Special interests are already celebrating that The Road to Housing Act 2025 has been added to the ‘must pass’ National Defense Authorization Act. But as hundreds of thousands of adults already know, and before long millions of American voters may realize, the ROAD to Housing Act – unless amended – will tend to benefit specific housing insiders. But the ROAD to Housing Act will fail to deliver the 7.1 million new affordable homes the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) said is necessary to close the gap on affordable housing needed in the U.S., unless it is amended.

1) This is an earnest call to follow the facts, evidence, analysis and commonsense instead of following the campaign finance donor money.

• President Donald J. Trump (R) recently said that home builders are sitting on some 2 million home sites. Conventional builders have high numbers of unsold houses.
• While there are many reasons for that, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) – which are dominated by conventional builders, so called ‘site builders’ or ‘stick builders’ – previously said that without subsidies they can’t build housing that is affordable for most Americans. Nicholad Julian for the NAHB said that without subsidies building and developing are untenable.
• Earlier this year, the NAHB said that nearly 75 percent of Americans can’t afford a new conventional house.
• The lack of affordable housing in the U.S. is said by a range of sources to cost the U.S. an estimated $2 Trillion dollars annually in lost GDP.

No amount of campaign finance donations will change those facts.

2) HUD’s own researchers have repeatedly said that for over 50 years Democratic and Republican lawmakers and politicians have been making campaign promises to fix the affordable housing crisis. The cause and cures to the crisis are known, said HUD’s Pamela Blumenthal and Regina Gray. Zoning and regulatory barriers are near the heart of the cause.

 

 

3) On 9.19.2025 Pew Research issued a podcast via YouTube entitled “the Case for Manufactured Housing.” Quoting Pew.

As home prices continue to climb, many Americans are seeking more affordable options. And manufactured homes could be the solution. A new manufactured home installed on a foundation costs 35% to 73% as much as a similar site-built home. In this episode, Rachel Siegel from Pew’s housing policy initiative explains the advantages of buying a manufactured home and debunks old stereotypes that inform the outdated zoning and titling laws that limit access to these types of houses.

 

Why hasn’t the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) issued a press release promoting that Pew podcast episode?

Why didn’t MHI team up with Pew to create a high-quality video millions could see, learn from, and enjoy instead of that static video that on 10.17.2025 at 2:28 AM ET, almost a month after it was posted on YouTube, has only had 56 views?

4) There are tiny house videos that have millions of views.

That is because millions of adults are so desperate for affordable housing, they will even consider living in under 300 square feet of space.

5) But again, zoning laws often make deployment of tiny housing difficult to impossible. Which is why nonprofits have sued on behalf of tiny house seekers. That begs the question. Why hasn’t the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) sued to enforce existing federal laws passed by widely bipartisan bills 17 and some 25 years ago meant to remove the key barriers to more affordable housing? More on that further below.

6) It should be an embarrassment to housing policy makers that the Pew podcast discussion – while imperfect – is nevertheless better in several respects than what MHI itself has done on the Road to Housing Act 2025.

7) MHI members have a troubling history that as the co-founder and publisher of the largest and most read trade publication serving manufactured housing I will outline and link evidence on further below. But first, let me share the fix to the ROAD bill that with some modest but important language changes will remedy the bill.

8) What I’m asking lawmakers to do is turn lemons into lemonade by amending the pending bill.

According to the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), citing their previously issued white paper, said this on 9.8.2025.

…which would make the current “permanent chassis” mandate optional instead.

While this reform, which MHARR supports and has supported continuously since the issue first emerged in the 1980s (as well as certain other elements of the ROAD to Housing Bill) would help to modestly increase the availability and utilization of mainstream, affordable manufactured housing, the pending bill nevertheless fails to address (or even attempt to) correct the two major bottlenecks that have combined, over the past two decades, to suppress the availability, use and production of the industry’s mainstream, affordable homes. These bottlenecks and the failure to address them in the ROAD to Housing bill, were detailed in an MHARR analysis entitled “A Critical Analysis of the U.S. Senate ROAD to Housing Act of 2025,” which was widely distributed to the industry and other interested individuals and companies on August 14, 2025. Those unaddressed major bottlenecks are:

• (1)   The proliferation of zoning mandates that discriminatorily exclude or unreasonably restrict the placement of HUD-regulated manufactured homes; and

• (2)   The failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to implement the statutory Duty to Serve Underserved Markets (DTS) with respect to the nearly 80% of the manufactured home consumer finance market represented by personal property (chattel) loans.

9) For whatever reasons, MHI could have had the removable chassis rule in 1990. But as Rachel Cohen Booth‘s report for Vox on the removable chassis topic linked our publication which has this historic item on the Hiler Amendment. MHProNews revealed MHI pulled their previous support for that language some 35 years ago.

10) As RV MH Hall of Fame inductee Danny Ghorbani, a former MHI vice president has said, in his experience the association has long represented the interests of its largest manufacturers.

11) Here are the fixes to the ROAD bill that MHARR has proposed.

Accordingly, in a September 2, 2025 communication to Congress (copy attached) MHARR is urging both the House and Senate, in any further proceedings regarding the ROAD to Housing Act (and any parallel House bill) to include amendments designed to address and rectify these overriding issues. Included with this communication is specific proposed amendment language designed to:

• (1)   To compel HUD to fully enforce the enhanced federal preemption of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 to “prevent, prohibit and remedy the zoning exclusion [of] or discriminatory restrictions on the placement of manufactured homes in any state or local jurisdiction thereof;” and

• (2)   To compel Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to implement DTS with respect to manufactured home personal property consumer loans by expressly making the inclusion of such loans in DTS mandatory.

The above is about 6 minutes of reading. It sufficiently outlines the causes and cures.

—

12) That said, there are still questions and issues that ought to be understood so that special interests don’t keep proposing bills that have yet to solve the affordable housing crisis.

