Washington, D.C.
JULY 2, 2025
TO: MHARR MANUFACTURERS
MHARR STATE AFFILIATES
MHARR TECHNICAL REVIEW GROUP (TRG)
FROM: MHARR
RE: DOE ISSUES FINAL RULE DELAYING ENERGY RULE
COMPLIANCE DATE FOR “TIER 2” MANUFACTURED HOMES
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a final rule delaying the manufactured housing “energy conservation” standards compliance date for so-called “Tier 2” homes until 180 days after the publication of “corresponding enforcement procedures.” The final rule was initially announced by DOE in a news release issued on July 1, 2025 (copy attached) and then published in the Federal Register on July 2, 2025 (copy attached). As published, the final delay rule will be effective immediately.
Publication of the Federal Register notice effectively renders moot a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on enforcement of the DOE standards issued on June 30, 2025 by the court hearing the federal challenge to the validity of those standards. The TRO had provided that it would “expire of its own force upon … publication [i]n the Federal Register of the Department of Energy’s … delay rule….”
While MHARR had supported the extension of the compliance date for “Tier 2” standards, it has aggressively sought – and continues to aggressively seek – including at a meeting just yesterday, on July 1, 2025 with DOE Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Lou Hrkman, that the manufactured housing energy standards rule be withdrawn totally. MHARR will report additional key details of this meeting in the Association’s Washington Update to be published after the July 4 holiday.
MHARR’s consistent opposition to the DOE standards is duly noted in the July 2, 2025 Federal Register final extension rule. In that document, DOE states:
“While MHARR commented it supports extending and delaying manufactured housing energy standards implementation, they also maintain the May 2022 Final Rule standards fundamentally flawed and should be completely withdrawn, not just postponed. They argue that these standards are detrimental to the manufactured housing industry and hinder affordable homeownership for lower and moderate-income Americans. MHARR advocates for crafting a new, cost-effective rule in collaboration with [the] U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee, encompassing both the standards and regulatory compliance procedures.
Response: DOE agrees with the commenter that it is necessary to amend the compliance date for Tier 2 homes.”
See, 90 Federal Register No. 125, July 2, 2025 “Energy Conservation Standards for Manufactured Homes,” p. 28873 at pp. 28875-28876. As to MHARR’s broader objection to the standards, DOE maintains that such objections are beyond the scope of the extension rulemaking, per se, but indicates in its notice that such organic opposition points may be considered in a further rulemaking on the substance of the standard – a further action that MHARR will continue to demand.
In this connection, it bears reiteration that MHARR is the only national industry trade organization to consistently oppose DOE regulation of manufactured housing energy issues as well as every iteration of the DOE energy standards rule proposal since the baseless and corrupted DOE “negotiated rulemaking” scam. As reported previously, MHARR cast the only “no” vote against the proposed standard and “term sheet” developed in that process, while MHI supported both the negotiated rulemaking procedure and the resulting negotiated rulemaking “term sheet.”
During the entire rulemaking process, as is reflected in DOE’s Federal Register recitation above, MHARR has consistently maintained:
(1) That manufactured homes are already cost-effective with respect to energy under existing HUD standards as shown by Census Bureau data;
(2) That draconian DOE regulation is unnecessary and will result in exclusionary price increases that will worsen homelessness;
(3) That the contrary claims of “climate” extremists in support of the DOE rule are utterly baseless; and most importantly,
(4) That DOE, in developing the energy standards rule, failed to comply with the affirmative requirement of section 413 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), that it substantively consult with, obtain and consider the input of both HUD and the statutory Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC), including with respect to the purchase price cost-benefit of the proposed standards.
With the expected re-opening of the DOE standards rulemaking itself, MHARR will continue to press for the total repeal of the DOE energy standards and for both HUD and the MHCC to be substantively involved and engaged in any further activity on energy standards.
MHARR’s position on DOE energy standards has been clear and consistent from the very outset. As expressed in an August 2022 MHARR Issues and Perspectives article (written six months before the federal court action was filed), in which it made the case for legal action against the standards, “The DOE Energy Rule Should be DOA.” With the Trump Administration now in office, the opportunity to eliminate these baseless and illegitimate standards once and for all now exists, and the entire industry must commit itself to that end.
cc: Other Interested HUD Code Manufactured Housing Industry Members
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: MHARRDG@AOL.COM
Website: www.manufacturedhousingassociation.org
End Notes:
- MHARR cast only “no” vote.
- MHARR interview on “corrupted DOE “negotiated rulemaking” scam.”
- MHARR news and commentary on DOE “negotiated rulemaking”
- MHARR news and commentary on DOE linked suits.
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The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) press releases are available for re-publication in full (i.e., without alteration or substantive modification) without further permission and with proper attribution and/or link back to MHARR.
