Benzinga is a business and financial news site that picked up a press release issued by the Indiana Manufactured Housing Association-Recreation Vehicle Indiana Council (IMHA-RVIC) with Sue Bartee as the contact. In that release, IMHA-RVIC Executive Director Ron Breymier said: “This year, we’re incredibly excited to welcome retailers, community owners, property managers, sales personnel, and other industry partners for two days of factory tours and educational seminars.” Among the two speakers plugged was an elected official from that district and Lesli Gooch, a graduate in Political Science from the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma. Per the IMHA-RVIC’s release in Benzinga: “Also speaking at the event is Manufactured Housing Institute Chief Executive Officer Dr. Lesli Gooch. Dr. Gooch has helped MHI become an influential and relied-upon resource for housing policy, including with Congress, the administration, the GSEs, the media and other housing industry groups. During her tenure, she has secured a number of legislative and regulatory successes and a significant increase in bipartisan support for MHI priorities.”
Seriously?
The motives for IMHA-RVIC’s Breymier and Bartee to say something that is arguably demonstrably untrue is an issue worth exploring. Perhaps they come from the Ohio Manufactured Home Association (OMHA) Tim Williams, Elizabeth Birch, J.D., school of thought? More on that another time.
The remarks were made as if MHI’s deep history was forgotten.
Entirely missing from the IMHA-RVIC media release that praised Gooch is any mention of the fact that manufactured housing shipments have plummeted in the last 8 months. That drop is despite the fact that manufactured homes are much more affordable than conventional ‘site built’ construction.
Yet in 2023, as conventional housing started to rise in new single-family housing starts – despite higher interest rates and higher prices – more affordable manufactured homes continued to slide. Those hard, pesky facts are troublesome mainly to those who fear using hard facts to back up pretty sounding words.
Facts
After a painfully slow slog up from a bottom of around 50,000 new HUD Code manufactured home shipments in 2009 and 2010, manufactured housing finally achieved 112,882 new homes produced in 2022, per MHARR which cited official data compiled on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Those are historically low numbers for some 50 years, per the graphic below by MHI member Skyline Champion. Gooch joined MHI as a vice president after Government Affairs VP Jason Boehlert left MHI. Neither one succeeded in enacting MHI’s then multi-year signature legislative effort, the so-called Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act. After millions were spent, and years of effort, there was failure. Ouch.
So, in what sense then has “she [Gooch] has secured a number of legislative and regulatory successes and a significant increase in bipartisan support for MHI priorities” if the industry is in record low territory for manufactured home production her entire tenure and that of her predecessor?
Given that MHI is on record saying that they support the implementation of laws that were enacted some 22 and 15 years ago that were supposed to benefit HUD Code manufactured housing, in what sense can MHI claim to be doing anything “successfully” besides generating faux praise for failed leadership?
If Gooch “has secured a number of legislative and regulatory successes and a significant increase in bipartisan support for MHI priorities” then why did MHI fail to get any Democrats last year on their self-praised and their own legislative initiative? For that matter, why did so few Republicans sign on to HR 7651? MHProNews alone reported the obvious problems and the near zero chance that the legislation MHI claimed they wanted enacted had of becoming enacted into law. In fact, as MHProNews projected, that MHI bill failed. To their credit, for what it is worth, at least in 2023 their new version of the bill, H.R. 3327, the Manufactured Housing Affordability and Energy Efficiency Act of 2023, does have a Democrat in the House to join Republicans in support of the bill.
Some facts according to GovTrack on 7.15.2023 are the following facts.
- Bill introduced on May 15, 2023.
- Session: 118th Congress (2023–2025)
- There is no Senate companion bill.