As Rep. Mike Flood (NE-R) said:

‘We Don’t Need More Subsidies. We Need More Homes at Prices People Can Afford.’

What Congressman Flood didn’t say is that Congress passed legislation in 2000 intended to give HUD the authority to overcome local zoning barriers that would, if routinely enforced, could have led to millions of more manufactured homes without the need for subsidies.  More on that further below.

According to Gemini’s FEA check of the first two drafts (draft 2 and draft 1) of this report, included the following remarks.

Facts-Evidence-Analysis (FEA) Balance Re-Assessment

The core of the report’s argument is that the affordable housing crisis and the underperformance of the manufactured housing industry are not due to flawed laws, but to the failure to enforce the existing laws: Enhanced Preemption (MHIA 2000) and Duty to Serve (DTS) (HERA 2008).

Gemini also said this.

The actions confirm a strategy of oligopoly where profit is maximized on a suppressed market, directly contradicting the stated goal of solving the housing crisis¹⁵.

 

13) Last year, HUD’s data said that over 771,000 Americans were homeless. While there are many contributing factors, the number one cause of homelessness, per a range of researchers, is the lack of affordable housing.

Until zoning and placement barriers are definitively dealt with, not with federal ‘incentives’ to locals and special interests, or nibbling around the edges but are dealt with head on as MHARR has proposed, the odds are that homelessness in the U.S. will continue to grow.

When you as leaders and lawmakers look in your mirrors, you will have to consider that campaign donations may not come from those on the margins, but there are more voters among the masses of Americans than are found among special interests and their allies.

14) According to left-leaning Wikipedia, the U.S. fails to rank in the top 40 nations in the world for the rate of home ownership. If we want to offer minorities and people of all backgrounds and beliefs a path to generational wealth building, we must make ownership of HUD Code manufactured housing a realistic choice people are allowed to make. Anything less is not free enterprise; it is thinly veiled fascism. Or as the socialist turned fascist Benito Mussolini explained it, “corporatism.”

15) When Congress passed the 2000 Reform Law it had a provision commonly referred to as “enhanced preemption” because the original HUD Code already had a preemption provision that had proven to be inadequate.

Here is part of a letter from Democratic lawmakers to then HUD Secretary Mel Martinez (R) chiding him for not enforcing the enhanced preemption of the law that Congress had passed three years earlier.

 

 

To be clear, these quotes are not intended to endorse the politicians or parties that are cited herein. Rather, the quotes, facts, and evidence are provided to establish an evidentiary record from which a sound analysis can occur.

16) What happened when Democrats occupied the White House from 1.20.2009 to 1.20.2017?

The same pattern that occurred during the Bush-Cheney (R) Republican administration was repeated in the Obama-Biden (D) administration.

That is true even though Joe Biden (D), as the senior senator from Delaware, was the co-sponsor of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (a.k.a.: MHIA, MHIA 2000, 2000 Reform Law, 2000 Reform Act). Biden also supported the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA or HERA 2008) which gave America the Duty to Serve (DTS) manufactured housing. Neither the chattel lending support that HERA was supposed to provide under DTS, nor the “enhanced preemption” provision of the 2000 Reform Law were ever properly enforced. On that, at least superficially, MHI, MHARR and others agree.

 

 

17) Put differently, Pam Blumenthal and Regina Gray were correct when they said that the causes and cures to the housing crisis have been known for decades, but lawmakers and public officials have failed to act.

A Republican lawmaker asked then HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge in a conversation recorded on CSPAN about enforcing the “enhanced preemption” provision of the 2000 Reform Law. Fudge bluntly said, “we are going to perpetually be in this kind of situation.”

 

 

Restated, Democrats pressed a Republican HUD Secretary Martinez (R) to enforce federal preemption. A Republican later returned that favor with HUD Secretary Fudge (D).  This type of theatrics needs to stop. Both parties have failed to enforce the law that was passed by widely bipartisan margins.

18) When the facts and evidence are laid out systematically, the record becomes clear.

During the Obama-Biden (D) administration, HUD issued a research report that demonstrated that manufactured housing and conventional housing sited side-by-side in cities in different parts of the country each appreciated side-by-side. That defies the stereotypes that manufactured housing depreciates or that those manufactured homes cause neighboring conventional housing property values to suffer.

 

 

In that same year, Congress held a field hearing to explore why the “enhanced preemption” provision and other aspects of the 2000 Reform Law were not properly enforced.

 

 

The next year, Congress held another hearing. More testimony from a range of officials, including MHI and MHARR. In both sets of hearings, the testimonial record is clear. MHI and MHARR seemed to say much the same thing.

 

 

HUD had an attorney Henry S. Czauski testify. Czauski asserted that HUD was enforcing preemption. There was a sliver of truth to that in as much as on rare occasions, HUD had asserted that authority. It was Czauski who signed one of those letters.

19) But that begs questions. For example. Why wasn’t that federal enhanced preemption enforcement letter a routine at HUD, every time that manufactured housing was being blocked by local officials?

William “Bill” Matchneer, J.D. told MHProNews that HUD’s Office of General Counsel would not enforce the law.

 

 

20) That smacks of special interests and regulatory capture. Who says? James A. “Jim” Schmitz Jr. and an assorted array of economists and researchers who are often Federal Reserve system team members. They have periodically published their findings since at least 2018 through 2025.

 

 

21) While much of their work focuses on the NAHB and its influence over HUD, Schmitz has said the following about what is occurring inside the manufactured housing industry as a result.

 

22) According to Schmitz and his colleagues, this pattern of “sabotage monopoly” tactics dates back to the 1940s.

 

 

23) Schmitz and his collogues have provided evidence that alleges that these ‘sabotage’ tactics has undermined manufactured housing starting in the mobile home era. Consider the evidence. Pre-HUD Code, the mobile home industry used to produce over 500,000 new homes a year at a time when the population was much smaller than it is today.

