For context, it is useful to know that MHProNews has provided insights on this Clayton Homes and the Department of Energy (DOE) energy rule topic before, but some messages with tips and insightful remarks from industry professionals suggested that this is an appropriate time to once again spotlight a prior Clayton Homes press release and what sort of threat it may represent to manufactured housing independents. Robert Carpenter sent a link to the media release by Clayton shown in Part I. To frame what follows, Carpenter authored “Manufactured Housing And The New Suburbanism” as well as other manufactured housing industry focused items. Carpenter’s LinkedIn profile says he is: “
Hi Tony,
Hope you are well and I should say first that we owe much thanks to the heavens for shepherding 47 along – through lawfare, through much worse, through the election, and finally into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.In the course of researching the manufactured housing industry I came across the article below in which Kevin Clayton expresses his great enthusiasm FOR the DOE MH energy mandates. Clayton has something like 50% of MH market share. The phenomenon one finds over and over again in US regulatory history is that the dominant player inevitably supports increased regulation while the smaller and startup players inevitably oppose it as an outsized cost which could drive them from the market. Said differently, isn’t it safe to say that the DOE MH energy mandate functions as a ‘moat’, a barrier to market entry? And as a student of Mises and Austrian economics, you are no doubt familiar with Austrian economist Murray Rothbard. Rothbard wrote about history of meat packing government regulation, summing things up this way:“One advantage to imposing uniform sanitary conditions on all meatpackers is that the burden of the increased costs would fall more heavily on the smaller than on the bigger plants, thereby crippling the smaller competitors even further.”I took much solace from Marc Weiss’s recent article on Trump 2.0 and MH as I’m sure you did as well. We shall see. Be well. …”
Part I
Clayton® Commits to Build All Residential Manufactured Homes to DOE Zero Energy Ready Home™ Specifications by End of 2023
May 06, 2023, 06:00 ET
Clayton Features Manufactured Home Built to DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Specifications at the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting
OMAHA, Neb., May 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Clayton, a builder of attainable housing, announced its move to build all new residential manufactured homes to Department of Energy (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Home specifications by January 1, 2024. These solar-ready homes, available to order in July 2023, will include enhanced energy efficiency features that significantly reduce energy costs for homeowners, while also supporting the company’s broader sustainability goals. At the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting, Clayton is showcasing a home built to the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home specifications.
…
“We are driven to make energy efficient homes an attainable option for home buyers across the country,” said CEO Kevin Clayton. “Energy efficiency is crucial for lowering monthly utility costs and maintaining long-term affordability.”
DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes are built inside a certified building facility and are designed with energy-efficient features that can offset up to 100 percent of the home’s energy use when combined with a renewable energy system, such as solar panels. Every DOE Zero Energy Ready Home must meet rigorous efficiency requirements, making it less costly for homeowners if they choose to add solar in the future.
All Clayton DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes will be equipped with enhanced energy-efficient features, such as a Rheem® hybrid heat pump water heater, low-E windows with argon gas, SmartComfort® by Carrier high efficiency heat pump or gas furnace, ENERGY STAR® certified appliances, LED lighting throughout, an ecobee® smart thermostat and additional insulation. To deliver additional value to the consumer, Clayton will reinvest the credits received for building the certified homes to offset the cost of materials.
By January 1, 2024, Clayton plans to have 39 manufactured home building facilities nationwide DOE certified and building homes to DOE Zero Energy Ready Home specifications. This significant milestone is an extension of the company’s overall sustainability efforts. In 2014, Clayton began working toward its ISO® 14001:2015 program, the gold standard of environmental management systems, across all of its home building and supply facilities. Since then, the program has resulted in a significant reduction of waste in operations through improved resource management and landfill diversion efforts. Last year alone, Clayton diverted over 100 million pounds of waste from landfills through recycling efforts at their home building and supply facilities.
Clayton’s national sustainability efforts also include reducing emissions through practices such as fleet modernization and an increased investment in solar power at its home office and building facilities. In addition, Clayton, in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation®, is committed to planting 4.47 million native trees by 2025 to help restore vital forest ecosystems across the country.
To learn more about Clayton’s growing sustainability efforts visit: https://www.claytonhomes.com/sustainability/
About Clayton
Founded in 1956, Clayton is committed to opening doors to a better life and building happyness® through homeownership. As a diverse builder committed to quality and durability, Clayton offers traditional site-built homes and off-site built housing – including modular homes, manufactured homes, CrossMod® homes, tiny homes, college dormitories, military barracks and apartments. In 2022, Clayton built 62,620 homes across the country. Clayton is a Berkshire Hathaway company. For more information, visit claytonhomes.com.
CrossMod is a registered trademark of the Manufactured Housing Institute.
