Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/140471
EXCLUSIVE TO THE JOURNAL Key Session Held Between MHARR Executives and GAO Officials A group of MHARR member-company chief executives (comprised of the current MHARR Chairman and two past chairmen) met in Washington, D.C. in May 2013 with officials of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) currently conducting an investigation of the HUD manufactured housing program at the request of Congress. MHARR arranged the meeting based on interest expressed by GAO officials earlier this year in meeting personally with manufacturing executives to directly address inquiries and issues concerning their investigation of the HUD program as framed by Congress' written referral including, most particularly, the full and proper implementation of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 and the role of the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC). MHARR, however, was careful to JULY 2013 10 THE JOURNAL first address in writing – and collectively on behalf of all its members -- the relevant issues and potential misdirection of the GAO investigation in a comprehensive package sent to GAO on April 11, 2013, before arranging this face-toface meeting between GAO investigators and member-company executives. During a nearly two-hour session at GAO headquarters, the MHARR-member executives spelled-out, in no uncertain terms, the absolute necessity of the federal manufactured housing program in ensuring both the affordability and availability of manufactured housing for Americans – and especially lower and moderate-income families. The group also addressed and put to rest questions previously posed by GAO, which raised concerns that it could be considering recommendations either to eliminate or significantly downgrade the federal No. 8 on Get It Quick Page manufactured housing program. The executives similarly provided the GAO investigative team with specific examples of HUD's resistance to -- and non-implementation of – major provisions of the 2000 reform law, methodically explaining the ramifications of each, while walking the GAO officials through the importance, relevance and interdependence of the full and proper implementation of all those reforms. In addition, the MHARR delegation explained and detailed the nexus between non-implementation of the 2000 reform law -- leaving manufactured homes effectively in the status of "trailers" -- and continuing (indeed worsening) discrimination against manufactured homes and manufactured housing consumers in key areas, including financing, zoning, placement, insurance and others.