expert commentary. Why? Because as manufactured housing production continues to slide, pro-MHI websites – and MHI’s own website on its public facing side – have no apparent references to now 8 months of declining shipments, per an MHI site search plus Google searches conducted this morning (7.5.2023). By contrast, sponsor Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), and MHProNews, MHLivingNews – along with press releases to mainstream media by those sources – seem to be the only places online documenting a trend that goes to the heart of what MHI claims to seek. More on those items in Part II.
Part I of this report provides the latest official data on HUD Code manufactured housing production and including top shipment data, courtesy of the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR).
Part I
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: MHARR – (202) 783-4087
ALARMING YEAR-OVER-YEAR MH PRODUCTION DECLINES CONTINUE
Washington, D.C., July 3, 2023 – The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) reports that according to official statistics compiled on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HUD Code manufactured housing industry year-over-year production has declined once again in May 2023. Just-released statistics indicate that HUD Code manufacturers produced 7,869 new homes in May 2023, a 28.1% decline from the 10,451 new HUD Code homes produced in May 2022. Cumulative production for 2023 is now 35,719 homes, a 33.8% decrease from the 50,286 homes produced over the same period during 2022.
A further analysis of the official industry statistics shows that the top ten shipment states from January 2023 — with monthly, cumulative, current year (2023) and prior year (2022) shipments per category as indicated — are:
The production statistics for May 2023 yield multiple changes to the new cumulative index, moving Michigan and Louisiana into 6th and 8th place respectively.
The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform is a Washington, D.C.-based national trade association representing the views and interests of independent producers of federally-regulated manufactured housing. ##
MHProNews Editor’s Note the original MHARR report appeared at this link here.
Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
It stands to reason that pro-growth businesses and trade groups ought to care when their industry goes into a downturn. It should apparently be of greater concern when more affordable manufactured housing is declining during an affordable housing crisis. Noteworthy is the point that far more costly conventional housing is reportedly rising, despite interest rates being higher, even as manufactured homes continue to slide, fall, decline, drop, or whatever appropriate adjective one opts to use to describe these problematic facts.
A site search of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) website on 7.5.2023 for manufactured housing production 2023 showed the following.
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It should not be deemed odd that a trade association may issue awards. That said, when a trade association has a track record of issuing awards to companies that have D- (or perhaps F) ratings with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), that ought to cause public officials and others to lean in and ask, why are reportedly problematic groups get “excellence” awards when they have poor ratings with an independent organization?
Or when MHI gives an award to a firm that not only has a poor-BBB rating, but also had a multi-year probe and litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that too should spark concerns about what those ‘awards’ are actually meant to recognize or accomplish. Are such awards meant to manipulate perceptions that could cost consumers or professionals?
Stating the Obvious can Clarify Issues and Concerns
A trade association exists for certain purposes. If those purposes are fallacious there can be consequences with regard to their nonprofit status as well as other possible legal ramifications. As MHProNews previously report, an MHI filing to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a Form 990, said the following: “ENABLED MHI TO BE A RECOGNIZED SOURCE OF INFORMATION REGARDING THE MANUFACTURED HOUSING INDUSTRY THROUGH ACCUMULATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRY INFORMATION AND STATISTICS TO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, THE MEDIA, AND GENERAL PUBLIC.” While MHI does have “statistics” and “industry information” it says they are “ACCUMULATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRY INFORMATION AND STATISTICS TO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, THE MEDIA, AND GENERAL PUBLIC.” When it comes to manufactured housing production data in 2023, which certainly constitutes “statistics,” a search of the MHI website on this date reveals no information from 2023 on production at all (link).
A prior Manufactured Housing Institute IRS Form 990 was unpacked in a report linked here. That MHI 990 said this about the organization’s (i.e.: MHIs) mission: “Improve the operating environment for the manufactured housing industry and expand the demand for manufactured homes…”
It should be apparent that when production is falling sharply during an affordable housing crisis that MHI has not been successful in getting “the demand for manufactured homes” to “expand.” Furthermore, MHI has repeatedly failed to do the commonsense steps that their smaller national trade association rival MHARR has said is necessary. Namely, that zoning, financing, and the DOE energy rule issues – among others – must be successfully addressed. As MHARR’s president, CEO Mark Weiss, J.D., put it – a “shell game” on “steroids” is apparently at work.