ISO is the registered trademark of the International Organization for Standardization. ENERGY STAR is a registered trademark owned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
DOE Zero Energy Ready Home is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Energy.
SOURCE Clayton
—
Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
In no particular order of importance are the following topics that are related to the DOE manufactured housing energy rule case and the related political-economic-legal-regulatory forces operating in that push.
1) As thousands of regular readers at MHProNews doubtlessly know, this publication and our MHLivingNews sister site provided evidence-based articles in the run-up to the 2024 election that clearly reflected the reasons why the Biden-Harris (D) regime should be rejected by voters at the polls, and on the flip side, positive reasons why the Trump-Vance (R) and “MAGA” or “America First” agenda made more sense to those interested in seeing authentic organic growth in the manufactured home industry. Those articles on election-related topics weren’t a ‘one and done’ matter but was rather an ongoing effort that ‘ramped up’ the closer the voting and election day came. Indeed, it is fair to say that politics is often in the background, and sometimes the foreground, of scores of our reports on both platforms. Why? Simply put because the political agenda such as the so-called “Green New Deal” seem to be a driver of much of what occurs in government, which then influences regulations, investors, some consumers, and thus businesses.
The item below was uploaded on September 25, 2024. The two above were also pre-2024 election in September and October 2024.
The item below was uploaded on January 31, 2024. Note that all of these are still relevant in terms of the history of these issues and their impact on MHVille.
2) For instance, as a check for “Green New Deal” on MHProNews reflects, the earliest report is dated 2.7.2019, almost 5 years ago, and almost two years before Joe Biden (D) and Kamala Harris (D) took their respective oaths of office and assumed their roles in a hotly disputed 2020 election. That MHProNews report focused on Democratic New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) making her pitch that “Yes, we are calling for a full transition off fossil fuels and zero greenhouse gases.” AOC said her thoughts were part of a working document provided by backers of the so-called “Green New Deal” that then rising star freshman Representative Ocasio-Cortez (NY-D) announced at that time. Note that some believe that AOC could be a candidate for the 2028 Democratic Presidential Nomination hunt.
According to left-leaning NPR on 2.7.2019 at 5:01 AM ET: “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Releases Green New Deal Outline.”
3) While the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) and MHProNews/MHLivingNews are independent of each other, there are various times when we happen to see an issue similarly. Both MHI in the past, and MHARR more recently, have been sponsors of MHProNews. As MHI came to realize, sponsoring our platform didn’t mean that they could hijack our editorial or reporting functions. MHProNews began to call out MHI for apparent duplicity in messaging to their own members while this publication’s parent company was an MHI member that had MHI member sponsors. While that specific isn’t stated on every page, MHARR’s banner ads are visible on virtually every page of this website. There is also a disclosure at the base of numerous articles that make it clear that our editorial views are our own, although we routinely cite sources and so-called thought leaders from across the left-right political divide. That stands in stark contrast to supported MHInsider, which is owned by Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS) that has an ELS executive on the MHI board of directors. MHI members are often involved in supporting sponsoring content, events, or revenue generation for others in MHVille trade media too. ManufaturedHomes.com, for example, is an MHI award winner. Try to find articles systematically critical of MHI or high-profile MHI members like Clayton Homes on topics like the moat, industry consolidation, and evidence of potentially antitrust-violations from those ‘wanna be’ rivals and evidence of collusion among MHI members. Good luck with that hunt.
By contrast to our smaller rivals in trade media or who blog, MHProNews has systematically reviewed the investor relations (IR) statements and presentations for several years. From the very documents produced by MHI members there is clear evidence that consolidation of the industry is a focus. They may boldly state that no new supply is a “strategic advantage” as ELS has said, and Sun Communities (SUI) has similarly stated. Note the collage of items below from MHI member remarks and documents can be seen full size by clicking here and following the prompts, and the longer version of that can be seen at this link here. Meaning, this isn’t merely conjecture. There is ample documentary evidence to support the notion that multiple MHI members have on some level been ‘colluding’ and that MHI is part of that process. Consider as part of the possible evidence for that the multiple antitrust litigation that was launched against several MHI members in 2023.
4) Part II numbers 1-3 are backdrop for what follows. There is documentary evidence that for over a decade MHI was involved directly with the U.S. Department of Energy and what MHARR sometimes calls “energy interests.” As an interview by MHProNews with former MHI VP and MHARR’s founding president and CEO, Danny Ghorbani, said about the DOE Energy Rule genesis. MHProNews has demonstrably led the industry in coverage for years on the kaleidoscope of varying elements involved in that DOE energy rule and its ties with MHI and those “energy interests.” For instance, MHProNews first reported on that Clayton press release posted above in the report linked below. See the Postscript in the posted item below.
