MHI Urges FHFA to Prioritize Manufactured Housing

MHI has submitted comprehensive comments in response to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) proposed rule to reform the Duty to Serve (DTS) program, which governs how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac support manufactured housing, rural housing and affordable housing preservation.

The proposal would shift DTS from a plans-based framework to a more performance-focused approach, creating an important opportunity to ensure the Enterprises deliver meaningful results for manufactured housing consumers.

MHI emphasized that manufactured housing remains the nation’s most affordable path to homeownership and must remain a central focus of the Enterprises’ housing mission. MHI urged FHFA to evaluate DTS success based on measurable outcomes, including increased financing opportunities, expanded access to homeownership and greater investment in the manufactured housing market.

MHI also urged FHFA to take several specific actions to strengthen the program’s impact on manufactured housing:

 

• Address the unequal treatment of HUD Code homes by the Enterprises and remove outdated barriers to manufactured housing financing.
• Ensure community financing policies are guided by consumer outcomes, transparency, long-term sustainability and resident benefits rather than preferential treatment for particular ownership structures.
• Expand Enterprise loan purchases and investment in the manufactured housing market.
• Support continued product innovation and fully incorporate new HUD Code housing options into Enterprise programs.
• Make any Enterprise participation in the home-only lending market permanent, practical and additive to existing sources of credit.
• Expand consumer access to home-only financing without disrupting the lenders currently serving manufactured housing buyers.

MHI will continue working with FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure Enterprise policies support consumer choice, remove outdated barriers, expand financing opportunities and fully recognize the critical role manufactured housing plays in providing attainable homeownership for American families.

Read MHI’s Comment Letter