The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is undertaking a “top-to-bottom review of its manufactured housing rules as part of a broader effort to identify regulations that may be ineffective, overly burdensome, or excessively costly given the critical need for affordable housing.”
To start the process, HUD is asking the public for feedback, in order to help it “identify existing or planned manufactured housing regulatory actions to assess their actual and potential compliance costs and whether those costs are justified against the backdrop of the nation’s shortage of affordable housing,” the agency says in a release.
Feedback will be collected for the next 30 days.
In its notice of regulatory review, HUD says it is inviting the public to comment “to assist in identifying regulations [related to manufactured housing] that may be outmoded, ineffective or excessively burdensome and should be modified, streamlined, replaced or repealed.”
HUD says it is conducting the review as part of its overall effort to identify ways to reduce its operating costs. That includes scaling back or eliminating regulations.
“Shortly after taking office, the President issued Executive Order 13771 (“Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs”), directing federal agencies to identify or streamline regulations that are wasteful, inefficient or unnecessary,” the release states. “HUD Secretary Ben Carson quickly followed the President’s Executive Order by charging the Department’s Regulatory Review Task Force to identify HUD’s existing rules that may inhibit job creation or impose costs that exceed the public benefit.”
HUD notes that manufactured housing “plays a vital role in meeting the nation’s affordable housing needs, providing nearly 10 percent of the total single-family housing stock.”
“It’s estimated that more than 22 million American households reside in manufactured housing, particularly in rural areas where this form of housing represents an even greater share of occupied homes,” the release states. “The manufactured housing industry is also an important economic engine, accounting for approximately 35,000 jobs nationwide.”
Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently submitted their “Duty to Serve” plans, which include their own respective plans for bolstering affordable manufactured housing. This includes, in general, the development of new loan programs geared for manufactured housing that could open the door to affordable homeownership for more Americans.
“This review is intended to ensure that HUD can more effectively meet its responsibilities to facilitate the availability of affordable manufactured homes and encourage innovation and cost-effective construction techniques for manufactured housing while continuing to protect consumers by ensuring quality, durable, safe and affordable manufactured homes,” HUD says in its notice.