- At this time, there are “11 Cosponsors (10 Republicans, 1 Democrat).”
| Sponsor/Cosponsor | Joined/Withdrawn | On Referred Committees |
|---|---|---|
| R Kustoff, David [R-TN8] | Primary Sponsor | |
| R Davidson, Warren [R-OH8] | Jun 5, 2023 |
Financial Services
|
| R Rose, John W. [R-TN6] | Jun 14, 2023 |
Financial Services
|
| R Steil, Bryan [R-WI1] | Jun 14, 2023 |
Financial Services
|
| R Barr, Garland “Andy” [R-KY6] | Jul 10, 2023 |
Financial Services
|
| R Hill, French [R-AR2] | Jul 10, 2023 |
Financial Services
|
| D Sewell, Terri [D-AL7] | Original Cosponsor | |
| R Fleischmann, Charles “Chuck” [R-TN3] | Jun 5, 2023 | |
| R Rogers, Mike [R-AL3] | Jun 14, 2023 | |
| R Yakym, Rudy [R-IN2] | Jun 14, 2023 | |
| R Chavez-DeRemer, Lori [R-OR5] | Jul 10, 2023 | |
| R Thompson, Glenn [R-PA15] | Jul 10, 2023 |
Since Gooch has a Ph.D. in political science, surely she grasps that it takes both houses of Congress to pass a bill. Not having a Senate companion bill means that this is, at this point in time, merely window dressing.
While MHI calls on industry members to ‘send messages’ to their members of Congress, why hasn’t Gooch or others at MHI bothered to explain how even if their H.R. 3327, the Manufactured Housing Affordability and Energy Efficiency Act of 2023 bill magically passed the House and was introduced by bipartisan lawmakers and passed in the Senate, then how they will they get Joe Biden to sign off on a bill that runs counter to his so-called green energy agenda?
As left-leaning CNN reported on 3.20.2023: “President Joe Biden issued the first veto of his presidency Monday on a resolution to overturn a retirement investment rule that allows managers of retirement funds to consider the impact of climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when picking investments.” That veto was in defense of his ‘green agenda.’ That veto was the latest salvo in the battle over so-called ESG standards that MHProNews has been periodically reporting on for years.
It is highly unlikely that enough Democrats would sign on to make this bill – H.R. 3327, the Manufactured Housing Affordability and Energy Efficiency Act of 2023 – veto proof.
Meaning, this MHI bill – when properly and objectively examined – is political theater.
As attorney and Rutherford Institute leader John Whitehead said earlier this year, ‘Circus Politics are Intended to Distract Us,’ Don’t Be Distracted.’
New readers and returning ones should make no mistake. MHProNews opposes the imposition of this harmful and costly DOE energy rule on new HUD Code manufactured housing, for reasons that include those mouthed by MHI and long and consistently expressed by the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR).
But there is a distinct difference between merely saying something and accomplishing, or even wanting to accomplish, that stated thing. As periodic MHI critic and MHI award-winner Marty Lavin, J.D., has said, pay more attention to what people do than what they say. Words can not only be cheap, as the old saying goes, but words can be deceptive and costly.
On the ESG – Environmental, Social, and Governance – topic, MHI’s website on 7.15.2023 shows zero results. So, what does that say about MHI’s Friday email on ESG? Window dressing, anyone?
More on the ESG and manufactured housing industry topic in an upcoming report.
The Illusory Truth Effective and Gaslighting
For some time, MHProNews has been systematically reporting on the nature of the so-called illusory truth effect and how gaslighting works. The fact that Merriam Webster made gaslighting their “word of the year” for 2022 and Investopedia made the Illusory Truth Effect the subject of a recent report on their site are evidence that these are is legitimate issues for Americans in general. It should therefore be no surprise that they are issues in manufactured housing too. MHProNews has been reporting on this topic off and on for years, because people beyond manufactured housing are diving into these troubling issues.
Manufactured housing ‘leaders’ are arguably taking advantage of the genuine hunger for real education in the manufactured housing industry. The remarks by actual Clayton Homes employees, per Indeed, posted in the report linked below speaks volumes. More on education and manufactured housing another time, other than to note that professionals who are career minded want to know more. Many grasp that manufactured housing has great potential. But the view from the trenches reflect the point that numbers don’t get it why manufactured housing is underperforming during an affordable housing crisis.
There is no amount of mere praise from the usual suspects that will change the hard facts.
Manufactured housing is underperforming.
