In a news tip today to the Daily Business News on MHProNews is the following public call by Californian Robert ‘Bob’ Van Cleef for federal investigations of some high profile organizations in the manufactured home industry.
From Van Cleef’s post today, found at this link here, is the following. The post is styled “Requesting an Antitrust Investigation.” He cites and links several sources, including his representative, DoJ, HUD Secretary Ben Carson, John Oliver’s viral video, the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform, and Manufactured Home Living News, among others. The hot-links are in the original.
Requesting an Antitrust Investigation
Posted on June 19, 2019 by Bob
This is a follow up related to John Oliver’s report on living in Manufactured Home Parks. In his report, he exposed the illegal and immoral actions, potentially violating Antitrust and RICO laws, by various companies.
See: HBO’s John Oliver on Last Week Tonight Mobile Homes Video
One of the major threads of his report relates to the actions of Berkshire Hathaway, Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage and the Manufactured Housing Institute. He shows them working in collusion to violate the law. He also shows the harm that they are bringing to the people that live in the manufactured home parks they manage. This includes many who are seniors, disabled and living on fixed incomes.
Request to Congress
Based on my research, after viewing that report, I sent an email to a staff member for Congressman Ame Bera, who represents the district I now live in, requesting the following actions.
First, I asked that the Congressman write a letter to Makan Delrahim, the Assistant Attorney General responsible for overseeing the Antitrust Division. The focus of his letter should be to ask the Antitrust Division to review the actions of Berkshire Hathaway, Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage and the Manufactured Housing Institute for possible Antitrust and RICO violations.
The second request would be to have him contact HUD Secretary Carson to have his agency enforce the existing federal laws with respect to Federal Preemption and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH).
Finally, it would not hurt to supply for our Democratic Representative to reach out in a bi-partisan manner to support Secretary Carson’s efforts to treat Manufactured Homes as an asset in today’s housing crisis.
See: HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s Speech on Manufactured Homes, “Manufactured Housing…Active Ingredient…Medication…for a Stronger America.”
Affordable Housing
Mary and I couldn’t afford to live in San Jose anymore. (We were economically evicted.) However, after selling our heavily mortgaged home in San Jose, we purchased outright a manufactured home in Rancho Cordova. I was amazed at the improvement of our quality of life! The home was bigger and nicer than the one we left in San Jose. Also, we found the new neighborhood to be open and welcoming, and best of all, it was affordable!
Everyone is talking about affordable housing. Based on my experience and as described by Secretary Ben Carson, manufactured homes could be a valuable tool for reversing our current housing shortage.
Why can’t more people take advantage of manufactured homes to get out of their housing trap?
That will be the basis for future posts.
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Per sources and his post suggests, Van Cleef has become a leader in his land-lease community among residents there. He’s actively engaging public officials and others in an effort to find solutions to the types of troubling issues his post referenced.
MHProNews will plan to monitor his posts, as we do others that are engaged on issues relating to manufactured home professionals and consumers.
That’s tonight’s final installment of “News through the lens of manufactured homes, and factory-built housing,” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” ©. ## (News, fact-checks, analysis, commentary.)
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Washington Leak – Justice Department Prepares Major Antitrust Investigation
“We as a Nation Can Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis,” Says Secretary Ben Carson, Spotlighting Manufactured Homes, Other Emerging Housing Technologies – manufacturedhomelivingnews.com
” Let’s make sure people understand what’s available,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson about affordable housing, as he spotlighted manufactured homes as a key part of the Innovations in Housing display on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. ” You can get one of these manufactured houses, for instance, for 30 percent less, and they are very, very resilient.
Bridging Gap$, Affordable Housing Solution Yields Higher Pay, More Wealth, But Corrupt, Rigged Billionaire’s Moat is Barrier – manufacturedhomelivingnews.com
America woke up today to division. But perhaps 75 percent (+/-) of the nation’s people could come together on a plan that demonstrably could do the following. Increase the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by some $2 Trillion Annually, without new federal spending.
In a series of direct quotes in context, a document from 21st Mortgage signed by Tim Williams, and video recorded comments by Kevin Clayton, these all line up to demonstrate how independent retailers, communities, and producers – among others – where purportedly harmed by action that could be deemed an antitrust violation. Why hasn’t Allen told his readers how that cost them money?
“Time to Investigate Fannie And Freddie’s Mishandling Of DTS” | Manufactured Housing Association Regulatory Reform
It’s been more than ten years since Congress enacted the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and its “Duty to Serve Underserved Markets” (DTS) mandate. DTS directs both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to “develop loan products and flexible underwriting guidelines to facilitate a secondary market for mortgages on manufactured homes for very low, low and moderate-income families.”
