She reported that the MH industry has 122 plants in production, and in 2015 turned out 68,225 HUD Code homes comprised of 105,596 floors.
In her 45 minute address she touched on several topics, including the proposed rule to require new manufactured homes (MH) to have carbon monoxide detectors, the 23 states that are part of the federal inspection of new homes program, and the importance of having an Alternative Construction (AC) letter for any attachment to the home, such as a garage, that is non-conforming to HUD regulations. She noted this needs to be done before the owner occupies the home, because of the difficulty in inspecting after the occupants move in.
Danner mentioned the importance of manufactured homes for low income families, especially affordable for seniors on fixed incomes, and addressed the Tiny Home movement. Noting that tiny houses generally do not meet the 400 square foot minimum which would entail HUD approval, she asked the attendees if any thought they were a threat to manufactured homes — no one spoke up.
She said the 3D printed home and car produced in a collaboration of the Oak Ridge National Laboratories with Clayton Homes and others, as MHProNews reported Sept. 24, 2015, will be on display in Washington, D.C.. A brief question-and-answer session followed her talk, mostly dealing with reciprocity of fees between states.
One attendee told MHProNews after Danner’s talk that after being in the MH industry for 49 years, he did not raise his hand to ask or comment on anything because he was so angry with the direction HUD was taking the MH Program. He said he plans to quit MH and start selling only modular homes. The veteran attendee said he is convinced HUD is trying to destroy the manufactured home industry with all their regulations.
Another attendee of Ms. Danner’s talk, who works in a state MH regulatory agency, said while there was not much new revealed in the speech, when she calls the HUD MH office she receives a lightning-fast response compared to replies received under the previous administrator. ##
(Photo credit: googleimages)-Pamela Beck Danner)
