The irony of that is that federal law was changed by the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA or 2000 reform law). That was addressed in part of the MHIA known as “enhanced preemption.”
In the summer of 2019, after months of public pressure by MHProNews, MHLivingNews, and years of heat from the rival Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) trade group, the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), MHI issued as part of a letter to HUD Secretary Carson a statement that concurred with the need for enforcing the “enhanced preemption” provision of the MHIA.
See that from MHI linked here and here.
That noted, some arguably go to finishing school and learn the art of posturing. Others who took classes arguably heard ‘posture’ and misunderstood it to mean ‘posturing.’
Bottom line, while then executive vice president, now MHI CEO Lesli Gooch, Ph.D., has had numerous in person opportunities to address this issue or others that could advance manufactured housing with HUD and at the White House. Why is there no public record that “Dr. Gooch” ever brought the “enhanced preemption” issue up face to face?
Hold that thought, as we pivot to a new Federal Register bulletin, and how it relates to MHARR and MHI.
There are those in the industry who have alleged that there are some efforts undertaken by MHARR that MHI later claims credit for, and in part to preempt that possibility, MHProNews asked MHARR for comments about a new Federal Register bulletin notice that indicates progress on the zoning/placement study issue. By way of background for those who may not yet grasp the importance of this study, it could be a useful tool to get HUD to deal with their own internal failures to enforce federal enhanced preemption of manufactured housing.
For added clarity, MHI is the umbrella trade group, or the only functional national ‘post-production’ trade group. This type of zoning/placement effort therefor falls into MHI’s bailiwick. MHARR, per sources, got involved only because of years of MHI’s failure to act.
With that backdrop, in an exclusive to MHProNews, MHARR’s president and CEO, Mark Weiss said the following about this development toward a HUD PD&R research on zoning/placement issues.
“While it is encouraging that HUD is proceeding with a study of impediments to the siting of factory-built housing in too many American communities, it is essential that this study be based on accurate, factual and unbiased information and analysis. MHARR is committed to providing such information to HUD and working to achieve an accurate and useful report in order to support much-needed action by HUD on this matter going forward.”
Put differently, instead of grabbing credit, which MHI is used to doing, MHARR’s CEO is focused on the fact that there is still much to be done.
MHARR HUD PD&R ZONING STUDY MEMO
See further below the attached notice seeking OMB approval for a HUD study of: “Strategies for Removing the Regulatory Impediments to the Financing and Siting of Factory-Built Housing in American Communities.” This is the type of study that MHARR sought in their meeting last year (2019) with HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research, now elevated to HUD’s Office of Chief Information Officer.
MHARR told MHProNews that “This should be a great opportunity to address zoning discrimination against manufactured housing, but also the use of federal enhanced preemption to clear away these burdens — which I will address in my comment on this notice, just to get the ball rolling.”
Weiss said that “Comments on the notice are due by January 19, 2021.” It is too soon to pop a cork on this, as Weiss himself has stated. That noted, this looks like progress that if properly handled, and if forces inside manufactured housing that posture one thing but do another don’t screw up, could bring in the foreseeable future relief on a key issue that MHARR has pressed for years.
More information on this same topic will be our featured focus this evening. For new readers, the featured focus follows thought provoking quotable quotes, today’s left-right headline recap, and two of the three market snapshots at the closing bell today. The manufactured housing market summary of publicly traded equities at the close today follow the featured focus and the linked recent/related reports.
Quotes That Shed Light – American Social, Industry, National Issues…
Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business
- Smart garbage
- Here’s why McDonald’s restaurants are putting cameras in their dumpsters
- EXCLUSIVE A $5 billion foundation literally founded on oil money is saying goodbye to fossil fuels
- Microsoft identifies 40 organizations targeted in massive cyber breach
- US bans China’s top chipmaker from using American technology
- Man’s phone fumble takes ‘dropped call’ to another level
- Joe Biden’s financial team could create a giant stock bubble
- Mayor Pete had a fleet of 47 buses. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will have a budget of $87 billion
- Travis Scott is the latest entrant in the (very crowded) spiked seltzer wars
- This startup wants to be the Spotify of Africa
- SpaceX internet competitor OneWeb is back in action after bankruptcy
- New York Times says its award-winning podcast about ISIS ‘did not meet our standards for accuracy’
- BTS really can do anything. It’s got print magazines flying off the stands
- Tucker Carlson fans flames of vaccine skepticism on Fox News
- Content by LendingTree
- Mortgage rates drop once again, still below 3%
- A TESLA car is charged on August 31, 2020 in Newport, New Jersey. Tesla shares are more affordable today after their split, which does not make the stock a more attractive investment than it was pre-split price.
