Washington, D.C., May 26, 2021 – The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) has issued a strong warning to a special interest group against any effort to seek solar energy mandates for federally-regulated manufactured homes.

On May 4, 2021, the group – the “Clean Energy States Alliance” (CESA) – published a two-volume report specifically addressing the utilization of solar energy in manufactured homes as part of a “Scaling-Up Solar for Under-Resourced Communities” project supported by a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding award. Not coincidentally, as MHARR has previously reported, DOE is under a federal court order to develop and adopt “energy efficiency” standards for manufactured homes pursuant to the so-called Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), by no later than February 14, 2022.

In its May 21, 2021 communication to CESA, (see, copy attached), MHARR states that while it has no objection to the voluntary utilization of solar power and solar power devices by manufactured homeowners as a matter of choice within their sole and exclusive discretion, or conversely, to manufactured home retailers and/or producers offering solar energy packages as an option for homebuyers who might wish to purchase such a system for a new home, it will aggressively oppose any effort to seek or promote any type of governmental mandate (under any guise) for the utilization of solar power or solar power devices in HUD Code manufactured homes as a primary energy source. This would similarly apply to any effort to seek or promote construction-related government mandates for frame, structural, or other components of new HUD Code manufactured homes related to solar power and/or devices.

Throughout its existence, MHARR has consistently opposed efforts by special interest groups to strip American consumers of their free choice to the full range of features and amenities that manufactured homes can offer with unparalleled affordability, and instead coerce them via legislation or regulation into costly “one-size-fits-all” approaches favored by the special interests. And nowhere in the current-day regulatory environment, is this a more pressing concern than with respect to energy and energy-related measures.

Put simply, it is – and should be – up to homebuyers, within their sole and exclusive judgment and discretion, to decide what type(s) of energy sources or devices they wish to use in their home, based on their own wants and desires, their own financial capabilities, and their own needs. As a federally-regulated industry, current laws are designed to foster and protect this type of free-choice for manufactured home purchasers, and MHARR is wholly dedicated to ensuring that these good laws are fully and faithfully followed in order to protect and advance the interests of HUD Code consumers, as well as the smaller businesses that are the traditional core of the HUD Code industry.

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.