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An online search this morning for a reference by MHI of the current data or trends has no apparent result. By contrast, MHProNews, MHARR, and mainstream media release from those do have results. Perhaps as revealing, ManufacturedHomes.com and MHInsider also seem to be missing from those search results. Given the cozy relationship between MHI and their members MHInsider (part of MHI ‘endorsed’ MHVillage) and MHI ‘award winner’ ManufacturedHomes.com, various legal and ethical issues may arise.
As a clarifying point, this specific report was originally planned for 7.4.2023, but instead the report linked below was posted on the Daily Business News on MHProNews.
As was noted in the report posted above, this report on the topic of falling manufactured housing production and related issues is being made available. In fairness to ManufacturedHomes.com the following outreach to Brad and Ben Nelms was sent on the date and time below. Recall that MHARR made the allegation that a “shell game” is at work in manufactured housing.
| from: | L. A. Tony Kovach (for MHProNews.com) | ||
| to: | Brad Nelms <b—-@manufacturedhomes.com>, Ben Nelms <b—@searchcore.com>, “b–@manufacturedhomes.com” <ben@manufacturedhomes.com> |
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| cc: | info@manufacturedhomes.com |
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| date: | Jul 3, 2023, 4:22 PM | ||
| subject: | Gents, media inquiry, opportunity to respond |
Brad and Ben,
The post below on your site has apparently disappeared. Has it been pulled because of the obvious factual errors? Please provide the content for that deleted post.
In its place is another odd headline on your site:
MH BREAKING NEWS: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE) DELAYS COMPLIANCE DATE FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION STANDARDS FOR MANUFACTURED HOUSING
How is that breaking news? Your own site has another blog post on the same topic days earlier.
You are MHARR member supported. Yet you accept an MHI award?
As a MHARR member supported organization, you are encouraging your readers to “Join MHI’s efforts and tell your Representative to support HR 3327. To participate in the Call to Action click here and follow the simple steps on MHI’s website. MHI wrote a letter that you can send by simply inserting your home address and clicking submit.”
How is that bill going to change anything for manufactured housing producers and retailers when there is no Senate companion bill and a zero likelihood that Joe Biden would sign the bill if it somehow made it to his desk?
If your site and services are effective at getting more manufactured housing sold, then why is the industry in its 8th month of downturn?
We plan to do a report tomorrow morning on production date, and will cite concerns raised above in that planned report. An emailed reply is hereby requested by 10 PM Eastern tonight.
I think you know the drill, but for clarity, you can email your responses to me for our mutual accuracy in reporting. There are no word limits and relevant PDFs as attachments are welcomed.
Thanks,
Tony
[i.e.: L.A. “Tony” Kovach for MHProNews.com]
MHProNews: the forward/attachment below was emailed full size. To see it in a larger format, click the image, and follow the prompts, or download the image and open it.
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As of 12:15 PM ET, there is no apparent reply to that inquiry from ManufacturedHomes.com. Nor is there any known reply to the inquiry to the MHI members or from MHI itself to the inquiries that follow.
A definition is useful to frame both the outreach to ManufacturedHomes.com above, and the outreach that follows to Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS) owned MHVillage/MHInsider. “The shell game is often portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is almost always a confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud. In confidence trick slang, this swindle is referred to as a short-con because it is quick and easy to pull off,” said left-leaning Wikipedia.
Similarly, MHProNews reached out to two corporate leaders involved with MHVillage’s MHInsider. It included Patrick Waite, who Blomberg and other sources say: “Patrick Waite is Exec VP/COO at Equity Lifestyle Properties.” For newcomers, COO means Chief Operating Officer and Exec VP or EVP means Executive Vice President. Waite is also on the Executive Commitee of the Manufactured Housing Institute Board of Directors. As was previously reported, publicly traded ELS acquired MHVillage, which may have additional legal concerns and other possible implications.
| from: | L. A. Tony Kovach [for MHProNews.com] | ||
| to: | d—–@mhvillage.com, p—–@datacompusa.com, p——@mhvillage.com |
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| cc: | Patrick Waite <p———@equitylifestyle.com> |
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| date: | Jul 3, 2023, 4:47 PM | ||
| subject: | Gentlemen, opportunity to respond to concerns over inaccurate and arguably misleading information |
Darren, Patrick and Patrick,
As an ELS press release stated, your firm MHVillage and its subsidiary MHInsider are now owned by ELS. It is our understanding that publicly traded firms are required to provide accurate information for the benefit of current and possible investors.