 

 

24) In more recent years, manufactured housing has hovered around 100,000 homes a year. Note that the chart below demonstrates that despite favorable laws passed by Congress and signed into law by a Democratic and Republican presidents, failure to routinely enforce those laws has resulted in a depressed market.

 

 

25) Let’s jump back to 2004. Professor Amy Schmitz, J.D., provided research that even then was pointing to problems operating in the manufactured housing industry. More on her in one of the tables and details provided further below.

 

 

26) In 2023, then MHI vice chairman William “Bill” Boor, the president and CEO of publicly traded Cavco Industries (CVCO) called on Congress to enforce the enhanced preemption provision of the 2000 Reform Law. Note that these articles routinely include the transcript of the hearing, the research documents in question, plus provide an expert analysis.

 

 

Third-party AI have checked these articles and after checking the original documents vs. what is providing by MHProNews and/or MHLivingNews, confirmed that they follow the FEA model.

 

 

What follows are additional details that will explain how we got here and what will happen if lawmakers fail to fix The ROAD to Housing Act 2025.

But first, a few insights about this writer and our publications are warranted, as curiosity about this writer’s background are bound to come up.

27) Before entering manufactured housing in the early 1980s, in my college days I thought I would be a history professor.

As a multiple award winner in history during my academic years, looking back is part of what you do.

While I disagree with several policies advanced by then House Majority Whip James Clyburn (SC-D), his remarks on history are insightful and thus worth sharing.

 

 

Several artificial intelligence (AI) systems have said that yours truly is the most prolific writer in the 21st century on manufactured housing. Before launching what became MHProNews in 2009, this writer was a periodic contributor to other publications.

 

 

Several of those at MHI that yours truly has critiqued have previously praised our publication for its factual and unbiased coverage of events. As the anniversary issue reminders readers, this writer was a believer in MHI for several years. What changed is that evidence began to emerge that demonstrated that MHI was paltering, posturing, and engaged in performance while the “MHI Insiders” steadily consolidated the industry. This is not a matter of speculation. It is demonstrably true, based on both the publicly available investor relations (IR) documents, earnings call and other statements, and then carefully watching what MHI does instead of what MHI says.

 

 

 

28) As AI is used where shown, it is useful to disclose some insights about the various AI’s used in this report.

Copilot and Grok have longer term memory when a user is “logged in.”

Google AI powered Gemini admits that it has very little or no memory between Q&A sessions.

In less than a day, Gemini may have to be reminded of all that it learned before. Each of those realities have certain advantages. While this writer has used ChatGPT several times, it is in these users experience perhaps the most problematic of those four AI systems, in as much as it can contradict itself without even realizing it. What can be accomplished in one or a few properly phrased Q&As with Copilot, Gemini, or Grok, ChatGPT may need far more Q&As to finally arrive at a similar conclusion that the other AIs do. ChatGPT, and each of the AIs, have admitted as much.

 

 

29) It is perhaps due to this level of detail, including the clearly disclosed use of AI that is cross-checked for accuracy, that MHProNews in September had among the over 100,000 referrer sources that among the top 250 were over two dozen .edu and institutions of higher education. During a Q&A, Copilot offered to make an infographic that explained our journalistic methodology. That infographic is below.

 

That said, note the .edu referrer sources are ranked in the order generated by Webalizer (not necessarily in some other order of importance, size of the student body, prestige, etc.) which was confirmed not by one AI, but
rather by 4 AIs: ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Grok.

• duke.edu
• umn.edu
• uchicago.edu
• upenn.edu
• dartmouth.edu
• stanford.edu
• unimelb.edu.au
• nus.edu.sg • yale.edu
• illinois.edu
• berkeley.edu
• utexas.edu
• northwestern.edu
• harvard.edu
• ntu.edu.sg
• uci.edu
• columbia.edu
• usc.edu
• princeton.edu
• ucdavis.edu
• caltech.edu

Those are also 3 higher education that are Canadian. Khan Academy appeals to a broader range that  younger students.

• https://ubc.ca/
• https://utoronto.ca/
• https://khanacademy.org/
• https://www.queensu.ca/

We have been publishing analyses of numerous articles and research reports by various governmental, nonprofits, journalists, and other sources for over 16 years. With a tiny fraction of the budget that MHI has, in September of 2025 we eclipsed 1.8 million visitors.

To put that in context, our site gets more traffic in just part of a single day than MHI does in an entire month.

Our platforms have done contract work for both MHI and MHARR. I’m speaking on behalf of ourselves and our platforms, not on behalf of either national trade group. Please keep in mind that per SimilarWeb and various AI checks of known data, we have more traffic on MHProNews in faction of a day than MHI gets in a month. Put differently, the industry’s professionals read what we have to say, even if they don’t like what we publish. Why? Because we have long used a facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) journalistic formula and in the AI era have formalized that by having third-party AI check our articles prior to publication.

Industry professionals, our core audience, may not like what we publish. But they read us because we back our reporting up with evidence that has been validated before being published by multiple AI systems that are independent of MHProNews. Even before we deployed third-party AI for pre-publication fact checks, we had a reputation for aiming for factual accuracy and evidence-based analysis. Yours truly does get fat-fingers typos.

That cross validation by multiple AIs before publication applies to this specific outreach to public officials too. You will see that AI validation further below.

It is also worth mentioning that this writer was a former MHI Suppliers Division Board member, voted by my peers to that role.

I publicly called on MHI’s board to terminate or accept the resignation of then MHI President and CEO Richard “Dick” Jennison and MHI Senior VP (now CEO) Lesli Gooch. I made that public call via our publication while MHI and several MHI member firms were sponsors because those staff leaders demonstrably misled MHI’s own members in a 2015 email to members. It took some time, but MHI’s corporate leaders eventually had me removed from the board and then had our firm removed from MHI membership ostensibly because they had no category for “news.” That we did news as well as consulting services never bothered MHI when I thought they were a sincere trade group claiming to represent “all segments” of the manufactured housing industry.

