MHCC DEBATES DOE “ENERGY” STANDARDS
OCTOBER 20, 2022

TO:                 MHARR MANUFACTURERS   
                       MHARR STATE AFFILIATES
                      MHARR TECHNICAL REVIEW GROUP (TRG)
FROM:           MHARR
RE:                 MHCC DEBATES DOE “ENERGY” STANDARDS

The statutory Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) held the first of two scheduled meetings in Washington, D.C. on October 18-20, 2022, to address the incorporation and supposed “alignment” of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) “energy conservation” standards for manufactured homes with the HUD Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards (FMHCSS). A second meeting is currently scheduled for mid-November.

The so-called “alignment” of the HUD and DOE energy standards for manufactured housing, which currently differ, was noted by HUD in the Federal Register notice for the meetings, which stated: “given that manufacturers have to comply with the Department of Energy’s Energy Conservation Standards for Manufactured Housing and the [FMHCSS],” the Department has deemed it “imperative to promptly proceed with rulemaking to align” the FMHCSS with the DOE standards. The final DOE manufactured housing “energy conservation” standards – which MHARR has consistently and strongly opposed — were adopted by DOE through a final rule published in May 2022, and are currently scheduled to take effect on May 31, 2023.

A “pre-decisional” draft of a proposed HUD rule to accomplish the supposed “alignment” of the DOE standards and the Part 3280 FMHCSS was presented to and debated by the MHCC. Significantly, though, as pointed out by MHARR at the meeting, that draft continues to exclude any provisions or proposals related to enforcement of the DOE/HUD energy standards, a crucial subject that will have a significant impact on the final cost of the standards to both regulated manufacturers and consumers of affordable housing – millions of whom would be excluded from the HUD Code market by the ultra-high-cost DOE mandate.

Among other things, the MHCC debate highlighted the anomalous situation currently facing HUD code manufacturers. Specifically, the DOE standards, adopted by DOE as a final rule, have no current DOE enforcement mechanism associated with them. Meanwhile, HUD, which does have an enforcement system for manufactured housing standards, has not adopted the final DOE standard and currently has, in effect, separate manufactured housing energy standards that differ from the DOE criteria.

MHARR, at the meeting, urged the MHCC, as an expert statutory body with respect to manufactured housing and the HUD manufactured housing standards, to send a clear statement to DOE (and HUD) that the DOE final standards are inappropriate for HUD Code manufactured housing and would be destructive of both the industry and the legitimate interests and needs of American consumers of affordable housing. Such a finding by the MHCC could be critical to any industry legal action targeting the DOE energy standard.

MHARR will continue to actively participate in the MHCC process while aggressively opposing the egregious and baseless DOE energy standards.

Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR)
1331 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Suite 512
Washington D.C. 20004
Phone: 202/783-4087
Fax: 202/783-4075
Email: MHARR@MHARRPUBLICATIONS.COM
Website: manufacturedhousingassociation.org