That historic production trends graphic above from MHI member Skyline Champion makes several points. Among them is that the HUD Code manufactured home industry, based on 2022 shipment levels, had 100 percent upside potential to reach the ‘historic long-term average.’ But even that understates the reality. While Gooch was already at MHI as an executive vice president (EVP), then MHI President and CEO, Richard “Dick” Jennison said the industry could be producing 500,000 new manufactured homes a year.
Jennison also got similar praise to Gooch’s. An example is shown below from MHI member Suzanne Felber’s pitch for Jennison, which is juxtaposed by the slam by multi-year MHI member Frank Rolfe. Despite the public slam by Rolfe, MHI’s National Communities Council (NCC) has had Rolfe as a featured speaker.
Two New Series Coming
The solutions for the manufactured housing industry’s underperformance are well known. MHI has acknowledged them. Various attorneys outside the industry have looked into manufactured housing and have identified the problems, and in some cases, possible solutions. Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) “State of the Nation’s Housing 2023″ cited the problems manufactured housing faces too. MHARR has pressed for the implementation of existing laws and stopping the harmful DOE bill. MHI and MHARR may appear to share the same views, but a closer look reveals something quite different.
One of the new series planned will be an article focused on specific topics that could become magnetic hubs for researchers for years to come.
But the other periodic series has already begun. It is found on the newest report on the Masthead. See that in historic headlines for the week that was. An authentic grasp of the history of the industry could well reveal how manufactured housing got to this low point and what it will take to recover and progress.
Manufactured housing is hardly the only industry that has headwinds in Washington, D.C., or at other levels of government. Some of the headlines for the week in review that follow will dig into those topics. Why they are of interest to manufactured housing will be explored in each of those articles.
Other headlines for the week in review are manufactured home specific. Among them are reports that shed light on the ‘circle fest in a hot tub’ of mutual praise for each other by those who are apparently busily working to give cover for those MHI members who have openly stated that they want to consolidate the manufactured home industry.
There will be well documented remarks planned for live delivery to federal officials. See those remarks as prepared in what’s new on the first post on MHLivingNews below.
Don’t miss today’s postscript. Questions put to MHI leadership, including Lesli Gooch, will be presented there following the headlines for the week in review.
With no further adieu, here are the headlines for the week that was, from 7.9.2023 to 7.16.2023.
What’s New on MHLivingNews
What’s New from Washington, D.C. from MHARR
What’s New on the Masthead
What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews
Saturday 7.15.2023
Friday 7.14.2023
Thursday 7.13.2023
Wednesday 7.12.2023
Tuesday 7.11.2023
Monday 7.10.2023
Sunday 7.9.2023
Postscript
MHProNews has periodically reached out to MHI leaders for remarks. It should be noted that specific MHI members have responded to inquiries, such as the recent examples below.
But in contrast to those examples or others are the efforts by MHI leaders’ apparent attempts to duck, dodge, deflect, and distract from accountability. The problem with that tactic is that over time even loyal members may begin to wonder – why won’t MHI respond to MHProNews’ questions if they have good answers?
Instead of accountability and responsiveness, what MHI appears to be doing instead is producing a steady stream of remarks like those by Breymier and Bartee’s press release. The ‘circle fest in a hot tub’ is busily praising Gooch, or whomever in their circle. That praise of Gooch, cited above and posted again below should be juxtaposed with the facts above and those in the emailed inquiry to MHI leaders, posted below.
“Also speaking at the event is Manufactured Housing Institute Chief Executive Officer Dr. Lesli Gooch. Dr. Gooch has helped MHI become an influential and relied-upon resource for housing policy, including with Congress, the administration, the GSEs, the media and other housing industry groups. During her tenure, she has secured a number of legislative and regulatory successes and a significant increase in bipartisan support for MHI priorities.”