While MHARR has worked for years on stopping the manufactured housing energy rule, essentially for the kind of reasons why one of those tipster messages cited in the preface of this article gave, by saying that modern manufactured homes were already energy efficient and applying standards meant for conventional housing were not appropriate for HUD Code manufactured homes. Indeed, conventional builders didn’t want the energy rules applied to them that the DOE wants to apply to HUD Code manufactured housing. Consider this Q&A (chat) with left-leaning Bing’s AI powered Copilot.
Is it true that the energy rule standards that the Biden-era DOE wanted to impose on manufactured housing via its manufactured home energy rule was based on standards meant for conventional housing and that conventional builders have also objected to those standards being applied to their construction?
Conventional builders have also objected to these standards being applied to their construction. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and several state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against the DOE, arguing that the new energy efficiency standards would significantly increase housing costs and exacerbate the ongoing affordability crisis.
Is there anything else you’d like to know about this topic? …”
5) Consider this Q&A with left-leaning Bing’s AI powered Copilot that cites the concerns raised by the tipster specifically.
Sorry, I didn’t finish. Yes, MHProNews has received a tip that included the following. In the course of researching the manufactured housing industry I came across the article below in which Kevin Clayton expresses his great enthusiasm FOR the DOE MH energy mandates. Clayton has something like 50% of MH market share. The phenomenon one finds over and over again in US regulatory history is that the dominant player inevitably supports increased regulation while the smaller and startup players inevitably oppose it as an outsized cost which could drive them from the market. Said differently, isn’t it safe to say that the DOE MH energy mandate functions as a ‘moat’, a barrier to market entry? And as a student of Mises and Austrian economics, you are no doubt familiar with Austrian economist Murray Rothbard. Rothbard wrote about history of meat packing government regulation, summing things up this way: “One advantage to imposing uniform sanitary conditions on all meatpackers is that the burden of the increased costs would fall more heavily on the smaller than on the bigger plants, thereby crippling the smaller competitors even further.” I took much solace from Marc Weiss’s recent article on Trump 2.0 and MH as I’m sure you did as well. We shall see. Be well. …” Included was a link here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clayton-commits-to-build-all-residential-manufactured-homes-to-doe-zero-energy-ready-home-specifications-by-end-of-2023-301817471.html to an article that was previously posted in the postscript of MHProNews at this link here: https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/manufactured-home-energy-rule-delayed-manufactured-housing-institute-aptly-says-more-work-to-be-done-clayton-independent-builder-insights-analysi/ that postscript linked a report linked here: https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/masthead/energy-environment-institute-big-donors-conflicts-warren-buffett-mike-bloomberg-undermine-manufactured-housing-via-sierra-club-lawsuit/ and included a quote from then MHI member Andy Gedo which was linked that referred to Clayton and the moat, correct? Correct, confirm, or clarify as needed.
Murray Rothbard’s analysis of government regulation in the meatpacking industry highlights a similar phenomenon. He argued that uniform sanitary conditions imposed by regulations disproportionately burden smaller competitors, thereby benefiting larger firms.
Marc Weiss’s article on “Trump 2.0″ and the manufactured housing industry discusses the potential for regulatory reform under a second Trump administration, which could alleviate some of these burdens on smaller manufacturers.
Is there anything else you’d like to explore or discuss? …”
MHProNews notes that not all of the links above were properly transposed via cut and paste into the editing software used by this platform. Weiss’ article was found on the Patch at this link here. That same article originally appeared on the MHARR website is found at this link here.
6) Other relevant Q&As with Copilot on this related topic follow.
On 2.7.2019 left-leaning NPR’s website has this article: https://www.npr.org/2019/02/07/691997301/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-releases-green-new-deal-outline. Which manufactured housing trade media or bloggers besides MHProNews or MHLivingNews covered that topic at the time?
Would you like me to search for more information or help with something else?
7) Follow up Q&As to the above follows.
Yes, did the Manufactured Housing Institute mention AOC’s pitch for the so-called Green New Deal on their website, in a press release, in an op-ed or interview by an Institute linked leader?
Would you like me to look into something else or provide more details on their activities? …”
A check of the Manufactured Housing Institute website on this date confirms your point that the Institute hasn’t mentioned it on their own website. While the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform doesn’t claim, as MHI does, that they are a one stop for all the “Latest News Keep current with MHI and the latest in manufactured housing,” the MHARR website does have multiple posts that reference the Green New Deal on this date, correct?
Is there anything else you’d like to explore or discuss? …”
8)
Has the Manufactured Housing Institute, MHInsider, or other Institute linked bloggers or trade media made reference to “the moat” as used by Kevin Clayton or Warren Buffett in a critical or analytical fashion as MHProNews and MHLivingNews have for years? Link results.
9) In a response by MHProNews to the topics posed by a tipster was this.
