Washington, D.C., July 1, 2019 – The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) in a June 26, 2019 communication to both houses of Congress (copies attached), has called on legislators to take no action on pending proposed bills that are at best unnecessary and, at worst, harmful and damaging to both the mainstream HUD Code manufactured housing industry and the lower and moderate-income American families that rely on those homes for affordable homeownership.
These bills (S. 1804 in the Senate and H.R. 926 in the House), identically titled “The Manufactured Housing Modernization Act of 2019,” would create confusion in the manufactured housing marketplace, would confuse the federal regulatory structure of the industry, confuse the states and localities that regulate manufactured homes after they leave the factory, and depress the price and market value of existing, mainstream, HUD Code manufactured homes. MHARR’s communication, accordingly, details and explains each of these points, and urges Congress not to move forward with such legislation. Instead, it offers suggested language that could easily be attached to any moving housing or consumer finance legislation, which would eliminate any negative unintended consequences.
In Washington, D.C., MHARR President and CEO, Mark Weiss, stated: “Congress, over many decades, has been very helpful to both the HUD Code industry and consumers of manufactured housing, which, in substantial part, is why mainstream, affordable, HUD Code manufactured housing has become one of the key solutions to the affordable housing crisis in the United States. Consequently, we believe that these bills are both sincere and well-intended by their sponsors.” Weiss continued, “unfortunately, though, they would unleash unintended consequences that would not only undermine the gains that the industry has made since the enactment of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000, but would ‘move the goalposts’ on the future use and acceptance of mainstream manufactured homes in ways that would be extremely damaging; thus MHARR’s suggested legislative language in lieu of these bills.”
The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform is a Washington, D.C.-based national trade association representing the views and interests of independent producers of federally-regulated manufactured housing.