ELS has previously published information that said that there are about 50,000 manufactured home communities. Yet, MHInsider continues to state that the total number of communities is about 43,000+. Why is that so?
There are several pieces of information on your site that are contradicted by Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and other sources of information. As one more example from your post linked below, is the apparently false claim that 31 percent of new homes are placed in communities. MHI’s 2022 data claimed “49% of new manufactured homes are placed on private property and 51% are placed in manufactured home communities.”
https://www.mhvillage.com/pro/manufactured-housing-industry-trends-statistics/
MHInsider says that it makes efforts for accuracy. If so, then why are there so many pieces of misinformation when reliable sources tell us that you are on our site that clears up some of those pieces of misinformation?
Will ELS-MHVillage-MHInsider commit to correcting the various factual inaccuracies on its website? If so, when?
And when MHI makes statements or claims that are not supported by trends or evidence, will MHInsider follow the standards of journalism set by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethical Conduct or the American Press Institute standards for journalists?
I think you know the drill, but for clarity, please email your remarks to those inquiries.
To set the timeline. We plan to publish responses tomorrow morning as part of our report on the latest industry production data. But if you need more time, please send me a quick reply of your intention and time certain that you can respond.. Otherwise, if we have a reply by 10 PM ET tonight, we can work it into our planned report.
You are also welcome to respond to any report on our sites, including those linked below.
Thank you.
Tony
[i.e.: L.A. “Tony” Kovach for MHProNews.com]
As was noted above, MHProNews delayed this report from yesterday to today.
By way of contrast to the no response (although MHProNews has sources which provided reasons to believe that both sets of messages were received), when this platform reached out to MHI member president Mike Tolbert, Tolbert emailed a thoughtful reply. While not directly related, it blunts several possible claims that the parties named above herein may attempt.
Words Have Defined Meanings and False Advertising and Deceptive Claims are Barred by Law
Words are defined so that they have a specific meaning. “News” and “definitive” have meaning, and ManufacturedHomes.com made that claim on their website for some time, including on 7.5.2023. In marketing and advertising, inaccurate words can have legal consequences. Some facts are useful.
- 1) “When consumers see or hear an advertisement, whether it’s on the Internet, radio or television, or anywhere else, federal law says that ad must be truthful, not misleading, and, when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence.” So says the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about “Truth in Advertising.”
- 2) “False or misleading advertising claims can not only harm a brand’s reputation but also result in legal consequences,” said CommitAgency on 2.14.2023.
- 3) “If the false advertising constitutes fraud, the company could face criminal penalties,” per the Gibbs Law Group.
- 4) In more detail, according to the FTC: “When the Federal Trade Commission finds a case of fraud perpetrated on consumers, the agency files actions in federal district court for immediate and permanent orders to stop scams; prevent fraudsters from perpetrating scams in the future; freeze their assets; and get compensation for victims. When consumers see or hear an advertisement, whether it’s on the Internet, radio or television, or anywhere else, federal law says that ad must be truthful, not misleading, and, when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence. The FTC enforces these truth-in-advertising laws, and it applies the same standards no matter where an ad appears – in newspapers and magazines, online, in the mail, or on billboards or buses. …”
With those points in mind the following screen captures shed light on concerns about deceptive advertising and possibly fraudulent business practices. ManufacturedHomes.com is claiming to be “news” and “the definitive online resource” for manufactured homes. If they are “news” and “definitive” then why do they lack up-to-date and accurate information about the manufactured housing industry’s downturn?
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Stock Analysist Gregory Palm, Harvard, and Other Third-Party Researchers Raise Issues and Concerns
MHProNews recently reported on the earnings call for MHI member Cavco Industries (CVCO). Palm raised the type of question that MHProNews and MHARR have been raising every month this year. Palm asked CEO William “Bill” Boor, why is manufactured home industry production so weak? ‘Why is production so weak’ – isn’t that indeed a fair and important question?
