On 5.16.2024 at about 4.48 PM ET, the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) home page ‘news’ section still has no articles for the month of May. The screen capture shown further below and at this link here still reflects that their latest item was another shameless Big Three plug, this time for Clayton Homes dated 4.16.2024. For those at MHI’s Arlington, VA offices who can spell ’embarrassing,’ this ought to qualify. For those who know how to feel shame or who are capable of sensing self-humiliation, those descriptive words could fit too. That said, while the event announcement by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided below is viewed by numbers as a ‘win’ for some in the housing industry, the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase (IHS) is also arguably an embarrassment to the itself, to the vision that prior HUD Secretary Ben Carson used to launch it, and may include a stealth concern that has been expressed off and on for years by voices in the manufactured housing industry. Namely, is HUD – with the help of a few involved in manufactured housing, greasing the skids for changes that may at first seem to benefit manufactured housing while it is instead yet another case of sabotage monopoly tactics?
The HUD press release, with a quote from MHI CEO Gooch, is Part I of today’s report. Part II will be additional information with more MHProNews analysis and focused commentary.
Part I
HUD No. 24-109 HUD Public Affairs (202) 708-0685 |
FOR RELEASE Friday May 10, 2024 |
HUD Announces Co-Presenters for the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase
Showcase Returns to the National Mall June 7-9
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the International Code Council (ICC), the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), and the Structural Building Components Association (SBCA) as the co-presenters for the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase. This collaborative effort promises to highlight cutting-edge building technologies and housing solutions aimed at lowering costs and increasing climate resilience for American families.
“In what’s now an annual tradition, we engage thousands of Americans on the National Mall in new, innovative methods for building housing. But we cannot do this alone – we rely on our amazing partners and co-presenters to bring this effort to fruition,” said HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman. “Together, we are looking forward to hosting thousands more visitors this June, highlighting how we can build resilient, affordable homes into the future.”
“HUD is excited to partner with these four national housing and building organizations to present the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase,” said Solomon Greene, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. “These co-presenters represent key partners in the housing ecosystem and, like HUD, they recognize the power of innovation and collaboration. The Showcase will offer a unique opportunity to highlight the latest technologies and designs, as well as the cross-sector partnerships that are needed to meet the nation’s growing housing affordability and climate resilience needs.”
“Innovation is the cornerstone of resilient and affordable housing,” said Dominic Sims, CBO, Chief Executive Officer for the International Code Council. “The Council Code welcomes the opportunity to work alongside HUD and other construction industry stakeholders to advance the codes and standards needed to ensure safe, resilient and accessible housing for all. From sustainable and resilient materials to off-site construction and hazard mitigation, our collective commitment to innovation remains a top priority.”
“MHI is pleased to be a co-presenter for the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase,” said Dr. Lesli Gooch, Chief Executive Officer for the Manufactured Housing Institute. “This year is especially meaningful as it marks the 50th Anniversary of the law that authorized the HUD Code for Manufactured Housing, establishing a collaboration with industry that continues through this day. As the HUD Code continues to be updated to foster innovation, we are able to meet a wider range of housing supply needs, scaling the efficiency of off-site construction to expand attainable homeownership.”
“We are excited to be back on the National Mall for the Innovative Housing Showcase, this year as both an exhibitor and a co-presenter of the event,” said Jess Lohse, Executive Director for the Structural Building Components Association. “This is a great opportunity to share the benefits of structural building components, like trusses and wall panels, and feature how efficient and beneficial these offsite structural framing solutions are for the industry.”
“Rental housing providers are working hard to alleviate the national housing shortage and make housing more affordable. Over 4.3 million apartments in all 50 states and D.C. have adopted The Foundations of Rental Housing – a set of six business principles that residents can expect from their rental housing provider,” said Sharon Wilson Géno, President for the National Multifamily Housing Council. “The Foundations of Rental Housing, powered by the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) is proud to partner with HUD on the Innovative Housing Showcase with the goal of highlighting real, actionable solutions to our housing crisis.”
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Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
1) Per the HUD release above, the announcement included “the International Code Council (ICC)” “the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), and the Structural Building Components Association (SBCA) as the co-presenters” along with the MHI. Note that the ICC has already been used as a cudgel against manufactured housing via the DOE pressed manufactured housing ‘energy rule.’ Well informed manufactured housing professionals should be zealously protective of the performance-based code that manufactured homes are built to under the federal HUD Code. Conventional builders, by contrast, are built to a prescriptive code.
2) To illustrate and underscore the issues involved, consider the following Q&A with Bing’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Copilot.