On 6.9.2023 at 2PM, MHProNews sent the following inquiry that included concerns about the downturn and other issues raised herein. Note at the time of this outreach, the industry downturn was in its 7th month, but has now entered month eight.
| from: | L. A. Tony Kovach for MHProNews | ||
| to: | William “Bill” Boor – Cavco Industries [MHI Vice Chairman] Leo Pignone – MHI Chairman and leader at Cavco owned Craftsman Homes, Tom Hodges – General Council at Clayton Homes and prior MHI Chairman Lesli Gooch, Ph.D., CEO @ MfgHome.org David Goch @wc-b.com [an MHI outside attorney] Mark Yost @ ChampionHomes.com [MHI board member] Kevin Clayton @ Clayton Homes [Largest MHI producer and longtime prior MHI board member] |
| date: | Jun 9, 2023, 2:00 PM | ||
| subject: | MHI Leaders – Request for comments – BCCs to specific MHI members, federal officials, and other stakeholders |
Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) Board, Staff, and Legal Leaders,
In no particular order of importance, please email your responses to each of the following questions of concern thousands of manufactured home professionals and millions of affordable housing seekers.
1) MHI is obviously aware of the now seven (7) month downturn of new manufactured home production. During a recent earnings call, analyst Gregory Palm asked MHI Vice Chairman, and Cavco Industries CEO to explain why is manufactured housing production so weak? Andrew Justus, J.D., in an op-ed to the Hill asked the question, “What is Holding Manufactured Homes Back?” Why didn’t MHI directly address those issues in your communications with members and with the broader public? How can MHI influence public policy without specifically addressing obvious issues?
2) As you know, MHI recently issued an emailed document to the “Federated States” email list entitled “Changes Needed to Support Manufactured Housing.” MHI in general, and “MHI 2.0” current CEO Leslie Gooch in particular, is on record saying that “HUD should implement and enforce its enhanced preemption authority.” why is there no mention of getting HUD and/or members of Congress to fully and properly implement the so called federal “enhanced preemption” under the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA) of 2000?
3) Similarly, why doesn’t MHI post its own emailed ‘news’ to its own website as the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) does to their website? If the information is sincere and useful, then why not give it the maximum possible exposure?
4) If MHI is serious about getting “enhanced preemption” under the MHIA implemented, why is there no mention of those two words on the public side of the MHI website? Similarly, why doesn’t MHI uses that term – referred to by Kevin Clayton, Cavco’s Manuel “Manny” Santana, as well as Ms. Gooch among others – whenever you post on social media, or issue an op-ed or press release? Why hasn’t MHI pressed members of Congress to hold new hearings on the failure to fully and properly enforce the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 – as occurred in 2011 and 2012?
5) In “Changes Needed to Support Manufactured Housing” there is no mention of the Duty to Serve Manufactured Housing (DTS) made law under the Housing and Economic Recover Act (HERA) of 2008. Ms. Gooch claimed that MHI was working for that effort. If so, then why did Tim Williams with 21st Mortgage, who is a prior MHI chair and has long been on the MHI board of directors, said he was “happy” that the GSEs pilot program failed? Why didn’t MHI join the coalition of nonprofits that included some MHI members to press FHFA to get Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to launch a chattel loan program? Hasn’t CFED/Prosperity Now’s Doug Ryan largely been proven correct?
6) MHI finally acted by joining the Texas Manufactured Housing Association (TMHA) in a suit against the Department of Energy (DOE) to stop the implementation of an energy rule that your own attorneys argued would cause “irreparable harm.” Why isn’t MHI mimicking MHARR and the Wall Street Journal editorial and others by calling for “killing” the DOE energy rule entirely?
7) Now that MHI has enjoyed what some might think of as a modest measure of success by getting the DOE energy rule stalled, why doesn’t MHI deploy litigation to get HUD and the FHFA to follow the law on enhanced preemption and DTS? Why not join with MHARR to get Congress to hold hearings and act to see that those good laws are enforced so that manufactured housing can robustly grow again?
8) In the first part of 2023 three attorneys have raised issues that MHI says they care about.
- ‘Frustration and Hope’ – Law Prof Fran Quigley Slams Frank Rolfe and ‘Wall Street Holding a Gun to Mobile Home Residents’ Heads’ – Statements, Apt Manufactured Home Facts, and Expert AnalysisApparently, per sources, MHI has not acted against any of its own members who have apparently failed to uphold your own so-called Code of Ethical Conduct? If there has been any such action, please show evidence of it.