- Tesla is about to become the top S&P 500 stock. It’s not even close
- How Slutty Vegan is growing during the pandemic
- A sad list of all the tech we barely touched in 2020
- MARKETS
- ECONOMY
- THE COVID DIVIDE
- Pandemic plunged some into poverty, and boosted savings for others
- 885,000 people filed for unemployment last week
- The emotional toll and financial stress from Covid-19
- Mother struggles to keep the lights on this Christmas
- 42% of Americans say income is below pre-pandemic levels
- VIDEO GAMES
- SAN DIEGO, CA – SEPTEMBER 29: Fans entering TwitchCon at San Diego Convention Center on September 29, 2019 in San Diego, California.
- Cyberpunk 2077 is full of nudity, but Twitch still lets gamers stream it
- ‘Among Us’ arrives on Nintendo Switch
- Why the video game boom is here to stay
- The Legend of Zelda prequel is here
- Next-gen consoles are here. So are the games
Headlines from right-of-center Newsmax
- Repubs Bind Virus Aid to Limit on Fed Lending, Risking Bill; Biden Allies Cry Foul
- Biden surrogates are expressing worry that the GOP-led move will handcuff the incoming administration’s efforts to tackle future financial crises.
- Election 2020
- Facebook Shares Election Report
- Andy Biggs to Newsmax TV: I’m With Mo Brooks
- Michael Flynn to Newsmax TV: Trump Has Options to Secure Integrity of 2020 Election
- Sec of State Announces Statewide Ballot Audit
- MyPillow’s Mike Lindell: President Trump Will Prevail
- Trump Adviser Navarro: 6 Frauds ‘More Than Sufficient’ to Swing Election Outcome
- Trump: ‘Thousands of Noncitizens Voted in Nevada’
- The Trump Presidency
- Trump Appoints 1776 Commission to Promote ‘Patriotic Education’
- Ric Grenell to Newsmax TV: ‘Unexplainable’ How Krebs Missed Cyberattack |
- Ron Johnson Blocks Bill Proposing $1,200 Relief Checks
- Supreme Court Throws Out Challenge to Trump Census Immigrant Plan
- Trump’s Legacy Surpasses That of Any Modern President
- Rand Paul Urges Trump to Pardon Snowden
- Congress Members Urge VA to Continue Billing Deferments
- Hackers Tied to Russia Hit US Nuclear Agency, 3 States
- Newsfront
- US Awaits Word on 2nd Vaccine as COVID-19 Outbreak Worsens
- The U.S. stood on the verge of adding a second COVID-19 vaccine to its arsenal Friday as the outbreak descended deeper into its most lethal phase yet, with the nation regularly recording over 3,000 deaths per day. The Food and Drug Administration was evaluating a shot…
- Microsoft President Calls for Action After Alleged Russian Hacking
- President-elect Joe Biden’s nominees to lead the EPA and Interior
- Rubio Endorses Loeffler, Slams ‘Marxist Sympathizer’ Warnock
- Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Friday endorsed Sen. Kelly Loeffler
- Finance
- Retail Traders Outperform Pros in 2020 Rally
- Retail traders have ridden 2020’s stock market rally better than the professionals, with their most popular picks outperforming market indexes and well-resourced investors such as hedge funds.
- World’s CFOs Have Dire Message for Real-Estate Investors
- 4 of Bank of America’s Favorite Stock Picks for 2021
- 3 Bitcoin Trends You Can Expect in 2021
- 10 Ways Markets Can Defy Gravity Again in 2021
Market Indicator Closing Summaries – Yahoo Finance Closing Tickers on MHProNews…
Featured Focus –
Where Business, Politics and Investing Can Meet
As a blast from the past reminder of the issue in the opening part of tonight’s report, is this from MHARR earlier this year.
FEBRUARY 18, 2020
TO: MANUFACTURED HOUSING INDUSTRY MEMBERS AND CONSUMERS
FROM: MARK WEISS
RE: HUD UNDERTAKES STUDY PROPOSED BY MHARR
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) has published notice in the Federal Register of an impending study designed to identify and assess local barriers to the siting and utilization of HUD Code manufactured homes. Such a study was specifically proposed and requested by MHARR in an April 4, 2019 meeting with PD&R officials and in a subsequent April 24, 2019 communication to HUD Secretary Ben Carson (copy attached).
