The U.S. Can Solve Its Housing Crisis-It Just Needs to Start Building More says Bloomberg editorial in the Washington Post encouraging more manufactured homes.

WASHINGTON , D.C., UNITED STATES, January 2, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- “For all its complexities, America’s nationwide housing crisis boils down to a problem of supply and demand: The country needs a lot more homes than it has, yet even ambitious reforms won’t provide developers with enough incentive to bridge the gap.” So said the editorial board of Bloomberg in a column that was published on the Washington Post. A key part of their op-ed is to encourage a wider embrace and increased support for HUD Code manufactured homes. While the op-ed has some apparent hits and misses, such as mistakenly calling manufactured housing “mobile homes,” much of what the editorial encourages is a straightforward application of common sense to known facts. Those are some of the takeaways from a New Year's 2023 report on industry-leading ManufacturedHomeProNews.com (MHProNews.com).

Left-leaning Bloomberg’s editorial makes the point that more financing support for manufactured housing should come from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Efforts are needed, said the op-ed, to reverse the zoning barriers which limit the placement of manufactured housing.
In other words, their editorial calls for some of the very solutions that MHProNews and MHLivingNews have spotlighted and called for over the years.
Bloomberg’s editorial is only some 800 words. So perhaps it is for reasons of length that they did not mention that the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 made mandatory financial support for HUD Code manufactured housing. That provision of HERA is known as the Duty to Serve, or DTS. DTS, per several attorneys, nonprofits, industry advocates, and congressional lawmakers cited herein.

Mike Kapic, an AMAC volunteer and the author of the Hunt for Liberty, shared the following three thought-provoking quotable quotes with MHProNews which may apply to these surprising insights.

“You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of reality.” - Ayn Rand

"If some men are entitled by right to the products of the work of others, it means that those others are deprived of rights." - Ayn Rand

"No one’s rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others." - Ayn Rand

The interesting and timely Bloomberg-WaPo op-ed provided several consequential realities for Americans, mainstream media, and political leaders to consider. Among them is the notion that conventional housing can’t keep up with the demand for millions of more housing units. Nor can conventional housing builders achieve the price points that manufactured homes or modular housing can.

Bloomberg’s op-ed, per the MHProNews analysis, correctly identifies zoning barriers as a hurdle that limits manufactured housing. A Manufactured Home Living News report (MHLivingNews) spotlighted HUD researchers who stated in 2021 that zoning barriers and NIMBYism are an issue that politicians from both major parties have been talking about for over 50 years.

Mark Weiss, J.D., President and CEO of the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) told MHProNews the following. "With respect to zoning discrimination Congress, in the 2000 reform law (i.e.: the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000) strengthened and enhanced federal preemption in order to allow for invalidation of state or local “requirements,” such as discriminatory zoning mandates, that have the effect of excluding mainstream manufactured homes.

Democratic lawmakers involved in the enactment of the MHIA and its "enhanced preemption" clause said the following in a letter to HUD.

“More specifically, these combined changes have given HUD the legal authority to preempt local requirements or restrictions which discriminate against the siting of manufactured homes (compared to other single family housing) simply because they are HUD-code homes. We ask that HUD use this authority to develop a Policy Statement or regulation to address this issue, and we offer to work with you, to ensure that it comports with Congressional intent.” This language from the MHIA is commonly referred to by informed manufactured housing professionals as “enhanced preemption.”

"Enhanced preemption" over local zoning barriers was an important part of the intention of Congress in enacting the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA), as the quotation above reflects.

To the points made by Bloomberg in their pro-manufactured housing op-ed, according to the Urban Institute report on manufactured housing examined in a report linked further below, "As of January 2022, the average sales price had increased to $122,500, reflecting strong consumer demand, high inflation, and continued labor shortages. In comparison, the average price of new site-built homes in 2021, excluding land, was $365,900.12."

LendingTree and other sources have made it plain that modern manufactured housing appreciates at a similar rate as conventional housing, and in some states, went up in value more than conventional 'site built' or 'stick built' single family housing.

https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/unpacking-manufactured-homes-as-an-investment-lendingtree-mobile-home-values-are-rising-faster-than-single-family-home-values-when-do-mobile-and-manufactured-homes/

The new MHProNews report linked below also includes a recap of the dozens of the top stories reported in the manufactured housing industry in 2022.

https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/the-u-s-can-solve-its-housing-crisis-it-just-needs-to-start-building-bloomberg-washington-post-want-more-manufactured-housing-in-2023-plus-2022-year-in-review-sunday-mhville-we/

In a related article, MHProNews recently published a report that examined the following from the Pew Charitable Trusts remarks provided to MHProNews.

“Manufactured homes are an important source of housing, and more manufactured homes are part of the solution to America’s housing shortage.” So said Rachel Siegel, senior officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts research on modern manufactured homes.

The new and exclusive remarks by Siegel are related to issues that have recently covered by MHLivingNews and/or MHProNews, with excerpts quoted herein.