Restated, instead of dealing with the well-documented allegation that MHI’s senior staff had deployed paltering, a partial truth that left out key facts in communications to their own members, MHI leaders attempted to silence the dissenter.

30) MHProNews exposed concerns and wrongdoing while we were an MHI member, and while multiple MHI linked entities were our clients. Exposing these insights has demonstrably cost us money. We followed the facts and evidence anyway.

I’m asking lawmakers to do the same. Doing what is correct with the ROAD to Housing Act 2025 may cost your donor(s). If you don’t do these changes that MHARR has called for, and which we editorially concur with, what will happen is that millions of Americans will be denied the opportunity to own an affordable home.

 

 

31) No one in manufactured housing has gone to the level of research and writing as our publications have done. Most everything published in last 8 years can be readily checked against other sources to see that we don’t wrench comments out of context or play other games to arrive at a FEA supported conclusion.

That conclusion should lead lawmakers to this understanding.

• a) Millions of more manufactured homes are needed because it is a form of permanent housing that is still affordable to millions. It will be a case of either having more manufactured homes, or more people living in tents, boxes, under bridges, in vehicles, or other irregular circumstances.
• b) In encouraging the use of manufactured housing, MHProNews is NOT asking lawmakers to overlook the problems and controversies in the industry. Enforcing existing laws is how the housing crisis is solved. Enforcing existing antitrust, RICO, Hobbs Act, and other laws against predatory brands is how problems inside of manufactured housing are solved.

 

• c) Doing what is suggested will SAVE TAXPAYERS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR. There is no need to spend more on subsidies so long as the public has the ability to buy and/or rent a home that they can afford. The arguably notorious Frank Rolfe is an MHI member, but curiously, Rolfe has ripped MHI.

 

 

32) As the Boston Tea Party reminds us, our nation has battled monopolistic interests since before its founding. Monopolists routinely have to be closely affiliated with government influence and power for centuries, or they would not be possible to stand up to public protests otherwise. The public, per surveys, is steadily awakening to the realization that monopolization in its various forms is contrary to the interests of most of the American people. I’m not going to say much more about monopoly power in general, except to say that oligopoly style monopolization infected manufactured housing earlier in the 21st century. Those interests demonstrably dominate MHI.

 

 

33) Let me provide a brief snapshot of some of MHI’s leaders, per left-leaning Google’s AI powered Gemini. Congress has the staff and/or a proper use of third-party AI that can double check any of these statements and allegations. Our Q&A with 3rd party AI on this topic will be shown shortly. Note that for some 2 plus years, MHProNews has routinely used AI to fact check items that were published, so readers could see the accuracy of the facts and analysis.

It is understandable that NAHB and conventional building interests are attempting to defend their industry against the possible competitive threat manufactured housing represents. I’m not excusing them in calling for a formal probe of MHI and indictments as the evidence warrants.

I am saying that years of evidence, research, and reporting reveals that MHI has apparently betrayed the independents and millions of current and potential consumers who need “inherently affordable manufactured homes.”

34)

Table of MHI-Linked Controversies and Systemic Scandals

The following table summarizes key, publicly discussed controversies and alleged scandals linked to the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and its dominant member companies, viewed through the FEA model.

Issue/Allegation	Facts/Evidence	Analysis (FEA)
Market Consolidation & Antitrust	The industry has experienced significant consolidation, particularly by MHI’s dominant members (e.g., Clayton Homes (Berkshire Hathaway or BRK), Cavco Industries (CVCO), Champion Homes previously Skyline Champion or SKY). Allegations of a “killer acquisition“—buying smaller, independent competitors (often MHARR members) only to close them—have been reported.	This behavior allegedly creates an oligopoly/monopoly that restricts supply and competition, driving industry production down to less than 30% of its 1998 peak despite an affordable housing crisis. The effect harms smaller businesses and consumers.
Industry Underperformance	Despite the widely bipartisan Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (including its “enhanced preemption” clause) and high demand for affordable housing, industry production remains severely throttled.	Critics argue that the MHI-led narrative and its failure to aggressively enforce preemption benefit the consolidation model by keeping the supply low, which in turn inflates the value of existing homes and land-lease communities owned by the largest members.
“Award-Washing” and Accountability Disconnect	MHI and its state affiliates consistently award high honors to firms whose consumer-facing entities hold poor consumer ratings, such as an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB).	This practice is analyzed as a form of “award-washing” that creates a misleading public narrative, potentially influencing regulators, zoning boards, and consumers by obscuring a lack of corporate accountability to residents.

 

35) Note that the purported “killer acquisition” detailed in the report below was a MHARR member. Several of the firms that MHI members have acquired were previously MHARR members. Put differently, there is indirect evidence that MHI has attempted to systematically eliminate dissenting voices.

 

36) Some of the facts and evidence read like a novel or ‘based on a true story’ movie. The SEC pleadings are must-reading in the report that follows below.

 

 

37) It may seem counterintuitive at first, but Warren Buffett led Berkshire Hathaway clearly had the financial resources to get the 2000 Reform Law and the Duty to Serve enforced. They opted not to do so.

 

 

38) To understand why manufactured housing is underperforming, one must grasp that the insiders are apparently carving up the industry in an oligopoly fashion. That is also not speculation. ELS late leader, Sam Zell, openly said during an earnings call that they like the oligopoly nature of the industry.

 

 

39) Warren Buffett’s longtime ally William “Bill” Gates III, who has sizable interests in Berkshire Hathway, has described how Buffett’s thinking works.

