Washington, D.C., July 3, 2019 – 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), year-over-year HUD Code manufactured home production declined again in May 2019. Just-released statistics indicate that HUD Code manufacturers produced 8,569 homes in May 2019, down 3.1% from the 8,846 homes produced in May 2018. Cumulative industry production for 2019 now totals 38,921 homes, a decline of 8.7% from the 42,639 HUD Code homes produced over the same period in 2018.

With nine consecutive months of production declines, it is apparent – as MHARR has been stressing – that post-production restrictions on the availability and utilization of HUD Code manufactured homes, including, but not limited to, the continuing lack of secondary market support for manufactured housing personal property loans and discriminatory zoning and placement restrictions, are stunting the industry’s growth and evolution, while denying affordable housing opportunities to millions of Americans. MHARR, therefore, will continue to aggressively advance efforts to raise the profile of these issues in Washington, D.C., as well as their resolution through the full and proper implementation of existing laws.

A further analysis of the official industry statistics shows that the top ten shipment states from the beginning of the industry production rebound in August 2011 through May 2019  — with cumulative, monthly, current year (2019) and prior year (2018) shipments per category as