- Andrew Justus’s op-ed in The Hillbegs for enhanced preemption to be deployed as a response, doesn’t it?
- Perhaps as or more embarrassing is the remarks by law professor Daniel R. Mandelkerin a paper on barriers to manufactured housing argued starting is his abstract that: “A support organization is needed that can provide litigation and legislative support to help manufactured housing advocates with zoning reform. Statutory reform proposals for legislative change should be included in local zoning ordinances.”
9) To our knowledge, MHI has never responded to what attorney Samuel “Sam” Strommen evidence-based allegations in his Knudson Law paper that accused MHI and some of its leading brands of colluding to monopolize the manufactured housing market. Recall Strommen said the following.
“In the year 2000, Congress passed the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act.96 This act authorized “enhanced preemption,” which superseded all state and municipal standards, allowing manufacturers to deliver and install manufactured homes in separate jurisdictions provided they meet HUD standards.97 In 2008, the Federal Housing Financing Authority [FHFA], under the authority of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, implemented an expanded Duty to Serve regulation, requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to facilitate home financing for very low-, low-, and moderate-income families.98 It should follow logically, then, that it should be cheaper and easier for residents of any state to finance and acquire a manufactured home. Unfortunately, this is not the case.”
That sounds like a different phrasing of what MHARR said earlier this week.
“There may be no greater indicator of collusion by the industry Big 3 through the MHI than HUD’s ongoing failure to implement enhanced preemption and for the [FHFA to compel the] GSEs to follow through on the Duty to Serve mandate. To call this ongoing failure a coincidence is a risible proposition: promotion of these runs contrary to the Big 3—and Clayton’s—interests in particular.”
“MHIs lobbying of the FHFA, or for that matter HUD, seems to invariably result in in policies that either benefit the Big 3, or at the very least, mitigate detriment. The outcome of these lobbying efforts is stultifying at best, and an abject failure at worst.”
Strommen accused MHI and some of it major brands of being guilty of apparent “felony” violations of federal antitrust laws.
Strommen said: “The author of this paper submits that the MHI’s conduct in obfuscation judicious decision-making by the [FHFA and HUD] constitutes a conspiracy to restrain trade under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and by virtue of the misrepresentative nature of the conduct, should not be afforded Noerr protection.”
MHI has asked MHI corporate and staff leaders several times in recent years to explain the bizarre behavior if in fact MHI is seriously interested in robustly growing the industry as MHI leaders have claimed.
Isn’t Strommen correct in saying that MHI leaders are apparently interested in fostering consolidation?
There is more that could be said. But let me reiterate the offer for MHI leaders, individually or collectively, to respond to any of our articles on either ManufacturedHomeProNews.com or ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com. If there are factual or logical errors, please point them out.
But absent that, based on what an attorney recently advised MHProNews – so long as a conspiracy is ongoing, then the elements of the conspiracy have not had the statues of limitations expire. For instance, the letter by Tim Williams in 2009, which Strommen referenced as an apparent antitrust violation, would still be actionable.
The late Sam Zell said it bluntly. He likes the oligopoly structure of the manufactured home industry. That, per sources, can be construed as evidence for intent to violate antitrust law and other laws.
You know the drill. Please email your reply to each of the questions above. We plan to publish a report on Sunday. Should you not be able to meet that timeline for whatever reason, please feel free to respond next week.
Thank you.
Tony …”
[i.e.: L.A. “Tony” Kovach for MHProNews.com]
MHI was also asked to weigh in on the issues raised in the outreach found in the popular report, linked below.
In those and other cases, MHI’s response? Silence. MHProNews received confirmation that messages were received, but there are no known actual responses to the probing questions asked.
When Silence Isn’t Golden…
MHI, their attorneys, and corporate leaders have what amounts to an open invitation to respond to the evidence-based concerns and allegations, like those stated and linked herein. While in the past MHI leaders would reply in a timely manner, much as MHI member Triad’s President Tolbert did on a Sunday morning during what for many was a long Independence Day holiday weekend.