 

 

40) Pro-Democratic forces are planning a No King’s Day protest. It is humorous to the informed. Because there have been more billionaires supporting Democrats than Republicans. Warren Buffett bought Clayton Homes, bought Oakwood Homes, bought 21st Mortgage Corporation, and began a series of buyouts. Instead of the industry growing, the industry shrank.

 

 

 

 

41) It should be clear that Buffett-led Berkshire had all the access he needed to get the 2000 Reform Law, Duty to Serve, the DOE energy rule, the now forgotten by most and Orwellian memory-holed Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act into law and/or have federal regulators simply enforce them as desired. But that is NOT what occurred.

 

 

 

42) What occurred instead is that regulatory battles dragged on for years. MHI postured efforts. MHI often ‘failed’ to get what they claimed they wanted.

Meanwhile, consolidation rolled on. From the Flagship Communities IR pitch.

MHARR called this pattern a shell game on steroids.

 

 

43) MHARR offered to litigate the 2000 Reform Law with MHI and/or an MHI linked state association. Per MHARR’s Mark Weiss, J.D., President and CEO, there were no takers. The MHProNews interviews with Danny Ghorbani reveal a range of problematic behaviors including how MHI handled the DOE energy rule.

 

 

44) It is often by comparing MHI behavior to that of other trade groups that the duplicity of MHI begins to come into focus.

 

45) While Schmitz and Federal Reserve linked researchers were exposing how NAHB was undermining manufactured housing, MHI – which surely understood what they were detailed – opted to publicly align with NAHB.

 

 

46) After years of MHI saying they wanted enhanced preemption enforced, they hired Teresa Payne from HUD, who had routinely failed to enforce enhanced preemption. MHARR issued a FOIA request to HUD to see what might be learned about that hire.

 

 

47) Former MHI linked Neal Haney led two state associations out of MHI membership.

 

48) Doug Ryan, who often attended MHI meetings, called out MHI, Clayton, and others in that orbit for their ‘monopoly’ over manufactured housing.

 

 

49) MHI has become what some have called ‘secret society’ style behavior, where there are insiders and all the rest. MHI eliminated from their website the names of prior presidents/CEOs, prior vice presidents, prior MHI award winners like Marty Lavin (apparently, because like MHProNews, Lavin periodically made statements embarrassing to MHI’s leadership).

Among the Lavinisms is this one.

“Pay more attention to what people are doing than what they are saying.”

It isn’t that what Lavin – an attorney, former community owner, and longtime financing expert in the industry – said was the first time those remarks were uttered. But Lavin applied them to manufactured housing. It is only when someone looks at what MHI leaders DO rather than what MHI leaders SAY that reality begins to come into focus.

For years, people questioned why MHI was so ineffective at getting existing laws enforced.  Lavin’s insights help explain it. Note that the tables below were drafted by various AI, but were refined by this industry expert for MHProNews.

MHI Leadership Accountability Disconnect: A Focus on Chairs

The disconnect between industry accolades and consumer accountability is critically relevant when examining MHI’s leadership. The following table lists prominent recent MHI Chairs, highlighting the FEA of the disconnect where applicable.

MHI Leader (Role)	Company	FEA – Facts & Evidence	FEA – Analysis
Patrick Waite (Current Chair, EVP/COO)	Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS)	ELS is one of the largest manufactured housing community Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).	Equity LifeStyle Properties and its owned Datacomp have been named as defendants in national class-action antitrust suits for alleged price-fixing of manufactured home lot rents through sharing non-public pricing data, leading to overcharges for residents. Waite sold over $1.4 million in Equity LifeStyle Properties shares amid these controversies, raising questions about insider knowledge.
Bill Boor (Prior Chair, CEO)	Cavco Industries, Inc. (CVCO)	Cavco is a publicly traded producer that has faced legal issues and has been involved in the industry’s consolidation trend.	Testified to Congress advocating for enhanced preemption enforcement by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) but failed to promote the Innovative Housing Showcase 2025 or Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR)-backed amendments to the ROAD to Housing Act 2025. Named by Samuel Strommen as a consolidator; Cavco Industries’ acquisitions contribute to industry concentration. Critics argue Boor’s leadership at MHI overlooked Duty to Serve (DTS) enforcement, harming production growth.
Leo Poggione (Past Chair, Retailer)	Craftsman Homes	Was MHI’s first retailer chairman in 16 years, but his firm was reported to have ties to Cavco Industries.	Firm acquired by Cavco Industries amid consolidation trends; allegations tie to Cavco Industries’ broader antitrust concerns per antitrust researcher and consumer rights advocate Samuel Strommen. As MHI chair, he failed to address resident complaints, push for regulatory reforms like DTS and enhanced preemption,  or to a GoRVing style campaign. These failures contributed to stagnant industry production despite affordable housing demand.
Tom Hodges (Past MHI Executive)	Clayton Homes, Inc.	Clayton Homes is the largest U.S. home producer, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, a company often criticized for its monopolistic practices in the sector.	As general counsel for Clayton Homes, Hodges has been the subject of a complaint filed with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility (TBPR) for alleged violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct, including conflicts of interest and misleading practices. Allegations include Clayton Homes’ role in predatory lending and market consolidation, contributing to reduced competition in manufactured housing production and sales. Hodges represented MHI in congressional hearings, but critics argue MHI under his leadership failed to advocate effectively for industry growth.
Joe Stegmayer (Past Chair, CEO)	Cavco Industries, Inc. (CVCO)	Stegmayer resigned from Cavco and MHI roles following an SEC investigation regarding disclosure issues.	Former Clayton Homes division president. Stegmayer and Cavco Industries settled with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and paid large fines (over 7 figures) related to insider trading and financial disclosures. SEC records developed in the case pointed to Cavco Industries using trades to gain potential knowledge about possible targets for consolidation. Allegations include failure to enforce federal preemption under the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA) of 2000, allowing local zoning barriers to persist, and failure to press for DTS, or a GoRVing style educational/marketing campaign. Named in Samuel Strommen’s antitrust thesis as part of consolidators stifling competition through monopolistic practices.
Tim Williams (President/CEO)	Manufactured Housing Institute	As MHI’s chief executive, he presides over the organization that grants awards to firms with poor consumer ratings while failing to enforce its code of conduct against members credibly accused of predatory behavior.	A letter by Tim Williams was specifically cited by Strommen for alleged tying practices in lending, where 21st Mortgage Corporation reportedly cut off financing to competitors of Clayton Homes, arguably violating Section One of the Sherman Antitrust Act and Section Three of the Clayton Antitrust Act. Williams also reportedly expressed being “happy” that the DTS pilot for manufactured home chattel loans failed, undermining affordable housing access. This aligns with broader allegations of market manipulation to protect Berkshire Hathaway’s dominance in manufactured housing financing.
Nathan Smith (Past Chair, Co-Founder)	Flagship Communities (SSK Communities)	Smith’s firm has won multiple MHI and state association ‘awards’ including “Community Operator of the Year”. FACT: His company (Flagship/SSK) is documented as holding an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and a 0% response rate to consumer complaints.	Sued by residents for improper evictions, seizures, and predatory practices in mobile home parks. Flagship Communities’ investor relations materials explicitly state intent to consolidate a fragmented industry, supporting allegations of antitrust violations. Smith’s firms have faced class-action lawsuits and hold an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau due to unresolved consumer complaints.