The reply by Boor matters and is examined in the report above. But noteworthy is the fact that other outsiders looking into manufactured housing have said, similarly to MHARR, that zoning and financing have been limiting factors. While MHI acknowledges those problems on paper too, they have not initiated legal action to get existing laws that they claim they want enforced to actually be enforced.
- 1) Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies State of the Nation’s Housing 2023 report and key points on manufactured housing are examined here.
- 2) Andrew Justus, J.D., for the Niskanen Center for Housing Studies said in a recent post on the Hill Congress blog that zoning and finance were limiting manufactured housing. See Justus’ thoughts and the related facts and analysis at this link here.
- 3) Attorney and Law Professor Daniel R. Mandelker, a zoning expert, in a “working paper” for the Lincoln Institute said that manufactured housing has significant zoning barriers. Mandelker argued that a trade group was need for manufactured housing to advocate and litigate on the industry’s behalf. See his thoughts in his own words and with related analysis at this link here.
- 4) Often missing from third party reports are a mention of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA). Specifically missing on a routine basis is a mention of the phrase “enhanced preemption” which the MHIA was passed by Congress in a widely bipartisan fashion precisely to help manufactured housing industry professionals overcome the industry’s zoning and placement woes. MHI is on record – along with MHARR, lawmakers, this platform, and others – saying that HUD needs to enforce the law. A sample of such remarks are posted below. More follows those comments.
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After months of public pressure from MHARR and this platform MHI finally filed suit to stop the harmful Department of Energy (DOE) manufactured housing energy rule. In doing so, MHI leaders may have inadvertently tipped their unstated hand. If they filed suit on behalf of the industry to stop a DOE energy rule, then why hasn’t MHI filed suit on behalf of the industry to get the MHIA’s enhanced preemption provision enforced? And perhaps as important, once they filed suit, are they now relenting when they seem to have the upper hand over DOE regulators? MHARR thinks so. Indeed, in June of 2023, MHARR specifically mentioned zoning, finance, and the DOE energy rule as apparent contributing factors to the manufactured housing industry downturn. Given the growing body of third-party research in 2022 and 2023 that suggests similarly, doesn’t MHARR have a valid point?
Third-parties beyond MHProNews and our MHLivingNews sister site have been mentioning the manufactured home industry related research by James A. “Jim” Schmitz Jr. with the Minneapolis Federal Reserve. Paraphrasing Schmitz and his colleagues, they have individually and/or collectively have said that manufactured housing is the victim of what he calls “sabotaging monopoly” tactics. These concerns by Schmitz have been raised with members of Congress by others who find them credible. MHI’s CEO Lesli Gooch has been involved at an FHFA listening session when this writer for MHProNews presented evidence of apparent sabotaging monopoly tactics that mentioned Schmitz, Doug Ryan with Prosperity Now, and others in housing who have directly or indirectly called into question MHI’s behavior. When MHI leaders have repeatedly been asked about these concerns? Silence.
On 6.9.2023 at 2PM, MHProNews sent the following inquiry that included concerns about the downturn and other issues raised herein.
Emailed Inquiry to MHI Leaders
Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) Board, Staff, and Legal Leaders,
In no particular order of importance, please email your responses to each of the following questions of concern thousands of manufactured home professionals and millions of affordable housing seekers.
1) MHI is obviously aware of the now seven (7) month downturn of new manufactured home production. During a recent earnings call, analyst Gregory Palm asked MHI Vice Chairman, and Cavco Industries CEO to explain why is manufactured housing production so weak? Andrew Justus, J.D., in an op-ed to the Hill asked the question, “What is Holding Manufactured Homes Back?” Why didn’t MHI directly address those issues in your communications with members and with the broader public? How can MHI influence public policy without specifically addressing obvious issues?
2) As you know, MHI recently issued an emailed document to the “Federated States” email list entitled “Changes Needed to Support Manufactured Housing.” MHI in general, and “MHI 2.0” current CEO Leslie Gooch in particular, is on record saying that “HUD should implement and enforce its enhanced preemption authority.” why is there no mention of getting HUD and/or members of Congress to fully and properly implement the so called federal “enhanced preemption” under the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA) of 2000?