Federal Reserve research/authors James A. “Jim” Schmitz Jr. and David Fettig echoed Pew’s praise of factory built manufactured homes. Comparing them to ‘site built’ housing, the research duo wrote that conventional house building is “often called stick-built construction, a highly labor-intensive method of making houses. There is, of course, a much more efficient way to produce housing, a low-cost substitute: factory production of homes.” They elaborate by going into a history that dates back to the 1930s, but which today offers conventional home features for a much lower cost.

A common-sense question asked by some about manufactured homes is some variant of the following. If manufactured homes are such a good value, why aren’t more of them being sold? That’s a fair and intelligent inquiry. There are several possible replies that MHLivingNews has explored based on facts, evidence, and third-party research. For instance. Schmitz and Fettig wrote the following.

“There was a brief period, in fact, when US factory production [of homes] flourished. Factory production of homes soared during the 1960s, reaching 60 percent of single-family production by early 1970, threatening the very existence of traditional builders, especially those constructing smaller houses purchased by lower-income Americans.

In response, monopolies of stick-builders, including the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), developed extensive weapons to sabotage and harm factory producers of houses. NAHB and HUD strangled the production of factory homes. Production collapsed in the 1970s.”

Per ProMarkets, “Jim Schmitz is an economist who has been studying monopoly since the early 1980s. He has been a member of the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis since 1992.” The title of their article on ProMarkets is: “Monopolies: Silent Spreaders of Poverty and Economic Inequality.”

Pew doesn't mention problems associated with purported monopolistic practices.

But Pews' remarks to MHLivingNews.com added the following. "However, for many people it is very difficult to get [manufactured home] financing. Pew compared manufactured home applicants to other manufactured home applicants and found that when there is government support for manufactured home lending, buyers are more likely to be approved for a home-purchase loan. This was the case even when comparing similar applicants who applied for different kinds of loans. With increased government support, additional creditworthy applicants could benefit from owning a manufactured home.”

That statement by Pew's Siegel also sheds light on the manufactured housing industry's underperformance by historic standards during an affordable housing crisis. See the illustration in this press release for the historic trends in manufactured housing in the 20th and 21st centuries for details.

Pew's research into manufactured housing financing was unpacked by MHProNews, MHLivingNews' sister site, at the link shown further below.

Following that MHProNews' report, Pew's comments on manufactured home lending were scrutinized by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) in an email to their members. Pew provided their quoted remarks as a response to the following message issued by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) to their members.

MHI's email said in part that: "A recent article from Pew concluded that many potential buyers of manufactured homes are unable to secure financing and suggests that expansion of Federal loan programs, particularly FHA Title I, could expand access to affordable housing. Pew found that lenders denied 54% of completed applications for financing manufactured home purchases in 2021, compared to a 7% denial rate for site-built homes. They also noted that due to this purported lack of access to financing, manufactured homes were more likely than site-built homes to be purchased in cash. The bulk of these denials came from conventional mortgages (52%) and personal property loans (64%); however, loans with federal backing such as FHA (14%) and VA (13%) manufactured home mortgage applications had significantly lower denial rates. Pew also suggested that loan applications are not denied because of home types or quality, but rather “higher credit standards for manufactured home borrowers.”

A source connected to MHARR pointed out that those who ponder MHI's remarks need to examine the MHARR 2022 White Paper on Manufactured Housing.

https://manufacturedhousingassociationregulatoryreform.org/mharr-white-paper-exposes-public-relations-exploitation-notwithstanding-continuing-industry-failures/

Pew’s concerns about a lack of competitive lending have also been the subject several reports, commentaries, and analyses by the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR). For instance, MHARR issued the following two recent statements about their efforts to get federal officials to advance more robust federal support for manufactured home lending, much as the Pew Trust’s recent research has advocated.

https://manufacturedhousingassociationregulatoryreform.org/fhfa-has-repeatedly-reported-material-misrepresentations-to-congress-breach-of-responsibilities-under-hera-relating-to-dts/

To learn more about these issues, the following new and recent reports on MHLivingNews are relevant.

https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/our-journey-in-affordable-home-ownership-challenges-and-rewards-of-quality-affordable-manufactured-home-living-hopes-horrors-and-a-shocking-peek-into-gonzo-jou/

https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/new-freddie-mac-research-brief-says-majority-of-consumers-would-consider-purchasing-a-manufactured-home-most-have-good-perception-of-manufactured-housing-facts-analysis/

https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/debunking-manufactured-housing-myths-get-the-facts-says-mortgage-giant-freddie-macs-research-fhlmc-counters-clarifies-claims-about-trailer-houses-mobi/


About MHLivingNews

Since 2012, Manufactured Home Living News (ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com or MHLivingNews.com) has published the expert commentary, third party legal and other research, facts checks, analysis and home buyer shopping tips that the public craves. Millions of pageviews occur at MHLivingNews.

Per Webalizer data on 19-Dec-2022 06:15 CST indicates that the typical visitor of MHLivingNews engages with some 7.46 pages viewed per visit. Visitors have logged millions of page views annually on MHLivingNews.