Contemporary manufactured housing is built to meet the HUD Code which is a performance-based code, correct? By way of contrast, conventional housing is routinely built to a prescriptive code and standards, as may be established by the International Code Council (ICC), correct? Explain why the ICC is not an appropriate standard for HUD Code manufactured housing use if the performance based and potential innovative and money saving aspects of HUD Code manufactured housing is to be protected? Link results.
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3) While Copilot’s linked results could arguably have been better, it nevertheless made several key points. The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) has several articles that address the International Code Council (ICC). Indeed, on this date, there are two pages of posts on the MHARR site that reference the ICC. By way of contrast, on 5.17.2024 at about 8.43 AM ET. there is no mention of the International Code Council (ICC) on the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) website. Yet, this is the organization’s whose standards are being advanced by the Department of Energy (DOE) in their energy rule, which MHI claims to oppose and is involved in litigation. Facts matter. Details matter. Why are significant details missing on the MHI website that are found on the MHARR website? It is a surprising, and arguably troubling, ‘oversight’ – if that is what it is. If that lack of information on the MHI website regarding the ICC is intentional, that would appear to be worse still.
4) In an apparently related matter, it must be recalled that ‘the cat’s out of the proverbial bag’ about MHI as they have, in recent years, been openly collaborating with the competitors of HUD Code manufactured housing.
5) When an apparent MHI insider blew the whistle on the woman who is now MHI’s CEO, Lesli Gooch, Ph.D., it would not have seemed likely that her career at MHI would have last this long.
6) But Gooch not only survived that document drop and expose, but she has essentially been promoted. No amount of ‘almost woman of influence’ gaslighting can overcome the realities of the evidence that has emerged from this publication, but also from others who have no direct stake in manufactured housing. If someone can’t make a good deal with a bad person, why would you hire and then promote such an apparently ineffective and purportedly duplicitous person (i.e.: Gooch) who has per documents reportedly taken payments for lobbying on behalf of conventional housing interests? The conflicts of interests that Gooch has are stunning and thus revealing as to what MHI’s leadership may be driving toward.
7) It will be recalled that MHProNews raised concerns about the timing and maneuvering with respect to the sudden interest in pushing for the removable chassis.
8) As a point of reference, MHProNews in a purist sense would agree that a properly executed ‘surgical’ removal of the legislative language making the removable chassis option possible while retaining the status of HUD Code manufactured housing could be a good thing for the industry and consumers. Even before MHProNews’ report and analysis on the issue, MHProNews published a report that asked, why does MHI periodically team up with the NAHB, given the fact that NAHB is one of the reasons that the removable chassis (along with purported MHI insiders) didn’t become part of the federal law in the 1990s?
9) Restated, MHProNews – not unlike the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) – has long been in favor of a removable chassis, if it is done correctly. Done incorrectly, tinkering with the legislative language could be harmful to the industry. That later risk, and the fact that suddenly MHI has openly come out in favor of something that the previously (per informed sources) they have undermined ought to be a red flag, or at a minimum, a cautionary flag.
It is therefore no surprise that MHARR has taken a nuanced stance on the redevelopment of this initiative.
10) While it hasn’t necessarily been on this specific removable chassis issue, nor the upcoming IHS, MHI members have taken direct and indirect shots at MHI.
11) There are therefore voices inside and outside of MHI, as well as from inside and outside of the manufactured home industry, that have been pointing to concerns about MHI’s failure to properly advance the industry’s agenda in a manner that would benefit smaller firms and consumers of affordable manufactured homes. While others are litigating to advance the interests – for example, of tiny housing – MHI has yet to litigate issues that MHARR offered to help litigate years ago.
12)
The Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 has a provision commonly known as “enhanced preemption” which if it were consistently enforced could signficantly raise manufactured home industry production, correct? The Manufactured Housing Institute has said they want that enforced several times, but there is no known evidence that they use the words “enhanced preemption” either on their own website nor in op-eds, is that correct? There is no known litigation by the Institute to get “enhanced preemption” enforced, yet by contrast the Institute for Justice has litigated several cases involving tiny houses which has no federal preemption argument. MHARR offered to work with a Manufactured Housing Institute state affiliate in 2019 to select a zoning barrier case and litigate it but there were not takers by MHI nor their affiliate, is that correct? Doesn’t all this at a minimum call into question the commitment of the Institute for genuinely advancing the industry back to the kind of production levels that existed in the mid-to-late 1990s or higher? Shed light on the importance of this topic and the allegations that MHI seems to be more focused on industry consolidation, that benefits several of their larger members, rather than on industry growth, which would benefit consumers, smaller firms, and start ups. Link results.
