Jason Boehlert, vice president of government relations for the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), shown here explaining the landscape of legislative affairs inside the Washington, D.C. beltway at the MHI legislative session government affairs briefing Feb. 25. His presentation included pending legislation that would provide regulatory relief for the manufactured housing industry. The House has bi-partisan support for the legislation but it needs sponsors in the Senate. MHI is urging members and industry stakeholders to contact their congressional representatives to support H.R.3849 that addresses two issues that affect consumers ability to obtain financing for MH: Reducing the threshold by which small balance manufactured home personal property loans are considered High-Cost Mortgage Loans under provisions within Dodd-Frank; and two, clarifying that those selling manufactured homes—who are not fundamentally engaged in the business of originating mortgage loans—are not to be defined as mortgage originators under the SAFE Act.
