Washington, D.C., April 21, 2022 – In written comments copy attached and verbal testimony presented on April 20, 2022 to a “Listening Session” of the White House Manufactured Housing Task Force, the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) has called on the Biden Administration to jump-start the process to provide federal government support for the personal property consumer loans which help lower and moderate income Americans gain access to the inherently affordable homeownership offered by today’s modern manufactured homes.

 Also known as “chattel” financing, personal property loans, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, are used by American consumers to finance nearly 80% of all manufactured home purchases. And while federal support for personal property manufactured home purchase loans is mandated by federal law, including the Duty to Serve Underserved Markets (DTS) for private sector support through the federally-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration’s Title I manufactured housing program for public sector support, the reality is that virtually no such support for chattel loans has been forthcoming for more than a decade. This, in turn, has exacerbated an affordable housing crisis in the United States, with a severe and growing shortfall in the availability of affordable homes numbering in the millions.            

In its comments, MHARR calls on the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) as the federal regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to finally compel the two mortgage giants to fully comply with federal law by providing “market-significant” support for the manufactured housing personal property financing market, and for FHA and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) to drop the infamous “10-10” qualifying rule for approved manufactured home chattel loan issuers, which has reduced once-impactful Title I lending to negligible levels.   

With these indefensible, long-term finance-related policy failures now on the White House’s radar screen, it is essential that the Biden Administration and industry as a whole take specific, concrete action to seek and ensure their successful resolution for the benefit of all Americans seeking access to today’s modern, affordable manufactured housing. 

 The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform is a Washington, D.C.-based national trade association representing the views and interests of independent producers of federally-regulated manufactured housing.
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