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> Useful, but to clarify, is it accurate to say that the Manufactured Housing Institute has NOT mentioned the phrase “enhanced preemption” either on their website, nor in an op-ed, is that accurate? By contrast, MHProNews, MHLivingNews, and MHARR have used those terms hundreds of times on their respective websites, as well as in press releases and in op-eds to mainstream media, is all that accurate?
Indeed, your observation is accurate. The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) has not explicitly mentioned the phrase “enhanced preemption” on their website or in op-eds. In contrast, other industry sources like MHProNews, MHLivingNews, and the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) have actively used those terms in their content, including press releases and op-eds12. The discrepancy raises questions about MHI’s commitment to advancing the industry through enhanced preemption, which could significantly impact manufactured home production and affordability. For a more comprehensive understanding, you can explore the provided links12.
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> Useful, thanks. Would it be fair to say that the behavior pattern and known evidence may fit the allegations that the Manufactured Housing Institute is engaged in facilitation of consolidation of the industry and that they posture, palter, and deploy half-truths or so-called “deception and misdirection” in support of that apparent consolidation goal? Has anyone directly associated with the Institute been known to publicly responded to concerns raised by Samuel Strommen over antitrust violations, or James Schmitz Jr. and his colleagues at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve regarding ‘sabotage monopoly’ tactics?
Indeed, the behavior pattern and known evidence raise questions about the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI)‘s commitment to industry growth versus consolidation. Allegations suggest that MHI may prioritize the latter, benefiting larger members, over the former, which would benefit consumers, smaller firms, and startups12. However, it’s essential to note that MHI has not explicitly addressed these concerns on their website or in op-eds.
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15) In essence, Copilot has in the chat thread above and in several previous ones consistently confirmed several years of reports and analysis by MHProNews in the Q&A’s posted above. Copilot has said that MHI’s behavior is troublingly self-contradictory if they are sincere in their claims of wanting to overcome zoning and finance barriers, among other hurdles that are limiting manufactured housing.
16) Gooch mentioned the 50th anniversary of the enabling legislation that created HUD Code manufactured housing. 50 years after 1974, manufactured housing is only a shadow of the production that it was. Where is MHI’s efforts at resorting robust industry growth? Why is MHI working with the competitors of manufactured housing rather than with MHARR? Why has MHI used legal threats against those who question their effectiveness while celebrating those who are part of their ‘circle-fest in a hot tub’ celebrating consolidation instead of growth?
17) MHI’s vexing patter of saying one thing and often doing another that stands in stark contrast to their feckless posturing. The facts are a strong indictment of MHI’s leadership. Those facts include who they align themselves with (industry competitors vs. those who are working for industry growth), MHI’s pivot on the choice of terminology (off site vs. manufactured homes, affordable vs. attainable, etc.), and the apparent increase in industry consolidation. Pay more attention to what people do than what they say, said longtime MHI member and MHI award-winner Marty Lavin, J.D. There are concerns that MHI could de facto put more smaller producers out of business and more independent retailers out of business and/or into yet another consolidation by (of course an MHI member firm).
18) Manufactured housing ought to be several times its current size, and MHI can’t have it both ways. If the industry is underperforming, and it obviously is by historic measures or as measured by population growth, or as measured by the growth of the RV industry in the past 25 years, MHI is FAILING save for consolidation focused firms.
When Gooch speaks via the HUD press release of cooperating with the industry, what is to be made of that in the light of the facts? There are dozens of production firms that no longer exist, and thousands of retailers that are gone. If this is the cost of cooperation with HUD, bring on the confrontation.
Part III – Our Daily Business News on MHProNews stock market recap which features our business-daily at-a-glance update of over 2 dozen manufactured housing industry stocks.
This segment of the Daily Business News on MHProNews is the recap of yesterday evening’s market report, so that investors can see at glance the type of topics may have influenced other investors. Thus, our format includes our signature left (CNN Business) and right (Newsmax) ‘market moving’ headlines.
The macro market moves graphics below provide context and comparisons for those invested in or tracking manufactured housing connected equities. Meaning, you can see ‘at a glance’ how manufactured housing connected firms do compared to other segments of the broader equities market.
In minutes a day readers can get a good sense of significant or major events while keeping up with the trends that may be impacting manufactured housing connected investing.
Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business – 5.16.2024
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- Dow briefly tops 40,000 for first time but ends the day lower
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- Trump Media says it will delay quarterly filing due to auditor change
Caitlin Clark’s debut draws largest WNBA audience in two decades, beating NHL playoffs head-to-head
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Headlines from right-of-center Newsmax – 5.16.2024
- House Panel Advances Garland Contempt as WH Blocks Access to Biden Tape
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