Fran Quigley, Andrew Justus, Daniel Mandelker, Samuel Strommen, Gregory Palm, James Schmitz Jr. explored promise and woes in their reports on manufactured homes

WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, June 12, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com (MHLivingNews.com) and ManufacturedHomeProNews.com (MHProNews.com) have published a series of new reports exploring research by four attorneys, an investment analyst, and a senior economic expert which report the underperformance of the manufactured housing industry in general and/or identify the Manufactured Housing Institute's (MHI) controversial role in particular. Those legal professionals, analyst, and economist are broadly outsiders looking into why manufactured homes, which they generally praise, is an underperforming industry during an affordable housing crisis.

Reuters said Gregory Palm is a: “Senior Research Analyst; Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC, Research Division.” Palm’s position brings him into contact with publicly-traded manufactured housing producers, as well as companies in other industries. Palm sought a response from William "Bill" Boor, president, and CEO of Cavco Industries (CVCO) on this topic. “I think everybody is trying to get a sense for why at least [manufactured housing] industry production data was so weak. And not just calendar Q1, but March [2023] specifically.” A report on MHProNews provides Boor's response, the Cavco earnings call transcript, and expert analysis of the various statements, linked below.

https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/analyst-to-cavco-why-is-manufactured-home-industry-production-so-weak-paradox-develops-lower-expectations-more-singles-in-q1-2023-cavco-industrie/

Palm's point could be rephrased: 'Why is the manufactured housing industry underperforming during an affordable housing crisis?' Cavco's CEO Boor is also the Vice Chairman of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), the largest U.S. national manufactured housing industry trade group.

Cavco's investor relations (IR) presentation for 2023 was provided and examined in a report linked below. Cavco's presentation included two images with analysis provided with this press release. They make several powerful points, including remarks by National Association of Home Builders CEO, Jerry Howard, who per Cavco said: "...[in] no market in this country can a home builder built a house that is affordable for a first time homebuyer."

Per Cavco: “Shortage of affordable housing costs American economy $2 T[rillion annually] in lower wages and productivity.” Cavco also said that some 6 million new housing units are needed. Conventional builders can't keep up with the current needs, nor can they meet the price points for affordable home seekers. These facts from Cavco support the points made by Minneapolis Federal Reserve Senior Economist, James A. "Jim" Schmitz, Jr. who asserted that manufactured homes are needed to meet the needs for affordable housing. Cavco's research and related information in the report with analysis below. make numerous points about why manufactured housing has so much upside historically and in terms of current and pending U.S. housing needs.

https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/manufactured-housing-institute-mhi-claims-contradicted-by-cavco-industries-ir-statements-shortage-of-affordable-housing-costs-economy-2trillion-annually-plus-mhville-markets-upd/

The NAHB tweeted on 5.23.2023 that: "Sales of new single‐family [conventional, site built] homes grew 4.1% in April to an annual rate of 683,000, 11.8% higher than in April 2022. Median sales price ($420,800) and average sales price ($501,000) were both down significantly compared to March 2023." Cavco in the report above cited the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and said the average retail sales price for a new manufactured homes in 2023 is $108,000 vs. $365,000 for a site-built house (both costs figured for the home only, without land costs).

That's a natural pivot to attorney Andrew Justus' research and observations. Justus' evidence-based op-ed for The Hill asked: "What is Holding Manufactured Homes Back?"

Justus is a housing policy analyst for the Niskanen Center, which Influence Watch says "is a nominally libertarian 501(c)(3) environmental think tank with ties to center-left environmental groups." Per Justus, the following.

"The term “manufactured housing” often comes with negative connotations: poorly maintained homes, sub-par quality, and aesthetically unappealing. This unfavorable stereotyping belies the fact that today’s HUD Code manufactured homes are not unlike the ugly duckling flourishing to a refined adulthood. Before the [HUD] Code’s adoption in 1976, what were then called “mobile homes” were built to lower standards for strength, durability, and efficiency. This saddles modern manufactured homes with a poor reputation [e.g.: 'trailer house] inherited from their predecessors, when in fact they offer more diverse configurations and higher-quality housing options."

Justus dispelled outdated stereotypes and explores possible solutions to making manufactured housing more accessible for the public. Justus' thoughts with analysis are in the report linked below.

https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/andrew-justus-j-d-niskanen-center-housing-policy-analyst-hill-op-ed-asks-and-answers-whats-holding-back-manufactured-homes-sunday-weekly-mhville-headlines-in-review/

“Getting Zoning for Manufactured Housing Right” is a working paper published by the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy authored by law professor emeritus Daniel R. Mandelker, J.D.

Mandelker said in part: “Unequal treatment in zoning ordinances is a major barrier to manufactured housing." Mandelker also said that "A support organization is needed that can provide litigation and legislative support to help manufactured housing advocates with zoning reform."

The report and analysis include a look at the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA), two sides to the concept of "enhanced preemption" to overcome zoning barriers as the authority given to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

On paper, both MHI and the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) seem to have similar positions, both asserting that HUD has that "enhanced preemption" authority. See the video posted below for the view of the late attorney and HUD's first administrator for the Office of Manufactured Housing Programs (OMHP) Bill Matchneer, who has also asserted "enhanced preemption" authority for HUD under the MHIA. Matchneer's remarks are examined in contrast to those of HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge in the report linked here, when Secretary Fudge said: “Until We Start to Address This We Are Going to Continue to be Perpetually in This Kind of Situation.”

Those legal and expert insights are explored through the lens of a fresh look at Samuel Strommen's deep and well-footnoted research into manufactured housing. While Mandelker obliquely indicated MHI was failing the industry and that another association was needed to address lobbying and legal issues, Strommen was more pointed. Strommen alleged serious antitrust violations by MHI and others: "this would appear to be a strategy not dissimilar to the old cup-and-ball trick: a misdirection by MHI at the behest of its principal benefactors—the Big 3—an act of skillful subterfuge to misdirect the government in one area, allowing the Big 3 to engage in anticompetitive in another area unabated." That groundbreaking report is linked below.

https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/masthead/true-tale-of-four-attorneys-research-into-manufactured-housing-what-they-reveal-about-why-manufactured-homes-are-underperforming-during-an-affordable-housing-crisis-facts-and-analysis/

L. A. "Tony" Kovach
MHProNews.com/MHLivingNews.com
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Video interview with William Wade "Bill" Matchneer, JD, Prior Program Director, HUD Code Manufactured Housing, also previously with CFPB.