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MHI’s leaders and competing publishers who are in the MHI orbit have previously praised this publication. But after a series of tips and evidence was obtained and MHProNews began pressing MHI leaders on certain issues that pointed to internal industry issues, after making some threats, MHI eventually went silent and literally ducked questions.
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Added Insights on Gooch
This article began by looking at what MHA-RVIC’s Breymier and Bartee had to say about Gooch via a press release found in Benzinga. Once the facts of manufactured housing are properly understood, and association leaders certainly should be aware of the basic facts of manufactured housing, then a closer look at Gooch becomes quite revealing.
For example. In the early days of the Biden regime, Gooch published the op-ed linked below. It certainly sounds good.
But when an actual black civic leader stepped forward to ask Lesli Gooch to act on behalf of his residents, community, and constituents, Gooch offered platitudes instead of action.
As Frank Rolfe previously put it about MHI and their leadership, hypocrisy anyone?
Gooch was credibly accused with documents that demonstrated that she was being paid by site builders for advocacy while she was on ‘MHI time.’
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What happened? Apparently, nothing. Oddly, per MHI’s 990, she was ‘bonused.’
A look at her career history revealed that she was hardly a success. Indeed, a cloud settled around Gooch before she joined MHI, as was detailed in the report linked below. Which begs the question. Who vetted Gooch? Was she hired despite past controversies, or because of them?
Added Insights on MHI in the 21st Century
There is an argument to be made that following the formal entry of Berkshire Hathaway into the Manufactured Housing Industry in 2002 and 2003, that the nature of MHI began to change.
As MHProNews began to realize that MHI was apparently posturing and paltering instead of talking straight to their own members.
MHI has apparently forged an ‘amen corner’ of ‘trade publishers’ and ‘bloggers’ who beyond promoting themselves and/or each other are routinely in the business of promoting whatever MHI says. In some cases, one may posture scolding MHI, but the fact that they are still embraced on the inside of that circle speaks volumes about the reality of the smoke generating game.
While there may be occasional indirect concerns raised by sources like those named (see further below as an example), they are not typically done in a manner that would put MHI leaders on the hotseat. Quite the opposite. MHInsider, for instance, has given cover to high profile MHI member companies that apparently violate the MHI Code of Ethical Conduct. These arguably raise concerns about deceptive trade practices, including what looks to be false advertising that could impact smaller businesses, consumers, taxpayers, stockholders, and others. Several MHI awards have been given to companies that instead seem to merit corrective action under MHI’s postured Code of Ethical Conduct.
Attorney Samuel “Sam” Strommen published a detailed report on concerns about MHI and their major brands while he was still with Knudson Law.
Pro-MHI emeritus member and blogger George Allen pointed out earlier this year in a post that 15 state associations have teamed up with ManufacturedHomes.com to promote the industry. What did Allen say? Among other things: “And manufacturedhomes.com is working with 15 state associations to enhance their online presence. The unasked question, in my mind, was “Why aren’t all state MH associations on board to improve their representation of manufactured housing and land lease communities nationwide?” The obvious answer is, why would other state associations join in an effort that has apparently not accomplished the purported purpose of marketing. Namely, to sell more, not sell less. When Allen made those remarks, the industry was already months into its downturn.
But common sense, deductive reasoning or ‘logic’ may not be a strength for Allen. From that same post, Allen flip flopped again, as he said this.
While he tried to pin some responsibility on that with MHARR, MHARR is a production trade group, not a post-production trade group. Marketing is a post-production issue, as MHProNews has explained several times before. MHARR is doing above and beyond their per-se mandate of focusing on production issues by raising these post-production concerns. Instead of pointing that out, Allen attempted to obscure the issue.
Allen claims to be an ‘industry historian,’ but he failed to point out that MHI has talked about marketing the industry since at least 2006. Why didn’t he mention in that context the controversies related to the MHI-commissioned Roper Report? Much of Roper’s research was embarrassing for manufactured housing, and thus too for MHI. But their then VP of Communications, the now late Bruce Savage, attempted to turn lemons into lemonade. Fair enough. But the reality is that nothing happened with Roper’s research.
