Meanwhile, the Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition (UMMC) has asked the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to compel Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase their financing support for manufactured housing mandated by the widely bipartisan Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008. MHI was notably absent from the UMMC’s current and prior request, see those documents from the pro-affordable manufactured housing groups in the MHProNews report linked here.
Mark Weiss, J.D., President and CEO of the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) has also pressed for the FHFA to compel Fannie and Freddie to finally fulfill their HERA mandated Duty to Serve (DTS).
On paper, MHI, MHARR, and others agree that the mandate to support manufactured home loans to provide more market competitive lending has been largely unfilled since 2008. The National Housing Conference (NHC) CEO David Dworkin, formerly with Fannie Mae, is on record saying he is confident that Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSEs) of Fannie and Freddie to fulfill their long delayed DTS.
On the hopeful side for those who desire more competitive manufactured home lending, the FHFA recently announced that they have formally rejected the GSEs plans. That is an apparent signal that authentic progress may be ahead. Ironically, former FHFA DTS program manager James “Jim” Gray admitted in his exit message (8.31.2020) that insufficient progress has been made.
MHARR CEO Mark Weiss, J.D., has called the DTS process “a shell game.” In comments published on the FHFA website (https://www.fhfa.gov/Media/Documents/MarkWeiss-remarks.pdf) Weiss said “Now is the time for Fannie and Freddie to stop making excuses for failing to implement chattel manufactured home loan support under DTS. And now is the time for FHFA to finally require market-significant Enterprise [i.e.: Fannie and Freddie] support for such [home only manufactured home] loans under both DTS and the Enterprise Housing Goals.” MHARR’s website (https://manufacturedhousingassociationregulatoryreform.org) is packed with information on issues that have for years limited the growth of manufactured housing, despite the fact that the industry has federal laws – such as DTS – that were meant to increase access to affordable manufactured homes.
From the SEC media release: “According to the SEC’s complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Cavco, at Stegmayer’s direction, used material, non-public information obtained through merger discussions with another public company, Skyline Corp., to trade in Skyline securities. Ultimately, Skyline announced a merger with a different company, which increased Skyline’s stock price by 48% and resulted in alleged gains for Cavco of approximately $260,000. Additionally, the complaint alleges that after Cavco received an SEC subpoena concerning the Skyline trading, Stegmayer sold over 11,000 Cavco shares that he personally owned. After news of the SEC investigation and the Skyline trading came out, Cavco’s share price decreased by 23%. The complaint alleges that by selling stock in advance of this news, Stegmayer avoided losses of over $880,000.”
Stegmayer was a prior MHI chairman. Though Stegmayer stepped down from his leadership roles at Cavco, he did not step down from his chairman’s role at MHI.
Per Law360 (1.26.2022), which cites the SEC:
“Stegmayer has since settled with the SEC without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. Robert Scott Parkhurst, the Skyline employee named in a second complaint in Indiana federal court, has also settled.
Under the terms of Stegmayer’s settlement, he is barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years and has to pay a $1.48 million civil penalty. Parkhurst has been ordered to pay a civil penalty of $15,995.
According to Tuesday’s order, Cavco moved to dismiss the claims against it by arguing that Stegmayer was not acting within the scope of his role as CEO when he made the alleged illegal trades, therefore removing any liability for Cavco.
But Judge Bolton said that within the Ninth Circuit, corporate responsibility is direct and does not arise from a theory of vicarious liability.”
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Per Knudson Law’s Strommen, “Here in the midst of what could be declared without the merest hint of shame or irony one of the most comprehensive affordable housing gluts in American history, pernicious forces are skulking in the [manufactured housing industry]: consolidating power, subsuming an industry rife with lack of oversight, and praying upon the vulnerability of the impoverished in a gross, incestuous symbiosis.”
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Asked to comment on the growing array of legal allegations involving MHI connected companies and affiliates, MHI, their corporate leaders, and attorneys have again declined comment. For more related information, see the FHFA website: https://www.fhfa.gov/Media/Documents/Kovach-statement.pdf ##
- Sec. & Exch. Comm’n (SEC) v. Cavco Industries, Inc. No. 21-cv-01507.
- David Greenblatt, Cavco Director & Corporate Attorney Cavco Industries, Inc. 3636 N Central Ave STE 1200, Phoenix, AZ 85012-1998 602-256-6263.
Our thanks to you, our sources, and sponsors for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “Industry News, Tips, and View 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
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