A study of local barriers to the use and placement of mainstream HUD Code manufactured housing could be a significant first step in addressing one of the two major national post-production impediments to the greater use and utilization of manufactured housing that MHARR has consistently emphasized to the White House, HUD and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) from the start of the Trump Administration. These two major barriers, as stressed by MHARR, are: (1) exclusionary and discriminatory zoning against manufactured homes and manufactured housing consumers; and (2) the availability of consumer financing – and particularly personal property consumer financing – supported on a parity, market-significant basis by both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nearly four years into the Trump Administration, neither of these issues has yet been addressed by concrete, on-the-ground, significant action. Thus, MHARR is pleased that PD&R has taken the first step of announcing this study.
In its April 4, 2019 meeting with PD&R, and in its April 24, 2019 letter, MHARR emphasized that discriminatory local land use, zoning and placement restrictions and exclusionary ordinances are among the key drivers in keeping inherently affordable manufactured homes out of large areas of the United States and simultaneously depriving millions of Americans of the affordable homeownership that they need and want. This has had devastating consequences not only for the availability of affordable housing and homeownership for moderate and lower-income American families, but for the industry as well, which has seen production levels fall far below its historic baseline over the past decade-plus.
And while HUD — as MHARR noted both at the time and in its recent comments to the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing — has all the statutory authority that it needs in order to overcome and invalidate such baseless restrictions, there has never been an authoritative federal study on the extent and negative impacts of these discriminatory edicts that could serve as the basis and underpinning for such action by HUD or possibly others.
Given the fact that this important step is finally being undertaken, MHARR will continue to follow-up with HUD to ensure that PD&R’s study is paired with concrete, actionable activity to address local barriers to the use and utilization of mainstream HUD Code manufactured housing. At the same time, MHARR will continue to press FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take their own concrete, actionable steps to expand the availability of consumer financing for HUD Code homes.
Mark Weiss
President & CEO
Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR)
1331 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Suite 512
Washington, D.C. 20004
Phone: 202/783-4087
Fax: 202/783-4075
Email: MHARRDG@AOL.COM
###
Additional Information, MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
While MHI Executive Committee/Gooch/MHI toadies and sycophants routinely fail to hold MHI accountable, this platform has done so for years. But years before MHProNews came into existence, the very raison d’ê·tre for MHARR was to give manufactured housing independents a counterweight to fight the sadly often-pernicious influence of the industry’s giants as they seek to undermine their competitors, often from within.
See the related reports linked above, the MHARR letter to Dr. Carson linked here, and below.
It must be noted anew that before MHI 2.o, or years prior to previous MHI President and CEO Richard “Dick” Jennison, MHARR and MHI worked together to get the MHIA 2000 passed into law. The base graphic below was a tip from an insider that was once on the MHI website. Why did they remove it, if they are serious about fighting zoning and placement barriers?
Related, Recent, and Read Hot Reports
Manufactured Housing Industry Investments Connected Closing Equities Tickers
Some of these firms invest in manufactured housing, or are otherwise connected, but may do other forms of investing or business activities too.
- NOTE: The chart below includes the Canadian stock, ECN, which purchased Triad Financial Services, a manufactured home industry lender
- NOTE: Drew changed its name and trading symbol at the end of 2016 to Lippert (LCII).
- NOTE: Deer Valley was largely taken private, say company insiders in a message to MHProNews on 12.15.2020, but there are still some outstanding shares of the stock from the days when it was a publicly traded firm. Thus, there is still periodic activity on DVLY.
Fall 2020…
Berkshire Hathaway is the parent company to Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage and other factory built housing industry suppliers.
· LCI Industries, Patrick, UFPI, and LP each are suppliers to the manufactured housing industry, among others.
· AMG, CG, and TAVFX have investments in manufactured housing related businesses. For insights from third-parties and clients about our publisher, click here.
Enjoy these ‘blast from the past’ comments.
MHProNews. MHProNews – previously a.k.a. MHMSM.com – has celebrated our 11th year of publishing, and is starting our 12the year of serving the industry as the runaway most-read trade media.
Sample Kudos over the years…
Learn more about our evolutionary journey as the industry’s leading trade media, at the report linked below.
· For expert manufactured housing business development or other professional services, click here.
· To sign up in seconds for our industry leading emailed headline news updates, click here.
Disclosure. MHProNews holds no positions in the stocks in this report.
That’s a wrap on this installment of “News Through the Lens of Manufactured Homes and Factory-Built Housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, stock, investing, data, metrics, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHLivingNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
