Manufactured Housing Production Rebounds at Last

Washington, D.C., October 5, 2011 – 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), manufactured housing production rebounded in August 2011, posting its first increase in 12 months.  Just-released statistics show that during August 2011, HUD Code manufacturers produced 5,187 homes, up from the 4,896 HUD Code homes produced in August 2010, representing a corresponding month increase of nearly 6%.  The last time that industry production recorded a corresponding-month increase was in August 2010, when production grew by 9% over August 2009 levels.  This increase brings 2011 cumulative industry production, through the end of August, to 32,015 homes — 9.9% lower than corresponding industry production of 35,566 homes over the same period last year, but a distinct improvement over double-digit cumulative production declines earlier this year.

While any production increase is welcome news, the manufactured housing industry – given its status as the nation’s primary source of truly affordable non-subsidized home ownership — should be experiencing more significant long-term growth in the face of a sluggish economy that accentuates the affordability of its homes in relation to other types of housing and features historically low interest rates on home loans.  The fact that it has not yet benefitted from conditions that, in the past, have stoked industry growth, underscores that the sustained industry decline since 1998 is less a result of the broader economic environment than factors uniquely affecting manufactured housing – specifically, the unavailability of consumer financing and HUD’s failure to fully and properly implement key reforms of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 that were designed to ensure the parity of manufactured housing as “housing.”

Now, though, the industry’s two national trade organizations, MHARR and the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) have agreed to work together, jointly and cooperatively, to address three major issues concerning consumer financing and the implementation of the 2000 law, specifically, the need to expand sources of consumer financing and eliminate unnecessarily

restrictive barriers to entering the manufactured housing market, the appointment of a non-career
administrator for the HUD manufactured housing program, as provided by the 2000 law, and the re-appointment of collective national industry representatives to the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee, the centerpiece reform of the 2000 law.

A joint MHARR-MHI delegation has already met with senior HUD officials to address these three specific issues and will follow-up accordingly.

The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform is a Washington, D.C.-based national trade association representing the views and interests of producers of federally-regulated manufactured housing.