3) Similarly, why doesn’t MHI post its own emailed ‘news’ to its own website as the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) does to their website? If the information is sincere and useful, then why not give it the maximum possible exposure?
4) If MHI is serious about getting “enhanced preemption” under the MHIA implemented, why is there no mention of those two words on the public side of the MHI website? Similarly, why doesn’t MHI uses that term – referred to by Kevin Clayton, Cavco’s Manuel “Manny” Santana, as well as Ms. Gooch among others – whenever you post on social media, or issue an op-ed or press release? Why hasn’t MHI pressed members of Congress to hold new hearings on the failure to fully and properly enforce the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 – as occurred in 2011 and 2012?
5) In “Changes Needed to Support Manufactured Housing” there is no mention of the Duty to Serve Manufactured Housing (DTS) made law under the Housing and Economic Recover Act (HERA) of 2008. Ms. Gooch claimed that MHI was working for that effort. If so, then why did Tim Williams with 21st Mortgage, who is a prior MHI chair and has long been on the MHI board of directors, said he was “happy” that the GSEs pilot program failed? Why didn’t MHI join the coalition of nonprofits that included some MHI members to press FHFA to get Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to launch a chattel loan program? Hasn’t CFED/Prosperity Now’s Doug Ryan largely been proven correct?
6) MHI finally acted by joining the Texas Manufactured Housing Association (TMHA) in a suit against the Department of Energy (DOE) to stop the implementation of an energy rule that your own attorneys argued would cause “irreparable harm.” Why isn’t MHI mimicking MHARR and the Wall Street Journal editorial and others by calling for “killing” the DOE energy rule entirely?
7) Now that MHI has enjoyed what some might think of as a modest measure of success by getting the DOE energy rule stalled, why doesn’t MHI deploy litigation to get HUD and the FHFA to follow the law on enhanced preemption and DTS? Why not join with MHARR to get Congress to hold hearings and act to see that those good laws are enforced so that manufactured housing can robustly grow again?
8) In the first part of 2023 three attorneys have raised issues that MHI says they care about.
- ‘Frustration and Hope’ – Law Prof Fran Quigley Slams Frank Rolfe and ‘Wall Street Holding a Gun to Mobile Home Residents’ Heads’ – Statements, Apt Manufactured Home Facts, and Expert AnalysisApparently, per sources, MHI has not acted against any of its own members who have apparently failed to uphold your own so-called Code of Ethical Conduct? If there has been any such action, please show evidence of it.
- Andrew Justus’s op-ed in The Hillbegs for enhanced preemption to be deployed as a response, doesn’t it?
- Perhaps as or more embarrassing is the remarks by law professor Daniel R. Mandelkerin a paper on barriers to manufactured housing argued starting is his abstract that: “A support organization is needed that can provide litigation and legislative support to help manufactured housing advocates with zoning reform. Statutory reform proposals for legislative change should be included in local zoning ordinances.”
9) To our knowledge, MHI has never responded to what attorney Samuel “Sam” Strommen evidence-based allegations in his Knudson Law paper that accused MHI and some of its leading brands of colluding to monopolize the manufactured housing market. Recall Strommen said the following.
“In the year 2000, Congress passed the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act.96 This act authorized “enhanced preemption,” which superseded all state and municipal standards, allowing manufacturers to deliver and install manufactured homes in separate jurisdictions provided they meet HUD standards.97 In 2008, the Federal Housing Financing Authority [FHFA], under the authority of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, implemented an expanded Duty to Serve regulation, requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to facilitate home financing for very low-, low-, and moderate-income families.98 It should follow logically, then, that it should be cheaper and easier for residents of any state to finance and acquire a manufactured home. Unfortunately, this is not the case.”
That sounds like a different phrasing of what MHARR said earlier this week.
“There may be no greater indicator of collusion by the industry Big 3 through the MHI than HUD’s ongoing failure to implement enhanced preemption and for the [FHFA to compel the] GSEs to follow through on the Duty to Serve mandate. To call this ongoing failure a coincidence is a risible proposition: promotion of these runs contrary to the Big 3—and Clayton’s—interests in particular.”
“MHIs lobbying of the FHFA, or for that matter HUD, seems to invariably result in in policies that either benefit the Big 3, or at the very least, mitigate detriment. The outcome of these lobbying efforts is stultifying at best, and an abject failure at worst.”
