“The [association] efforts have come as [Trump] administration officials are embracing manufactured homes as a way to increase the stocks of affordable housing using the private sector rather than taxpayer funding,” writes Juliet Eilperin, for the Washington Post (WaPo).
“Already, they [manufactured homes] serve as the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in America, with 22 million Americans living in structures ranging from trailers [*] to high-end homes with ample amenities,” Eilperin said.
“Juliet Eilperin is The Washington Post’s senior national affairs correspondent, covering how the new administration is transforming a range of U.S. policies and the federal government itself,” reads her brief WaPo bio. “She is the author of two books — one on sharks and another on Congress, not to be confused with each other — and has worked for The Post since 1998.”
The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, according to Forbes. Billionaires Bezos and President Donald J. Trump have been sparring over issues related to giant Amazon, which Bezos founded. Their politics differ too.
“For most of its existence, the Office of Manufactured Housing has been an unassuming office within a federal department not known for its glitz and glamour,” said Eilperin.
“But the little-known agency in the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been thrust into the spotlight as trade groups mount an unusually intense lobbying effort, seeking to scale back regulations that they say are hampering an industry that could provide a market-based solution to the affordable housing crisis,” said her insightful WaPo narrative.
“That the Trump Administration would be party to such an amazingly ill-considered, offensive and arguably scandalous action . . . is directly contrary to president trump’s own pledge to ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington D.C.,” wrote Mark Weiss, president of the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform, in a July 27 letter [2017], which was unusually harsh even by Washington standards,” the narrative continued, revealing part of the backstory, as to which association did what in the drama that took place at HUD last year.
“Within a few months, Office of Manufactured Housing Programs Administrator Pamela Beck Danner had been reassigned, and the woman she had hired, Lois Starkey, had been terminated,” Eilperin said.
“Lesli Gooch, vice president of government affairs and chief lobbyist for the institute, said in an interview...[that] her association [the Manufactured Housing Institute, or MHI] did not weigh in on Danner’s reassignment, preferring to push for a broader reorganization.”
First Takeaways from the Washington Post MH Report
Eilperin has arguably done thousands of manufactured housing industry professionals, and potentially millions of Americans, several significant favors through her tightly-written narrative.
Among them? Eilperin confirmed the following:
- Lesli Gooch admits that MHI did not try to get Pam Danner removed from her destructive role as administrator over the HUD Code manufactured housing program office. Put multiple stars next to that revelation, and keep in mind that HUD Secretary Ben Carson called the regulations “ridiculous.”
- Between the two national associations, the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) was credited for their part in having Danner removed from her ‘leadership’ as the administrator of the HUD Code Manufactured Housing Program Office.
- The above portion of the WaPo story confirms months of reports by MHProNews. Specifically, that in spite of the call by numerous manufactured home industry pros, MHI’s own chief lobbyist admitted to the mainstream media that they did not attempt to have Danner removed.
- Rephrasing, MHI was tacitly abetting Danner’s stay at HUD’s MH program office. Where was the logic in that for the majority of the manufactured housing industry? Over 17 years of experience since the passage of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 should have made it clear that the administrator of the program can implement, or foil, the intent of the law. Don’t MHI staffers know that history? Isn’t that self-evident logic, even absent that history?
- MHI was clearly going against the wishes of the majority of the industry, which wanted to see Danner removed, see one of several examples of that in a report, linked here.
MHI and MHARR, Follow Ups
MHI has been asked to confirm, comment on, or clarify this Washington Post report. They have not yet done so as of this time.
MHARR issued a clarifying statement to their members and the industry in a release to the Daily Business News, after the online version if the WaPo report was published. That MHARR memo is linked below.
Bottom Lines, and What’s Ahead as a result of this WaPo MH report?
More will follow in the days ahead as the Daily Business News unpacks numerous revelations found in Eilperin’s insightful mainstream media reporting.
Keep in mind that the Washington Post just confirmed what some thought to be MHProNews’ controversial reports in 2017. The WaPo report vindicates MHProNews, which MHI operatives and surrogates have allegedly sought to undermine. Indeed, the revelations above arguably suggest why MHI has sought to undermine this pro-industry trade news operation.
The facts matter to industry professionals and investors. MHProNews strives to be evidence and fact based, regarding HUD, MHI, or any other topic. That’s MH “Industry News, Tips, and Views Pros Can Use.” © ## (News, analysis and commentary.)
[* The use of the word “trailers” here by Eilperin was inappropriate, see the graphic below, or to learn more, click here.]
(Third party images are provided under fair use guidelines.)
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Soheyla is a managing member of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.