MHI Participates in Administration’s Conference on Housing Finance - White House Pledges Fundamental Changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

On August 17, 2010, MHI attended the “Conference on the Future of Housing Finance” sponsored by the Departments of the Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C. This high level meeting was structured to engage public and private sector housing stakeholders and receive input on the future of the housing finance industry. Participants included senior level executives from top mortgage lenders, investors, academics and public officials. Congressional policy makers and leading housing association executives were also among the roughly 70 or so invitees participating in this highly anticipated event, including the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI).

Following opening remarks by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, panelists talked about the government’s role in providing stability and financial support to housing finance. Among the topics addressed were what should change and what should be preserved in the current system. Manufactured housing was mentioned during the panel discussions as being an important part of GSEs duty to serve the public’s access to affordable housing.

After the panel discussions, participants broke into smaller focus groups of about a dozen attendees for 90 minutes in order to provide input and feedback on a variety of housing finance topics. The focus group MHI participated in was moderated by Michael Barr, a leading candidate to head-up the newly created Bureau of Consumer Finance Protection.

This conference was an important part of the discussion as the Administration and Congress weigh options with the restructuring of the system. MHI and the manufactured housing industry will continue to be at the center of the debate on this extremely important issue.

For more a more detailed press release on the conference and panel discussions, please Click here.

A full presentation and transcript of the general sessions can be viewed on the C-SPAN website at www.c-span.org/ and search for “HUD finance conference.”

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Approves MHI-Supported Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing Act

On August 5, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee adopted the Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing Act (S. 1320), which provides rebates of up to $7,500 to purchasers of new Energy Star-qualified manufactured homes. The measure now awaits floor consideration. The House passed companion legislation (H.R. 5019) in May.

The bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) with considerable input and support from MHI, would provide owners of manufactured homes constructed prior to 1976 with a one-time only rebate of up to $7,500 to use towards the purchase of a new Energy Star-qualified manufactured home. In addition, the bill would allow home owners to receive grants of up to $2,500 to cover the additional cost of removing and recycling the old home. To qualify for assistance, owners could not have a total household income in excess of 200 percent of an area’s poverty level.

The legislation permits those replacing pre-76 mobile homes with Energy Star homes to also receive up to $6,500 in additional American Recovery and Renewal Act (ARRA) Weatherization Assistance funds.

The Senate committee passed the bill by voice vote along party lines. All 13 Democratic members of the committee endorsed the bill. No Republican members of the committee were present to vote on the bill during the mark up. Click here to view the recorded vote.

On May 6, 2010, the House of Representatives adopted a broad-scale home energy retrofit bill (Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010; HR 5019). The measure included amended provisions from the House version Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing Act.

Thanks to all MHI members and state association executive directors for their grassroots efforts on behalf of the industry. Special thanks to Ms. Karen Brown-Mohr, Executive Director of the MHA of Maine, Ms. Stacey Epperson, President, Frontier Housing, and Mr. Emanuel Levy, Executive Director, Systems Building Research Alliance for their organizations supporting efforts to replace pre-1976 mobile homes with Energy Star manufactured homes.

MHI staff is continuing to work to identify opportunities to attach manufactured housing energy efficiency provisions to larger legislative vehicles that Congress may be considering later this year.

During the month-long August recess, assistance is needed from MHI members to personally contact their Senators and specifically request they cosponsor the bill. There continues to be a lack of formal Republican support for the bill because of the cost associated with underwriting the measure. Given the current partisan political climate, Republican support of the measure becomes all the more critical. Without bi-partisan support passage of the bill is unlikely. Click here for key talking points.

If you are a member and have questions, contact MHI Vice President of Political and Legislative Affairs Rae Ann Bevington at rbevington@mfghome.org.

MHI Submits Comments on Duty to Serve; Grassroots Effort Garners Thousands of Responses

On July 21, MHI submitted formal comments in response to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) Enterprise Duty to Serve Underserved Markets notice of proposed rulemaking (75 FR 32099). Click here to view the proposed rule.