 

50) When those facts and evidence are understood, it becomes easier to understand how MHI hired prior SVP and now CEO Lesli Gooch.

 

 

 

51) What third-party AI called ‘awards washing’ is a practice where MHI gives (and seeks) awards in order to burnish their image and that of their members. But multiple MHI members have been hit with antitrust allegations, and/or have been sued or exposed by reporters and researchers for problematic and “predatory” lending practices.

 

 

MHI entered the 21st century with president and CEO Chris Stinebert. Stinebert was reportedly brought on to work with MHARR to get what became the 2000 Reform law enacted. This document from the late Bruce Savage, one of those whose VPs whose name has been culled from the MHI website, reflects that MHI and MHARR once worked together to get what MHI now claims to want, but in practice only pays lip service to as their members busily consolidate.

 

 

52) Per Gemini, as a result of the pre-publication fact-evidence-analysis check of the first two drafts (draft 2 and draft 1) of this report is the following.

The analysis of the second draft of your

Based on your instructions, I have re-run the analysis on the provided second draft (2Draft4AI-CloseNoCigarSpeakerJohnsonMinorityLeaderJeffriesSenatorsThuneSchumerFixROADtoHousingActso7MillionMoreAffordableHomesGoodJobsCanBeCreatedFollowFactsVsDONORS-FEA-MHProNews.pdf), focusing strictly on the balance of the Facts-Evidence-Analysis (FEA) and the application of the clarified Lavin Rule, while ignoring any potential typos.

The analysis concludes that the report’s central argument is well-balanced as it consistently ties the industry’s stagnation to a failure of action by both public officials and dominant private sector interests, providing evidence from a wide array of sources to support its thesis.

---

 

Facts-Evidence-Analysis (FEA) Balance Re-Assessment

 

The core of the report’s argument is that the affordable housing crisis and the underperformance of the manufactured housing industry are not due to flawed laws, but to the failure to enforce the existing laws: Enhanced Preemption (MHIA 2000) and Duty to Serve (DTS) (HERA 2008)¹¹¹¹.

 

 

1. Balance in Political Critique

 

The FEA avoids partisan bias by demonstrating a consistent, bipartisan failure to enforce the law:

• Democrats to Republicans: The report cites a letter from Democratic lawmakers (including Maxine Waters and Barney Frank) chiding a Republican HUD Secretary (Mel Martinez) for not enforcing Enhanced Preemption².

   

• Republicans to Democrats: The report then details a Republican lawmaker pressing a Democratic HUD Secretary (Marcia Fudge) on the same issue³.

   

• Conclusion: The report labels this pattern “theatrics” that must stop, concluding that “Both parties have failed to enforce the law that was passed by widely bipartisan margins”⁴. This ensures the analysis targets systemic inaction rather than a single party.

   

 

2. Balance in Industry Critique

 

The analysis achieves balance by contrasting two distinct narratives within the manufactured housing industry:

• The Problem (MHI/Consolidators): The report attributes the industry’s throttling to the actions of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and its dominant, consolidating members (e.g., Berkshire Hathaway/Clayton Homes)^555555555. The evidence points to a strategy of maintaining a fixed, low supply (by failing to enforce preemption) to inflate the value of their existing assets (homes and land-lease communities)⁶. This is characterized as “paltering” and “posturing for optics”⁷⁷⁷.

   

• The Proposed Fix (MHARR/Reformers): The report uses the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) as the counterpoint, whose proposed amendments to the ROAD Act seek to compel enforcement of Enhanced Preemption and DTS chattel lending⁸. This framing contrasts groups who seek growth and competition via law enforcement with groups who allegedly prefer consolidation and market suppression via regulatory inaction⁹.

   

---

 

Lavin Rule Application

 

The report’s entire analytical framework is a direct application of the Lavin Rule: “Pay more attention to what people are doing than what they are saying.”

What They are SAYING (Public Posturing)	What They are DOING (Factual Actions/Inactions)	Lavin Rule Conclusion
	Politicians: They are making campaign promises to fix the affordable housing crisis10.		Politicians: They are consistently failing to issue the necessary strong executive orders or regulations to enforce the existing, bipartisan laws (MHIA 2000 and HERA 2008)11111111.	The failure to act on a known cure is intentional, benefiting private interests over the public12121212.
	MHI/Consolidators: They are issuing press releases and lobbying for incremental legislative changes like the ROAD to Housing Act, claiming to want more affordable homes13131313.		MHI/Consolidators: They are allegedly using “paltering” and have demonstrated a pattern of consolidation that restricts new home supply, and have refused offers to litigate Enhanced Preemption141414141414141414.	The actions confirm a strategy of oligopoly where profit is maximized on a suppressed market, directly contradicting the stated goal of solving the housing crisis15.

