“It will be the first in-person meeting since October 2012 and the MHCC is expected to meet for a full three days rather than the 2 1/2 in previous years. MHI and its eight member representatives will participate during the meeting.”
HUD’s portal website describes the MHCC as follows:
Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee
The Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) is a statutory Federal Advisory Committee body charged with providing recommendations to the Secretary on the revision and interpretation of HUD’s manufactured home construction and safety standards and related procedural and enforcement regulations. The MHCC is charged with developing proposed model installation standards for the manufactured housing industry. By regulation, HUD has included the MHCC in the process of revising the Manufactured Home Model Installation Standards, Installation Program Regulations, and Dispute Resolution Program regulations.
The MHCC is comprised of seven members represented in each of the following categories:
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Producers- Producers or retailers of manufactured housing
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Users- Persons representing consumer interests, such as consumer organizations, recognized consumer leaders, and owners who are residents of manufactured homes
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General Interest and Public Officials- General interest and public official members; three of the seven representatives must be Public Officials
In addition to the twenty-one voting members, there is a Designated Federal Official (DFO) that is appointed by the Secretary to represent the Secretary on the consensus committee.
MHI is said to plan public comments before the MHCC. The larger of the two national trade association body’s is based near Washington, DC in Arlington, VA and plans to make the following recommendations:
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A recommendation to changes in the HUD regulations to further clarify that RV/Park Models are not manufactured homes and should not be regulated as such.
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A recommendation that the MHCC thoroughly and seriously review the consensus recommendations of the DOE ASRAC Working Group on Manufactured Housing to ensure that the energy efficiency standards proposed take into consideration the affordability of manufactured homes to consumers.
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A recommendation that DOE utilize HUD’s framework under the HUD Procedural and Enforcement regulations for compliance and enforcement of any new energy efficiency standards.
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A recommendation that HUD reverse or substantially modify its current policy requiring costly, time consuming and unnecessary alternative construction approvals for attached garages, including retroactive Subpart I investigation and correction of homes previously sold with attached garages. (For more details, see related: http://www.MHProNews.com/home/featured-articles/july-2014/138-general-manufactured-housing-industry-topics/7847-hud-code-manufactured-homes-and-attached-garages-a-regulatory-update
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Greater flexibility for HUD Code homes to be utilized for certain multifamily purposes such as offices for retailers, certain types of farmworker housing and housing used by workers in the oil and gas industries.
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Several proposed changes and updates to the HUD Code and procedural and enforcement regulations which will provide for more flexible, less costly, and more innovative design and construction methodologies.
MHI Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Lois Starkey, tells MHProNews that the “…MHCC has a new Administering Organization, Home Innovations Research Labs, formerly known as the NAHB (National Association of Homebuilders Research) foundation. Home Innovations was the sole bidder for the HUD RFP issued last year. The Systems Building Research Alliance (SBRA) submitted a bid but withdrew because of prohibitive costs associated becoming a certified organization by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), as required by the Manufactured Home Improvement Act of 2000.” ##
A download of the MHCC agenda is available at the link here.
A download of the MHCC’s current members and the Designated Federal Official (DFO), are linked here.
(Image credit: HIRL logo. Photo credit: MHI)
