Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson, M.D., was featured on Bloomberg’s Kevin Cirilli on “Bloomberg Markets: The Close.”
Carson discussed HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, and Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) reform.
Each of those directly or indirectly impacts manufactured housing.
HUD provided MHProNews with the following pull quotes from the video interview.
Partnering with Private Sector:
“The Rental Assistance Demonstration [RAD] program permits private capital to be in invested in public housing with some ownership transfer and you can take care of the tremendous backlog of capital needs, which is estimated to be $35 billion dollars…This is a perfect solution to the traditional thinking of about what public housing is. By bringing in the private sector, you create an incentive for them to maintain the properties in very good shape because it means a lot for their income.” – Secretary Ben Carson.
On Interest Rates:
“For a very long time we were in a very abnormal situation with zero interest rates and people have basically forgotten what normal interest rates are like and how to react to them.” – Secretary Ben Carson.
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing:
“I believe in the concept of affirmatively furthering fair housing, but I think it needs to be done in a more logical way…So we said let’s do something that actually makes sense. Let’s go back and ask ourselves why are we having the problems with segregation and why are we having the problems with affordable housing. It really kind of boils down to the zoning restrictions and the regulatory barriers that are in the way that prevent us from building affordable housing.” – Secretary Ben Carson.
On GSE & Housing Finance:
“We are in the 10th year [of conservatorship] at this point and it is time we need to stop some of the exposure of the taxpayers and do something that makes more sense.”
Carson also discussed in this video the Trump Administration practices on race, and other housing or finance related subjects that are of keen interest to manufactured housing, and the nation at large.
Secretary Carson has said that the Trump Administration is seeking a new era of cooperation with the manufactured housing industry. That should be seen as part of a broader policy perspective that encourages private/public partnerships, which has been a Trump Administration buzz phrase.
It should be noted that MHProNews and others have urged HUD, via comments letters, to modify use FHA Title I and Title II to expand access to manufactured housing. MHProNews will do an update soon on DTS and manufactured home lending by the GSEs, as a new comments letter has been requested by the FHFA.
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Related Reports:
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, a Novel Yet Proven Solution to the Affordable Housing Crisis That Will Create Opportunities, Based Upon Existing Laws – manufacturedhomelivingnews.com
Affordable quality housing is one of the most critical issues of our time. So too is affordable home ownership, which should be the ideal goal over rental housing. A challenge is zoning and land use, which is highly politicized, and thus is often misunderstood. What follows is adapted from the comments letter addressed as shown below.
MHARR Calls on HUD To Remove Zoning, Placement and Consumer Financing Barriers to Manufactured Homes | Manufactured Housing Association Regulatory Reform
Washington, D.C., October 11, 2018 – The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), in written comments filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on October 11, 2018 ( see, copy attached) has called on HUD to promote zoning and placement parity for federally-regulated manufactured homes as part of the Department’s plan to amend its regulations for Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH).
GSEs’ “Duty To Serve Underserved Markets” Plans | Manufactured Housing Association Regulatory Reform
TO: INDUSTRY MANUFACTURERS, RETAILERS, COMMUNITIES RE: GSEs’ “DUTY to SERVE UNDERSERVED MARKETS” PLANS FHFA REQUESTS INPUT ON PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS TO AND FINANCE COMPANIES Attached for your review and information is a copy of a notice issued by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on October 3, 2018, seeking public comment on proposed revisions to the initial “Duty to Serve Underserved Markets” (DTS) implementation plans submitted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to FHFA in 2017.
MHARR Exposes GSES’ Failure On Chattel Financing Before Congress | Manufactured Housing Association Regulatory Reform
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (202) 783-4087 Contact: MHARR Washington, D.C., September 27, 2018 – The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), in a submission (copy attached) to the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee in conjunction with a September 27, 2018 oversight hearing on regulation of the two “Government Sponsored Enterprises” (GSEs) – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – strongly criticized the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), for failing to implement federal law and, instead, sanctioning the GSEs’ continuing discrimination against lower and moderate-income American consumers seeking to purchase manufactured homes through personal property, or chattel loans.
