Washington, D.C., February 21, 2017 – The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) tells MHProNews that it has filed written comments on a December 16, 2016 rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to modify minimum payments provided to State Administrative Agencies (SAA) within the HUD manufactured housing program.

 

MHARR says that, as an integral part of the unique federal-state partnership established by the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 and amended by the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000, SAAs are the first line of protection for consumers residing in manufactured homes subject to federal standards established by HUD.

According to the written comments, SAAs, operating under outdated rules, have been deprived of funding by the HUD program, while budgeted payments to revenue-driven program contractors have ballooned, despite significantly reduced production levels of new homes over the same period.

MHARR states that this fundamental distortion of the federal program, which is in direct conflict with the federal-state partnership mandated by Congress and the letter of the 2000 law, would have been worse by a modification to the SAA payment rule proffered by the current career Administrator of the HUD program in July, 2015.

This would have severely reduced funding for a number of the SAAs, potentially leading them to consider exiting the HUD program. With objections by MHARR and various states, the Administrator was eventually forced to reverse course.

The full written comments submitted by MHARR are linked here. ##

 

(Image credits are as shown above.)

 

Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.