HUD’s William Matchneer Speaks at MHI’s Winter Meeting

William Matchneer, HUD’s Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs and Manufactured Housing addressed over 100 members at MHI’s Winter Meeting on February 2 in Savannah, Georgia. Matchneer outlined the Department’s priorities for the manufactured housing program in 2010 as follows:

• The long awaited proposed rule on the new Title I loan insurance will be published within the next few weeks.
• A Manufactured Housing Lenders Summit hosted by FHA Commissioner David Stevens and Congressman Joe Donnelly (D-IN) will be held to find solutions to the financing issues affecting this industry.
• Action will be taken to protect preemption of the HUD code by publishing a proposed rule on the changes recommended by the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) and it would be in the industry’s best interest for this to be on a three year cycle of code changes consistent with other nationally recognized building codes.
• Changes to the MHCC by-laws and rules as prescribed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act were finalized to improve the MHCC process.
• Efforts will continue in working with manufacturers to provide technical assistance to update manufacturing plant quality assurance manuals. He emphasized that HUD is not viewing these actions as an enforcement issue, but rather an opportunity for HUD to serve as a resource to assist manufacturers in putting updated quality assurance procedures in place.
• A proposed rule to Manufacturer Inspection and Certification Requirements and Primary Inspection Agency responsibilities (24 CFR Part 3282 Subparts E and H) will be published by this Summer.
• Serious and thoughtful review of all comments submitted to HUD in response to its proposed rulemaking on the SAFE Act will be made. Matchneer encouraged everyone to submit comments to the proposed rule by February 16.
• The non-career administrator position will not be filled in the next few months due to budget constraints. He assured members that we have an excellent industry advocate in FHA Commissioner David Stevens who is a highly regarded official. Matchneer is the industry’s point person at HUD. He knows how critical these issues are to the industry and is there to help. He encouraged members to continue to work through the MHI staff with which he has a great working relationship.

Other topics discussed at the Winter Meeting were weather radios, Energy Star Tax Credit extender legislation, pre-1976 replacement home legislation, FEMA emergency housing and financing issues. The two-day meeting concluded with a meeting of the MHI Board of Directors. Resolutions were passed on the SAFE Act and federal preemption. MHI will be working hard during the upcoming months on these critical regulatory and legislative issues.

MHI is the the preeminent national trade association for manufactured and modular housing industries, representing all segments of the industries before Congress and the Federal government. From its Washington, D.C. area headquarters, MHI actively works to promote fair laws and regulation for all MHI members and the industry. For more information on MHI, visit www.manufacturedhousing.org.