In its comments, MHI points out that there is a long history of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failing to serve the needs of the manufactured housing market. Ultimately, this hurts consumers and those most in need of affordable housing. This is why Congress, through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA; P.L. 110-289), specifically established a duty for the GSEs to serve underserved markets, including manufactured housing.

Unfortunately, as previously reported, FHFA’s proposal only considers “manufactured home loans titled as real property for the purposes of the duty to serve the manufactured housing market.” Despite dozens of meetings with industry members and MHI over the past 18 months stressing the importance of personal property home loans, and despite a Congressional mandate to consider such loans, FHFA continues to ignore the needs of millions of home buyers who rely on these loans. A manufactured home financed with a personal property home loan is among the most affordable forms of homeownership as no land is involved in the loan transaction. Today, the industry estimates that personal property home loans account for at least 60 percent of manufactured housing lending.

In its comment letter, MHI also urges FHFA to amend the proposed rule for land/home or conforming mortgages transactions, as well as broadening existing business in the financing of entire land-lease communities.

As a result of the grassroots efforts of many MHI members, including state associations and land-lease community owners, thousands of retailers, community residents, and other manufactured home consumers submitted comments to FHFA stressing the need for increased participation by the GSEs in the manufactured housing sector, particularly in regards to personal property home loans.

Thank you to all industry members who submitted comments and helped make the consumers voices heard. In particular, thanks to the leadership of the MHI National Communities Council for pushing this suggestion at the MHI Summer Meeting and Legislative Conference last week and getting their residents involved.

Click here to review MHI’s comment letter.

MHI Holds Conference Call with State Association Executives
SAFE and FHFA "Duty to Serve" Among Priority Topics Discussed

On August 10, MHI held one of its regularly scheduled conference calls with MHI member state association executive directors. Over 30 state associations participated on the call.

Click here for the call Briefing Packet.

Included in the call were discussions on the August Congressional recess and the opportunities to advance the industry’s issues in the House and Senate Members’ districts during the break.

SAFE Act

MHI is seeking co-sponsors for the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE) of 2008 and a member of the Senate to introduce companion legislation. Members have been asked to urge their members of Congress to take action on the industry’s behalf. In addition, MHI staff and members met with the Conference of State Banking Supervisors (CSBS) and HUD last week as a follow-up to the letter submitted by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Frank and Ranking Member Bachus communicating the adverse impact the SAFE Act is having on the manufactured housing industry which was not the intent of Congress, and urging HUD to consider issuing clarifying guidance to assist the states and the industry on activities which should not be construed to trigger SAFE Act licensing activities. MHI will be working closely with members as this develops.

If you are a member and have questions, contact MHI Vice President of Government Affairs Jason Boehlert at jboehlert@mfghome.org.

FHFA Duty to Serve

The FHFA has received over 1,000 comments on its Proposed Rule on Duty to Serve Underserved Markets with many of them coming from the manufactured housing industry and residents of manufactured homes demanding they reconsider the position not to include personal property loans. State associations were encouraged to request that their Congressional delegations send comments to FHFA in the form of letters even though the comment period has ended.

If you are a member and have questions, contact MHI Vice President of Government Affairs Jason Boehlert at jboehlert@mfghome.org.

Energy Issues

Updates were given on the legislation to provide energy efficient tax credits of $7,500 to owners of pre-76 manufactured homes that purchase new Energy Star manufactured homes, a decommissioning amount of $2,500 for disposing of the old home, and the possible usage of $6,500 in weatherization funds to assist the homeowner in making the purchase. Staff encouraged state associations to contact their members of Congress while they were home on break to seek more co-sponsors for the legislation, S. 1320.

If you are a member and have questions, contact MHI Vice President of Political and Legislative Affairs Rae Ann Bevington at rbevington@mfghome.org.

HUD/COSAA Meeting

Finally, HUD has called a meeting of Council of State Administrative Agencies (COSAA) which will be held September 14-16 in the Washington, DC area. This will be the first meeting of COSAA in nine years. This is an open meeting, and participation by MHI members and state association executives is extremely valuable.

If you are a member and have questions, contact MHI Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Lois Starkey at lstarkey@mfghome.org.