The analysis uses Occam’s Razor (the simplest explanation) to connect the “Saying” and the “Doing” to conclude that the deliberate strategic inaction is the reason for the industry’s failure to recover since the late 1990s, supporting the Lavin Rule’s emphasis on behavior over rhetoric.

 

The screen capture that documents the accuracy of the full PDF transcript of the Q&As with Gemini that it confirmed as correct is linked here.

53) Per xAI’s Grok.

54) The Q&A with Copilot is as shown below. MHProNews has been using Copilot on a nearly daily, and often multiple times daily, basis since May of 2023.

Copilot, it is time for an FEA check of the developing draft linked here: https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/4Draft4AI-CloseNoCigarSpeakerJohnsonMinorityLeaderJeffriesSenatorsThuneSchumerFixROADtoHousingActso7MillionMoreAffordableHomesGoodJobsCanBeCreatedFollowFactsVsDONORS-FEA-MHProNews.pdf and uploaded to you (both PDFs are the same document). You’ve done the FEA methodology longer than the other AIs. Answer substantially the same things the other AIs did, but if you see any errors by Grok or Gemini, or yours truly, identify it and link whatever only sources are needed to support your findings.

Absolutely, Tony. Here’s a full Facts-Evidence-Analysis (FEA) check of the developing MHProNews report titled:

“Close No Cigar: Speaker Johnson–Minority Leader Jeffries–Senators Thune–Schumer: Fix ROAD to Housing Act so 7 Million More Affordable Homes–Good Jobs Can Be Created. Follow Facts vs DONORS–FEA”

This review includes:

• Verification of key factual claims
• Evaluation of sourcing and transparency
• Cross-checking with public records and third-party research
• Identification of any errors or oversights by Gemini, Grok, or the draft itself
• Strategic insights for lawmakers and stakeholders

 

🧠 FEA Methodology and AI-Human Triangulation

This draft was reviewed using the FEA framework—a structured method that:

• Identifies verifiable facts from public records, legislation, and expert sources
• Cross-references evidence from government, nonprofit, and industry data
• Analyzes patterns of behavior, policy, and market impact

The draft was also triangulated using multiple AI systems (Copilot, Gemini, Grok) and human editorial oversight. This ensures:

• Transparency: All major claims are linked to primary or reputable secondary sources
• Reproducibility: Readers can verify assertions independently
• Balance: Contrasting viewpoints are acknowledged and addressed

 

✅ Key Findings: Factual Accuracy and Source Integrity

1. ROAD to Housing Act Critique

• The draft correctly identifies that the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025, as currently written, fails to address zoning barriers and DTS enforcement—two critical bottlenecks to manufactured housing growth.
• This aligns with the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) position: 📎 MHARR ROAD Act Analysis

2. Citing HUD and Pew Research

• The draft accurately references:

• Pamela Blumenthal and Regina Gray’s HUD EDGE report on zoning and regulatory barriers
  📎 HUD EDGE Report
• Pew Charitable Trusts’ podcast on manufactured housing affordability
  📎 Pew Podcast – YouTube

3. Failure to Enforce MHIA 2000 and DTS

• The draft correctly states that the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA 2000) includes an enhanced federal preemption clause, which has been under-enforced.
• It also accurately notes that Duty to Serve (DTS), mandated by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA 2008), has not been properly implemented for personal property (chattel) loans. 📎 FHFA DTS Program
  📎 MHARR DTS Critique

4. Congressional Record and Bipartisan Support

• The draft includes a letter from Democratic lawmakers (e.g., Maxine Waters, Barney Frank) urging HUD to enforce enhanced preemption.
• It also references Republican Rep. Mike Flood’s statement on the need for more affordable homes without subsidies—accurately quoted and sourced.

5. Historical Context and Industry Capture

• The draft cites Danny Ghorbani, William Matchneer, and Henry Czauski—all former HUD or MHI officials—on the failure to enforce MHIA 2000. These are well-documented and consistent with prior testimony.
• It also references Sam Strommen’s antitrust thesis and James A. “Jim” Schmitz Jr.’s sabotage monopoly research, both of which support the claim that manufactured housing has been undermined by monopolistic practices. 📎 Strommen Thesis Summary
  📎 Minneapolis Fed – Schmitz

 

🧪 Gemini and Grok Cross-Check

✅ Gemini: Mostly Accurate

• Gemini correctly affirmed that the draft’s core argument is sound: the problem is not the lack of new laws, but the failure to enforce existing ones (MHIA 2000 and DTS).
• Gemini also noted the oligopoly strategy suppressing market growth, which aligns with Buffett’s “moat” strategy and Sam Zell’s “oligopoly” comment.

⚠️ Minor Gemini Clarification

• Gemini could have more clearly distinguished between “moat” as a metaphor and actual antitrust behavior. The draft does this better by citing Bud Labitan’s MOATS and Kevin Clayton’s paraphrased remarks. 📎 Clayton-Buffett Moat Analysis

⚠️ Grok: Omission Noted

• Grok failed to respond to earlier related prompts and did not provide a substantive critique of the ROAD Act or the enhanced preemption issue. This is a notable omission, given the legal and policy stakes.

 

🧭 Strategic Analysis and Recommendations

✅ Strengths of the Draft

• Primary-source anchoring: Links to HUD, Pew, MHARR, and congressional records.
• Cross-partisan framing: Cites both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
• AI transparency: Includes Gemini and Grok feedback with links to full Q&A threads.
• Actionable policy fix: Proposes specific amendments to the ROAD Act based on MHARR’s recommendations.