Strommen accused MHI and some of it major brands of being guilty of apparent “felony” violations of federal antitrust laws.
Strommen said: “The author of this paper submits that the MHI’s conduct in obfuscation judicious decision-making by the [FHFA and HUD] constitutes a conspiracy to restrain trade under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and by virtue of the misrepresentative nature of the conduct, should not be afforded Noerr protection.”
MHI has asked MHI corporate and staff leaders several times in recent years to explain the bizarre behavior if in fact MHI is seriously interested in robustly growing the industry as MHI leaders have claimed.
Isn’t Strommen correct in saying that MHI leaders are apparently interested in fostering consolidation?
There is more that could be said. But let me reiterate the offer for MHI leaders, individually or collectively, to respond to any of our articles on either ManufacturedHomeProNews.com or ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com. If there are factual or logical errors, please point them out.
But absent that, based on what an attorney recently advised MHProNews – so long as a conspiracy is ongoing, then the elements of the conspiracy have not had the statues of limitations expire. For instance, the letter by Tim Williams in 2009, which Strommen referenced as an apparent antitrust violation, would still be actionable.
The late Sam Zell said it bluntly. He likes the oligopoly structure of the manufactured home industry. That, per sources, can be construed as evidence for intent to violate antitrust law and other laws.
You know the drill. Please email your reply to each of the questions above. We plan to publish a report on Sunday. Should you not be able to meet that timeline for whatever reason, please feel free to respond next week.
Thank you.
Tony …”
[i.e.: L.A. “Tony” Kovach for MHProNews.com]
When Silence Isn’t Golden…
MHI, their attorneys, and corporate leaders have what amounts to an open invitation to respond to the evidence-based concerns and allegations, like those stated and linked herein. While in the past they would reply in a timely much as MHI member Triad’s President Tolbert did on a Sunday morning during what for many was a long Independence Day holiday weekend.
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MHI’s leaders and competing publishers in the MHI orbit have previously praised this publication. But when we began pressing them on certain issues that pointed to internal industry issues, after making some threats, MHI eventually went silent and literally ducked questions.
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Added Insights and Summing Up
MHI has apparently forged an ‘amen corner’ of ‘trade publishers’ and ‘bloggers’ who beyond promoting themselves are routinely in the business of promoting what MHI says.
While there may be occasional indirect concerns raised by sources like those named (see further below as an example), they are not typically done in a manner that would put MHI leaders on the hotseat. Quite the opposite. MHInsider, for instance, has given cover high profile MHI member companies that apparently violate the MHI Code of Ethical Conduct. These arguably raise concerns about deceptive trade practices, including what looks to be false advertising that could impact smaller businesses, consumers, taxpayers, stockholders, and others. Awards are given to companies that instead seem to merit corrective action under MHI’s postured Code of Ethical Conduct.
Attorney Samuel “Sam” Strommen published a detailed report on concerns about MHI and their major brands while he was still with Knudson Law.
Pro-MHI emeritus member and blogger George Allen pointed out earlier this year in a post that 15 state associations have teamed up with ManufacturedHomes.com to promote the industry. What did Allen say? Among other things: “And manufacturedhomes.com is working with 15 state associations to enhance their online presence. The unasked question, in my mind, was “Why aren’t all state MH associations on board to improve their representation of manufactured housing and land lease communities nationwide?” The obvious answer is, why would other state associations join in an effort that has apparently not accomplished the purported purpose of marketing. Namely, to sell more, not sell less.
But common sense, deductive reasoning or ‘logic’ doesn’t seem to be a strength of Allen. From that same post, Allen flip flopped again, he said: “The recent fizzling of the National Manufactured Housing Awareness campaign (Thanks Ken Corbin, for trying) confirms a sad reality about our industry; namely, it’s unwillingness to pull together – message, dollar support, & leadership wise – to advertise and tell ‘our story’, simply because smaller players (i.e. manufacturers) might benefit from the primary participants.” While he tried to pin some responsibility on that with MHARR, MHARR is a production trade group, not a post-production trade group. Marketing is a post-production issue, as MHProNews has explained several times before. MHARR is doing above and beyond their per-se mandate of focusing on production issues by raising these post-production concerns. Instead of pointing that out, Allen attempted to obscure the issue. Or Allen, who claims to be an ‘industry historian,’ failed to point out that MHI has talked about marketing the industry since at least 2006 and the controversies related to the MHI commissioned Roper Report. Much of Roper was embarrassing for manufactured housing, i.e.: for MHI. But their then VP of Communications, the now late Bruce Savage, attempted to turn lemons into lemonade. Fair enough. But the reality is that nothing happened, which Allen de facto alluded to above.
