Lesli Gooch, CEO of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) joined Chris Nicely, President of ManufacturedHomes.com, to discuss the success of MHI’s recent Homes on the Hill event and how the association and industry are using the momentum and excitement generated to continue to advance issues of importance to manufactured housing amongst policymakers. This was the second year that MHI held its Homes on the Hill event with the first taking place in 2019.
In collaboration with HUD’s second Innovative Housing Showcase, MHI’s Homes on the Hill brought three HUD Code homes to the National Mall to showcase the value of manufactured homes to policymakers, affordable housing advocates, the media, and consumers. During the presentation, Gooch and Nicely discussed how policymakers including HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, FHFA Director Sandra Thompson, members of Congress, and many other leaders from across the federal government, were impressed by the quality, design, and attainable price point of our homes.
Further, Nicely asked Gooch about the meetings that MHI facilitated between attendees and lawmakers during the event and how successful those visits were at advancing the industry’s policy priorities. Gooch stated that three policy priorities were discussed with members of Congress — updating FHA’s Title I and Title II programs, ensuring DOE’s energy standards do not become effective until they are revised and adopted as part of the HUD Code, and that federal efforts to preserve and develop manufactured housing communities include land-lease communities. As a result of ongoing advocacy and these meetings, Gooch stated the House Appropriations Committee’s Fiscal Year 2023 spending bill for HUD includes $500 million for a new program to fund infrastructure, resident and community services, land and site acquisition, and other activities for manufactured home communities, including land-lease communities. The accompanying “Committee Report” includes a directive to HUD to update FHA’s guidelines to support manufactured housing and also directs HUD to ensure that the Department of Energy’s new requirements for manufactured homes are cost-effective, with respect to housing affordability prior to the final adoption of the standards into the HUD Code.
Throughout the discussion, Gooch showed videos from MHI’s Homes on the Hill and explained that the association will continue to amplify the success of this event over the coming months with policymakers to ensure federal efforts to address the affordable housing shortage in the country, including manufactured housing. To view videos that were captured during MHI’s Homes on the Hill event, click here.
Watch an encore presentation of the LearnMH webinar here.