⚠️ Minor Fixes Suggested

• Clarify Pew podcast view count: The draft notes 56 views as of 10.17.2025 at 2:28 AM ET. This is accurate but may need updating if the article is published later.
• Avoid overuse of rhetorical flourishes like “thinly veiled fascism” unless clearly framed as commentary. The factual argument is strong enough without it.

 

🔗 Key Source Links

• Draft Report PDF
• MHARR ROAD Act Analysis
• Pew Podcast on YouTube
• HUD EDGE Report
• Strommen Thesis Summary
• Minneapolis Fed – Schmitz
• Clayton-Buffett Moat Analysis

 

Let me know if you’d like this formatted into a briefing memo, infographic, or stakeholder alert. I can also generate a side-by-side comparison of the ROAD Act vs. MHARR’s proposed amendments.

— MHProNews notes that the screen capture that documents the accuracy of the above is shown below. MHProNews also notes that the view count on the Pew video underscores that the AIs are doing their job of fact checking. There is no error, it is rather a case that the views have increased since MHProNews began this draft earlier today. —

 

55) MHProNews asked Copilot, the most experienced with working on manufactured housing industry topics, to do a summary. All AIs, perhaps not unlike humans, need to have a level of guidance as to what to check for and what the goal is, while stressing that the response should be supported by the facts, evidence and sound analysis.

Imagine your contributions have been added in (because they will be). Now, ‘land the plane.’ Do a wrap up that is factually accurate but makes the following points. Congress has a perhaps once in a generation opportunity to actually fix the affordable housing crisis without the need for more taxpayer funded spending or borrowing, by allowing the free market to do its job and by enforcing and strengthening existing laws that have never been properly enforced, per a range of evidence, including Congressional testimony. Conventional housing ought to be allowed to compete, as should modular, prefab and manufactured homes, all of which have various regulatory standards, but none of which other than 2000 Reform Law manufactured homes have the kind of consumer safeguards as HUD Code manufactured homes, which are the lowest cost option of those housing types. Conventional builders can’t ‘ramp up’ more rapidly than manufactured housing is proven to be able to do. Scaling manufactured homes by allowing federal laws to operate as designed by prior and widely bipartisan votes in Congress will create thousands of good jobs. Solving the housing crisis will also boost the economy some 2 trillion dollars a year in more GDP if the market is allowed to work. Feel free to add in any other thoughts that are supported by the evidence.

Absolutely, Tony. Here’s a factually grounded wrap-up that “lands the plane” and reinforces the core message of your developing report:

 

🛬 Landing the Plane: A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity for Congress

Congress now faces a rare, perhaps once-in-a-generation opportunity to solve the affordable housing crisis—not by expanding taxpayer-funded subsidies or borrowing, but by enforcing and strengthening existing federal laws that have already passed with bipartisan support.

✅ The Laws Are Already on the Books

• The Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA 2000) includes an enhanced federal preemption provision designed to override discriminatory zoning barriers.
• The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA 2008) mandates Duty to Serve (DTS) underserved markets—including manufactured housing—through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Yet, as documented in Congressional testimony, HUD research, and Federal Reserve-backed antitrust studies, these laws have been systematically under-enforced, allowing entrenched interests to suppress competition and limit consumer access to affordable homes.

📎 HUD EDGE Report – Blumenthal & Gray
📎 MHARR DTS Analysis
📎 Minneapolis Fed – Schmitz et al.

 

🏘️ Let the Free Market Compete

Congress doesn’t need to pick winners. It simply needs to enforce the rules that allow all housing types to compete fairly:

• Conventional housing (site-built)
• Modular and prefab homes
• HUD Code manufactured homes

Of these, only HUD Code manufactured homes—regulated under MHIA 2000—offer:

• Federal construction and safety standards
• Dispute resolution protections
• Affordability unmatched by other housing types

📎 Pew Podcast on MH Affordability

 

📈 Manufactured Housing Can Scale Faster

Unlike conventional builders—who face labor shortages, material costs, and long permitting timelines—manufactured housing is proven to scale rapidly:

• In the 1970s, the industry produced over 500,000 homes annually.
• Today, it produces fewer than 100,000—despite a 7.1 million home shortfall identified by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

📎 NLIHC Housing Gap

 

💼 Economic Impact: Jobs and GDP Growth

If Congress enforces MHIA 2000 and DTS as intended:

• Thousands of good-paying jobs will be created in manufacturing, transportation, installation, and retail.
• The U.S. economy could gain up to $2 trillion annually in GDP, according to multiple estimates tied to housing-related productivity losses.

📎 Up for Growth – $2 Trillion GDP Loss

 

🧭 Final Thought: The Market Is Ready—If Congress Is

This isn’t about ideology. It’s about results. The causes and cures to the housing crisis are known. The laws exist. The evidence is overwhelming. What’s missing is political will.

Congress can:

• Amend the ROAD to Housing Act to compel enforcement of MHIA 2000 and DTS.
• Unleash the private sector to deliver millions of affordable homes.
• Restore fairness and opportunity to a market long distorted by monopolistic and exclusionary practices.

The time to act is now. Anything less is not a failure of policy—it’s a failure of courage.\

Let me know if you’d like this adapted into a one-pager, press release, or floor speech draft. I can also help format it for direct submission to lawmakers or media outlets.

— MHProNews notes that the screen capture documenting that accuracy of the above is posted below. —

 

 

More facts, fresh reports, more earnings call and corporate news insights are planned to be unpacked along with other investigations this weekend and next week. Stay tuned to the industry’s documented runaway #1 source for more “News through the lens of factory-built homes and manufactured housing” © “Industry News, Tips, and Views Pros Can Use”© where “We Provide, You Decide.” © This is the place for “Intelligence for your MHLife.” © Thanks be to God and to all involved for making and keeping us #1 with stead overall growth despite far better funded opposing voices.

 

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