Nor did self-proclaimed historian Allen point out that Kevin Clayton bragged on video in 2011 that ‘the industry’ (i.e.: a kind of verbal shorthand by MHI members for MHI) was prepared to do a national marketing and image campaign. What happened? As Allen de facto pointed out, nothing of the kind (that’s effective, see CrossMods and Clayton’s plug of the same). While Kevin is saying that production could “double,” MHARR data points out the cold hard facts. “Cumulative production for 2023 is now 35,719 homes, a 33.8% decrease from the 50,286 homes produced over the same period during 2022,” said MHARR in their statement above.
So, while Allen is apparently used by MHI as an ‘attack dog’ to act as their de facto surrogate to blur realities, Allen’s own musings – put in context with more complete facts – reveals just how poorly MHI, MHInsider, and ManufacturedHomes.com are each doing. Allen can obscure reality, blow smoke, and praise those three all he wants to, up to the point that he may be involved in a scheme that involves deceptive trade practices. He or others in the MHI orbit should make clear and legally necessary disclaimers.
There are sufficient numbers of people that are or where in the MHI orbit to make it plain that they are not doing their claimed job of “Improve the operating environment for the manufactured housing industry and expand the demand for manufactured homes…” and “ACCUMULATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRY INFORMATION AND STATISTICS TO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, THE MEDIA, AND GENERAL PUBLIC.” Those remarks are made under penalties of perjury. MHI said that they submit their 990 to their board before submitting it. If so, what is the legal exposure of those various board members? To Schmitz’s point about sabotaging monopoly practices, MHI has boldly stated that they are teaming up with the industry’s competitors. MHI’s CEO Lesli Gooch, Ph.D. has per whistleblower documents posted here been paid by the industry’s competitors while apparently working on MHI’s time and dime. The consequences for Gooch? Apparently, nothing.
The facts point to either massive incompetence or corruption. Incompetence should be ruled out because these are educated people, some of whom have years of manufactured housing industry experience. Yet the industry is still spiraling downward while more costly conventional housing surges up?
Some may fear taking on MHI because of the apparent backing of Warren Buffett led Berkshire Hathaway. But Berkshire’s own attorney, as well as those for MHI, Clayton, and others, have failed to respond to the growing body of evidence of MHI’s problematic behavior.
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What is the point of all this underperformance? Apparently, consolidation. Flagship, Cavco, Skyline Champion, and other MHI members have said so in their own words. So, while MHI apparently pretends to be working to grow the industry, they are instead subverting it so their dominating brands can consolidate a ‘fragmented’ industry.
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Conclusion and Looking Ahead
There is evidence of antitrust violations. There is evidence for deceptive trade practices. There is evidence that MHI has filed statements with the IRS that could be deemed perjury. MHI has apparently forged an ‘amen corner’ of publishers that claim to be providing ‘news’ but who are in their respective unique ways giving MHI cover. MHInsider is a subset of ELS, which should raise SEC related questions regarding apparently misinformation. ManufacturedHomes.com is arguably taking money – and reportedly sizable sums – from MHARR members while the industry is shrinking again. A variety of sources have indicated to MHProNews that attorneys, public officials, stockholders, and others are among those who routinely read reports here. It is unclear when someone may act on these items. Antitrust enforcers in two states have told MHProNews that they see reasons for concern. And per legal sources, when a conspiracy is ongoing – and presuming this is a de facto conspiracy to consolidate manufactured housing in an oligopoly fashion – then the statute of limitations has not yet begun to run, much less expired.
MHProNews will dig deeper on each of these topics and others vexing issues that emerge. To learn more read the linked and related reports. Note that the typical MHProNews reader in 2022 visited some 10+ pages per visit. Should any of the sources cited and sent an inquiry decide to respond, MHProNews stand ready to provide their response. ###
