In a news release this week from the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHRR) to MHProNews is the following item. It will be followed by additional information, analysis, and commentary.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION RESCINDS TRUMP REGULATORY ORDERS
The Biden Administration, in a flurry of executive actions, has dramatically pivoted away from the regulatory reform policies that characterized the administration of former-President Donald Trump. Beyond the new focus of HUD housing policy as set forth in the President’s Executive Memorandum on “Redressing … Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies” [see, article linked here], a number of other executive actions, detailed below, will have both direct and indirect impacts on the federal regulation of HUD Code manufactured housing.
Most significantly, a January 20, 2021 Executive Order (EO) entitled “Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation,” immediately revokes prior Trump Administration EOs which sought to reduce or eliminate burdensome federal regulations on American businesses. This includes, but is not limited to, Executive Order 13771 (“Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs”) and Executive Order 13777 (“Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda”), which together formed the basis for HUD’s so-called “top-to-bottom” review of existing HUD manufactured housing standards and regulations.
Although hundreds of reform proposals submitted as part of that “review” were considered, and many were recommended for adoption by the statutory Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) throughout 2019 and early 2020, none were ever finalized or even published by HUD as proposed rules. Given the apparently purposeful delay of these reforms, and with the new Biden Administration EO now in effect, it is highly unlikely that any of the reforms recommended by the MHCC will be enacted.
In addition, the new EO also rescinds Trump Administration EO 13891 (“Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents”) and EO 13892 (“Promoting the Rule of Law Through Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement and Adjudication”), which sought to curb the misuse of sub-regulatory agency “guidance” documents to establish new regulatory burdens in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and, in the case of manufactured housing, section 604 of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000. As with other Trump Administration reforms, the implementation of these EOs was slowed within HUD during 2019 and 2020, with the result that the only HUD manufactured housing “actions” rescinded through the end of the Trump Administration, were 13 meaningless editions of the Office of Manufactured Housing Programs’ (OMHP) newsletter.
A second action that will affect future manufactured housing standards and regulations and which is related to the Biden Administration housing equity directive detailed above (see, “Biden Intensifies Focus on Affordable Housing”), is an “Executive Memorandum on Modernizing Regulatory Review.” This directive instructs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to “provide concrete suggestions on how the regulatory review process can promote public health and safety, economic growth, social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations.” (Emphasis added). It should be noted that this directive is prospective only. Thus, absent any further steps by the new administration (or Congress), review of this sort will not be applied to existing rules. Nor does this directive alter the purposes or substantive provisions of federal manufactured housing law.
Insofar, however, as mainstream HUD Code manufactured housing affirmatively promotes all of the above objectives, this policy statement will become an independent basis for MHARR efforts to preserve, promote defend, maintain, and advance manufactured housing with the new Administration. As a result, MHARR will closely monitor developments relating to this directive and seek opportunities to provide relevant, factual, and accurate input concerning its implementation for the benefit of the entire industry – and specifically its smaller businesses – as well as its consumers.
Finally, the Biden Administration has implemented a temporary regulatory freeze. Under the “Executive Memorandum on Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” agency heads must pause pending regulatory actions until they are reviewed and approved by a Biden Administration appointee. The “freeze” covers a wide array of regulatory and pseudo-regulatory actions, including “guidance” documents and advance notices of proposed rulemaking. Consequently, this pause will impact activity on HUD’s December 12, 2020 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning payments to the states and possibly could delay slightly the implementation of HUD’s so-called “third set” of manufactured housing standards revisions which are slated to go into effect on March 15, 2021.
Beyond these matters, the regulatory pause could also affect other pending actions by HUD or other agencies concerning manufactured housing that have not yet been published in the Federal Register.
Based on all of the above, MHARR maintains that the pending HUD matters affected by the temporary regulatory freeze are fully in accord with the housing policies already set out by the new administration, and need to be reactivated and moved forward quickly.
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The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform is a Washington, D.C.-based national trade association representing the views and interests of independent producers of federally-regulated manufactured housing.
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Additional Information, MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
The once potentially favorable for MHVille Trump-Administration EO outlined in the report linked below was among those rescinded by the Biden White House.
The previous report referenced above from MHARR’s Washington Update news item is linked below.
MHARR’s report makes mention of foot-dragging, which they framed this way: “As with other Trump Administration reforms, the implementation of these EOs was slowed within HUD during 2019 and 2020…” MHARR brought that to the industry’s attention close to a year ago. One of the more recent updates on that is found in the report linked below.
Further, MHARR asked for HUD to fully implement the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA or 2000 Reform Law), as this Trump-era report from last illustrates.
By contrast, MHI has and continues to tout their alliance with a “coalition” of conventional housing firms. That MHI linked coalition was rapidly slapped down in their ask by Biden White House in a gift to Warren Buffett led Berkshire Hathaway. That approach by MHI, by far the largest trade group in our industry, has produced no measurable fruits in terms of increased sales, productions, and shipments. Indeed, as our report linked below exemplifies, despite MHI’s late-2018 claim of “momentum,” their plan – as MHProNews cautioned in February 2019 – actually declined two years in a row.
That occurred during an affordable housing crisis, and while far more costly mainstream housing has grown at a steady clip.
Perhaps among the most important recent revelations are found in the Sam Strommen with Knudson Law. His legal allegations of “felony” violations involving RICO, antitrust, and possibly other laws arguably sheds light on why MHI has been measurably effective at consolidators, while being ineffective for independents.
Added historic context for the path forward is found in the report linked below.
Additional reports with insights from Washington will be planned for the near term. Stay tuned.
Stay tuned for more of what is ‘behind the curtains’ as well as what is obvious and in your face reports. It is all here, at the runaway largest and most-read source for authentic manufactured home “Industry News, Tips, and Views Pros Can Use” © 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.
