Last week, Don Westphal sent us an Industry Voices Guest Blog post on the topic of HR 5019. The bill past the House and is now headed on to the Senate for action.
I personally picked up the phone and my watch. It took me a total of 3 minutes to call the Capitol Switchboard’s number at (202) 224-3121, get the phone number to my representative here in IL, then call his office’s number and ask for my congressman to vote for HR 5019. They took my name and address. Painless! No apathy! No fear!
Now if HR 5019 passes the Senate and is signed into law, at this point here is how the legislation looks. H.R. 5019 would authorize a total of $6.6 billion, primarily for a new Home Star Retrofit Rebate Program. This would be run by the Department of Energy (DOE) and would provide rebates to contractors for energy-efficient remodeling on existing homes. Contractors would give discounts to consumers for the retrofits and the contractors would be reimbursed by the federal government via rebates. The manufactured housing amendment by Rep. Baron Hill of Indiana would offer $7,500 rebates which may be used to facilitate the purchase of a new Energy Star qualified home. Hill’s amendment also adds a ‘decommissioning grant’ up to $2,500 to cover the cost of removing the old home.
Think major dollars that would flow into our industry.
My point is simple. Pick up the phone. Call your Senator’s offices this week. Take the 5 to 10 minutes and then get others to do the same! Pass the link on to this blog post,
http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/blogs/tonykovach/practical-politics-pickup-the-phone/
or to the related stories for background, which I’m posting below.
The link to the MHI news story about this topic posted on our site is:
Or if you don’t need to know more than the fact that this could trigger the sale of 6000 new Energy Star HUD Code home homes, then just cut to the chase and dial for dollars!
Now some are going to lament this as another government handout in the long train of multi-billion dollar handouts since the new Administration took office. I’m sympathetic to that perspective. Good people with that viewpoint can and should work to change the tax and spend dynamics of Washington come the November mid-term elections.
Until then, we had better be practical. Let’s be smart business people and industry professionals! Let’s get the dollars those added dollars our industry needs! Every other industry is lobbying for big bucks in Washington, and we are foolish if we don’t get ‘our fair share.’ Let’s get real. This bill’s passage could be a significant move for our Industry. This bill is especially useful as it relates to residents without older houses in MHCs, their Community operators and those who serve land lease communities.
Think about all those pre-HUD Code homes in MHCs that need to be ‘retired’ and ‘decommissioned.’ Think about how the sale of new Energy Star rated homes to those residents would improve the lives of those involved. Think about how some 600 million dollars (or more) could represent the sale of 6000 new HUD Code homes. Think about the jobs, the economic flow that would create. Think if it isn’t coming to our industry, it will just go to someone else’s industry. That’s the practical reality of the scene today.
So pick up the phone and call. I did and you can too. This week, dial for dollars again.
The Capitol Switchboard’s number (202) 224-3121. Ask your Senator to support HR 5019 as amended by Rep. Baron Hill of Indiana. The Industry that you are in will be glad you did. You should feel good about making such a call too. Then get others involved. Together, we can make a difference. Working together, we can turn around the fortunes of our great Industry. ##