Nor did self-proclaimed historian Allen point out that Kevin Clayton bragged on video in 2011 that ‘the industry’ (i.e.: a kind of verbal shorthand by MHI members for MHI) was prepared to do a national marketing and image campaign. What happened? As Allen de facto pointed out, nothing of the kind (that’s effective, see CrossMods and Clayton’s plug of the same). While Kevin said that production could “double” due in part to CrossMods, MHI itself admitted that developers were moving away from CrossMods.
MHARR data points out the cold hard facts. “Cumulative production for 2023 is now 35,719 homes, a 33.8% decrease from the 50,286 homes produced over the same period during 2022,” said MHARR in their statement above.
So, while Allen is apparently used by MHI as an ‘attack dog’ to act as their de facto surrogate to blur realities, Allen’s own musings – put in context with more complete facts – reveals just how poorly MHI, MHInsider, and ManufacturedHomes.com are each doing. Allen can attempt to obscure reality, blow smoke, and praise those three all he wants to, and he may succeed with some of his followers. But one of several questions that arise are those sources involved in a scheme that involves deceptive trade practices. He or others in the MHI orbit should make clear and legally necessary disclaimers.
There are sufficient numbers of people that are or where in the MHI orbit to make it plain that they are not doing their claimed job of “Improve the operating environment for the manufactured housing industry and expand the demand for manufactured homes…” and “ACCUMULATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRY INFORMATION AND STATISTICS TO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, THE MEDIA, AND GENERAL PUBLIC.” Those remarks are made under penalties of perjury. MHI said that they submit their 990 to their board before submitting it. If so, what is the legal exposure of those various board members? To Schmitz’s point about sabotaging monopoly practices, MHI has boldly stated that they are teaming up with the industry’s competitors. MHI’s CEO Lesli Gooch, Ph.D. has per whistleblower documents posted here been paid by the industry’s competitors while apparently working on MHI’s time and dime. The consequences for Gooch? Apparently, nothing.
The facts point to either massive incompetence or corruption. Incompetence should be ruled out because these are educated people, some of whom have years of manufactured housing industry experience. Yet the industry is still spiraling downward while more costly conventional housing surges up?
Some may fear taking on MHI because of the apparent backing of Warren Buffett led Berkshire Hathaway. But Berkshire’s own attorney, as well as those for MHI, Clayton, and others, have failed to respond to the growing body of evidence of MHI’s problematic behavior.
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What is the point of all this underperformance? Apparently, consolidation. Flagship, Cavco, Skyline Champion, and other MHI members have said so in their own words. So, while MHI apparently pretends to be working to grow the industry, they are instead subverting it so their dominating brands can consolidate a ‘fragmented’ industry.
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Conclusion and Looking Ahead
There is evidence of antitrust violations. There is evidence for deceptive trade practices. There is evidence that MHI has filed statements with the IRS that could be deemed perjury. MHI has apparently forged an ‘amen corner’ of publishers that claim to be providing ‘news’ but who are in their respective unique ways giving MHI cover. MHInsider is a subset of ELS, which should raise SEC related questions regarding apparently misinformation. ManufacturedHomes.com is arguably taking money – and reportedly sizable sums – from MHARR members while the industry is shrinking again. A variety of sources have indicated to MHProNews that attorneys, public officials, stockholders, and others are among those who routinely read reports here. It is unclear when someone may act on these items. Antitrust enforcers in two states have told MHProNews that they see reasons for concern. And per legal sources, when a conspiracy is ongoing – and presuming this is a de facto conspiracy to consolidate manufactured housing in an oligopoly fashion – then the statute of limitations has not yet begun to run, much less expired.
MHProNews will dig deeper on each of these topics and others vexing issues that emerge. To learn more read the linked and related reports. Note that the typical MHProNews reader in 2022 visited some 10+ pages per visit. Should any of the sources cited and sent an inquiry decide to respond, MHProNews stand ready to provide their response. ###
Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.’