Some recent reports on MHLivingNews include the following topics.

https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-buying-a-manufactured-home-unpacking-lifehacker-jeff-somers-insights-on-mobile-manufactured-housings-affordable-homeownership-potential-hits-m/

https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/chief-economist-of-pantheon-macroeconomics-ian-shepherdson-sounds-alarms-on-growing-housing-conventional-housing-market-problems-silver-lining-found-in-correct-manufactured-home-living-options/


About MHProNews

MHProNews is the manufactured home industry's largest, most popular, and highest known engagement by manufactured housing industry professionals. Well over 13 million pageviews has been reported by Webalizer on the largest the baker's dozen cPanels on MHProNews in 2022. Per that same source, there is an average of some 10.75 pageviews per visitor to MHProNews, a rate several times greater than a number of mainstream media reports according to published online metrics.

Tag lines:
> “Industry News, Tips, and Views Pros Can Use”©.
> "Innovation, Information, Inspiration for Industry Professionals" ©.
> "Intelligence for your MHLife" ©.
> "We Provide, You Decide" © is a reference to comparing and contrasting the published statements of various trade groups.

MHProNews explores remarks or reports by the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), the Texas Manufactured Housing Association (TMHA), the Florida Manufactured Housing Association (FMHA), the Modular Home Builders Association (MHBA), the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Job Creators Network (JCN), Texas Real Estate Research Center, and others. Additionally, typically 5 times weekly, is a left-right mainstream media recap from CNN Business and Newsmax which provides headline news balance on MHProNews.

The critically acclaimed publication is the first and still only known manufactured home industry Daily Business News on MHProNews market report.

Manufactured Home Communities (MHC) Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), manufactured home industry connected stocks, along with a snapshot of the broader equities, and headline news that span the left-right media divide are provided. Unique looks at what is often mistakenly called "mobile home park investing" are also explored.

Expert insights unpack quarterly and other reports by publicly traded firms such as Skyline Champion (SKY), Cavco Industries (CVCO), Nobility Homes (NOBH), Legacy Housing (LEGH), Deer Valley Homebuilders, Sun Communities (SUI), Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS), UMH Properties (UMH), Flagship Communities, The Carlyle Group, Blackstone, BlackRock, and others.

Recent reports on MHProNews include the following.

https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/50-states-manufactured-home-production-shipments-dec-2022-report-for-oct-2022-plus-fresh-census-info-yield-broad-manufactured-housing-vs-site-built-insights-plus-mhville-reits-stocks-update/

https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/has-the-manufactured-housing-industry-become-a-target-rich-environment-for-plaintiffs-attorneys-facts-news-plus-sunday-weekly-manufactured-home-industry-mhville-headlines-recap/

The later explores increasing contacts for expert and expert witness services as attorneys and law firms are probing the controversies in the manufactured home industry.

About MHProNews/MHLivingNews Co-Founder L. A. "Tony" Kovach

Kovach is one of the most vocal and public advocates for the full implementation of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 and its "enhanced preemption" provision that could be used to overcome local zoning barriers. Kovach is also an advocate for more competitive federal lending, in compliance with Congressional mandates, as the linked statement at the end of this press release demonstrates. Kovach believes that implementing existing federal laws that are favorable to manufactured housing is one of the fastest ways to resolve the affordable housing crisis.

Beyond thousands of articles on MHProNews/MHLivingNews, co-founder L. A. "Tony" Kovach has been published or cited by numbers of others. Examples include the Associated Press (AP), Chicago Sun Times, The Hill, PissedConsumer, LawnStarter, WND.com, Moxie Magazine, The Florida Times Union, Sarasota Herald Tribune, Gainesville Sun, WorldNetDaily.com, WND.com, Lakeland Ledger, Baptist Global News, Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Manufactured Home Merchandiser Magazine, Automated Builder, the National Association of Realtors, the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), public officials including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and dozens of others.

Kovach is a multiple award winning history buff whose recognitions and accomplishments include the prestigious Lottinville Award in History from the University of Oklahoma (O.U.).

Kovach's video interviews of manufactured housing include James "Jim" Clayton founder of Clayton Homes, Joseph "Joe" Stegmayer formerly with Cavco Industries, Samuel "Sam" Landy of UMH Properties, Sunshine Homes' John Bostick, Danny Ghorbani and Mark Weiss with MHARR, Nathan Smith with SSK Communities (since rebranded Flagship Communities), and other manufactured home industry personalities.

MHProNews also features perhaps the most extensive set of written Q&A's and interviews in all of manufactured housing. They include personalities such as Sam Zell of Equity Lifestyle Properties, Tim Williams with 21st Mortgage Corporation, Danny Ghorbani and Mark Weiss, the later are both with the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR).

Kovach's statement to the FHFA on obstacles limiting the manufactured home industry and possible solutions which was published on their website at this link here.

https://www.fhfa.gov/Media/Documents/Kovach-statement.pdf

L. A. "Tony" Kovach
ManufacturedHomeProNews.com
+1 832-689-1729
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Video interview with late Bill Matchneer, JD, Prior Office of Manufactured Housing Programs Administrator, HUD Code Manufactured Homes, previously with CFPB.

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