You are quite right. I’ll look at this and plan to do a report…
I think you will agree it’s the same concept as the Austrian School thinkers. I think we come from similar thinking background. Here’s a different one, with the same point. We’ve shared this from time to time since: September 28, 2018
10) Relevant observations and reflections. There is an evidence-based case that there are bootlicks and brownnosers aplenty at MHI and in what passes for manufactured housing trade media beyond MHProNews/MHLivingNews that often operate in more or less similar paths. Because the evidence of problematic behavior is so replete with evidence that it requires willful ignorance or worse to ignore. Warren Buffett has not been shy about talking about The Moat. Kevin Clayton has referred to it before too, as has Clayton Homes general counsel Tom Hodges, who is a former MHI chairman.
need to wait years for legislation that in the past has often led to little or no discernable benefit. https://www.wnd.com/2021/05/solution-big-tech-oligarchs/
11) MHI dragged their feet for months before finally filing suit. As MHProNews alone reported at the time, there were no apparently good reasons to do so, unless it was for regulatory-pressure on smaller manufactured housing industry firms. Meaning, the tipster in question has made several apt points.
12) MHI leaders, corporate and staff, have repeatedly declined comments on the mounting evidence that the HUD Code manufactured home industry is being consolidated in part due to a combination of factors that arguably include an abuse of regulatory factors that cause smaller firms to sell out to larger ones. There is not much point at this stage in MHI denying the evidence, because evidence comes from MHI’s own members, as the quotes and linked items herein obviously reflect.
13) So, while MHI claims from time to time that they have ‘momentum’ every time they have made that claim the industry has headed into yet another downturn. Given the good laws that are on the books, and the legal tools that MHI leaders have at their disposal, the only logical conclusion is that despite what is sometimes said, MHI apparently desires the status quo in order to further consolidate the industry.
14) Despite the ongoing stream of deceptive and misleading remarks by those who are arguably consolidating the manufactured housing industry in plain sight of antitrust regulators, part of the cure must be continual exposure of how specific claims, statements, and remarks by MHI insiders relates to the historic pattern and bigger picture.
As was shown above, since the DOE energy rule was announced, several M&As have been announced and finalized. Few if any in media have explored The Moat and how that moat has been deployed in manufactured housing as much as MHProNews/MHLivingNews have for years.
Our headline today said:
Tipsters Alarm on Clayton Homes: ‘DOE MH Energy Mandate is a ‘Moat’ ‘Phenomenon in US regulatory history is Dominant Player Supports More Regulation Smaller-Startup Players Driven from Market’
It isn’t easy, but it is necessary to shine a light on the details and the bigger picture if those manufactured housing industry professional who have wrongfully deprived thousands of of their rights and potential are to be held accountable. The DOE energy rule and regulations are apparently just one more tool for the consolidators of the industry.
This Q&A with Copilot is useful.
Berkshire Hathaway and Clayton Homes linked brands in manufactured housing have been credibly accused of using regulatory barriers, their association allies, and media both by omission and commission, is the right? Provide a snapshot of the evidence cited against Clayton and other MHI members and link results.
- CFPB Lawsuit Against Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, a Clayton Homes subsidiary, for allegedly setting borrowers up to fail with unaffordable loans. The CFPB claims that Vanderbilt ignored clear red flags about borrowers’ ability to repay loans.
- Media Manipulation: There have been claims that MHI and its members, including Clayton Homes, have used media manipulation to shape public perception. For example, MHI CEO Lesli Gooch and President Mark Bowersox have been accused of trying to control the media narrative to their advantage.
- CrossMods Program Controversy: The CrossMods program, supported by Clayton Homes and other MHI members, has faced criticism for undermining mainstream manufactured housing and failing to gain traction. Industry professionals have accused MHI of pushing this program despite its lack of success.
- Historical Accusations: Clayton Homes has faced past accusations of predatory lending, particularly targeting minority borrowers. Warren Buffett defended Clayton’s practices, stating that they followed all state and federal laws.
These points highlight the ongoing concerns and criticisms regarding the practices of Berkshire Hathaway, Clayton Homes, and other MHI members. If you’d like more detailed information or specific sources, I can help you find them.
Does this provide the snapshot you were looking for? …”
Kevin Clayton himself said on behalf of MHI that in the industry’s 21st century meltdown, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost and hundreds to thousands of business locations have been shuttered or consolidated. While that wasn’t in the specific context of the DOE energy rule, his comments illustrate the harm that has been done to hundreds of thousands in the industry and millions who need the product our industry offers.
MHProNews will continue to report on the ways that manufactured housing is misunderstood, improperly or incompletely represented, and why it is the most proven solution to the affordable housing crisis in the U.S.
The following are relevant flashback reports.
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.’
