Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/267025
MARCH 2014 6 THE JOURNAL No. 4 on Get It Quick Page In a January 27, 2014 communication to the HUD Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner, the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) has renewed and sharpened its focus on the federal manu- factured housing program (Title VI) and the full and proper implementation of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000. Simultaneously, the Asso- ciation is intensifying its ef- forts with Congress, the Government Accountabil- ity Office (GAO), manu- factured homeowners, states and other program stakeholders to rally support for a functional federal program oper- ating in full compliance with the law. This MHARR communication -- to the highest-ranking HUD official with direct au- thority over the federal manufactured housing program – comes at the conclusion of a year during which aspects of the federal program and the full and proper implementation of the 2000 law have not only stagnated, but have actually regressed, leaving the industry with significant lost ground to recover. HUD's neglect of the federal program and its dereliction in fully and properly implementing the 2000 reform law – for over a decade – have been keenly felt in key areas affecting both the industry and consumers, including, but not limited to: the downgrading and isolation of the federal program at HUD; HUD's failure to ap- point a non-career program administrator as re- quired by the 2000 law; a drastic downgrading of the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC), which has not met in over a year and has had no Administering Or- ganization since mid-2013; the need for an authorita- tive forum to explain and resolve issues concerning the implementation of complex new Subpart I rules; substantive and disruptive HUD changes to MHCC propos- als in final rules; and HUD's fail- ure to implement the enhanced federal preemption of the 2000 law. JOURNAL EXCLUSIVE MHARR Sharpens Focus On Title VI - Rallies Program Stakeholders MHARR Chairman John G. Bostick stated: "Given the focus of the Obama Administration's policies on expanding and improving middle-class Americans' access to affordable housing and homeownership, HUD, as the federal government's primary housing agency, should work with the industry, the states and consumers to upgrade the one program that provides access to the single most affordable type of housing available – manufactured housing -- without costly taxpayer-funded subsidies." \ 8