TO: HUD CODE MANUFACTURED HOUSING INDUSTRY MEMBERS
FROM: MHARR
RE: REPRINT COPY – MHProNews Q&A WITH DANNY GHORBANI
Attached for your review and information is a reprint copy of a recent MHProNews “Q&A” column with MHARR Senior Advisor, Danny D. Ghorbani entitled:
“SEEKING THE ALIGNMENT OF THE MANUFACTURED HOUSING INDUSTRY WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AND HUD SECRETARY TURNER’S VISION OF AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP”
Thank you.
Attachment
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
MHProNews QUESTION
President Trump recently celebrated the first 100 days of his second term as President, as well as his accomplishments during that period. In addition, there have been a flurry of activity by President Trump, his Administration and other entities in the housing, mortgage and home finance industries that could broadly affect federally regulated manufactured housing. We have a general question to ask you so our readers can better grasp the relevant interplay or details among those diverse factors. More specifically, because manufactured housing is the only segment of the U.S. housing industry that is subject to comprehensive federal regulation regarding production, although state and local governments can impact how HUD Code homes are treated post-production after they leave production centers. MHARR suggested in a recent headline that it seeks “alignment” of the manufactured housing industry with President Trump and HUD Secretary Scott Turner’s stated goals for more affordable home ownership. Please elaborate on your expert views and opinions on those notions and topics for our manufactured home industry readers.
Danny Ghorbani’s ANSWER
I would like to start by stating that I cannot remember another United States President in my life who has done more and faster than President Trump in his first 100 days. When you think of the President’s more than 140 Executive Orders, added to his pending “BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL” and his April 2nd “Liberation Day” tariff policies in a mere 100 days is a backbreaking pace. No other U.S. President before this second term of President Trump has ever undertaken (including his first term) as much. I truly doubt any future U.S. president could equal this start. So, let’s give President Trump plenty of credit for what’s been done and started.
That said, it is safe to assume that much of President Trump’s undertakings will have long-lasting directly and indirect effects on the housing/mortgage/finance industries. We can expect positive results.
President Trump doubled down and expanded on his first term vision, views, goals and policies in changing the federal government’s role in housing. Decades of subsidies for homeownership and rentals didn’t solve the housing crisis. Enabling consumers to own their own home benefits affordable housing seekers and all those who authentically support affordable homeownership. Comprehensively federally regulated manufactured homes are critical to that vision and provide President Trump and HUD Secretary Scott Turner the opportunity to address key bottlenecks that have stymied the growth of the industry.
As an aside and in my view, somebody should tell the folks at the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) that they made a big mistake when they decided without any rationale or reasonable explanation to change the industry’s two successful, well established and good-as-gold themes from “AFFORDABLE HOME and FACTORY BUILT HOME” to the meaningless “attainable home” and “off-site built home.” By doing so, they have created chaos and confusion which is now manifesting itself in the newly introduced bi-partisan legislation named “Housing Supply Framework Act” or (HSFA), that needs to be corrected.
President Trump’s selection of Scott Turner for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) may prove to be particularly good for our industry.
I’d urge MHI, the manufactured housing industry’s self-proclaimed post-production sector’s national rep, to recognize the window of opportunity that Trump 2.0 and Secretary Turner could mean for consumers. Logically, if something benefits millions of potential affordable housing/manufactured home consumers, that can obviously benefit producers, retailers, investors and others.
In my opinion, MHI failed miserably during the Trump Administration’s first term with then HUD Secretary, Dr. Ben Carson. Our industry, consumers, and taxpayers have paid dearly for it ever since.
Back to current HUD Secretary Turner. I encourage MHProNews readers to review and consider Secretary Turner’s March 19, 2025 interview with Punchbowl News.
That interview clearly reveals Secretary Turner’s basic views and goals on advancing “AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP” for American homebuyers. I may sound a bit biased because Secretary Turner is a fellow alumnus of the University of Illinois. But in advancing “opportunity zones” during President Trump’s first term, now-Secretary Turner’s vision, pragmatism, and results-oriented approach paralleled those of the first term of the president.
That continues to be the case today.
In fact, on April 22, 2025, Secretory Turner along with Arkansas Governor Sara Huckabee and Congressman Steve Womack (R-AK) participated in an “Opportunity Zones” roundtable before taking a tour of Fayetteville’s Hillcrest Towers, a public housing complex.
During the visit, Secretary Turner shared his hopes for those who currently rely on government housing, stating: “My heart is not to grow the amount of people on subsidies. My heart is not to grow the amount of people that need government help. My heart is to get people off of subsidies and live a life of self-sustainability.”
Sec. Turner is correct. Because some of HUD’s own researchers revealed that 50 plus years of federal subsidies has not solved the affordable housing crisis. While all kinds of new housing construction can be useful, only HUD Code manufactured homes are “inherently” affordable as HUD itself defines affordable housing. Subsidies may benefit certain landlords or some who are struggling, but how does it benefit those who don’t qualify for subsidies or the millions who could qualify for the financing needed to buy a manufactured home?
Speaking of financing. President Trump’s apparent skeptical view of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a breath of fresh air for our industry and our consumers who have been tortured by these two incompetent and worthless organizations for nearly four decades. But in my view, the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) and those who benefit from the status quo have been much worse since 2008. This is because Fannie and Freddie continue to resist the full and proper implementation of the Duty to Serve Underserved Markets provision of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008.
The Enterprises’ miserable failure to comply with that unambiguous law is at the root of the other post-production bottlenecks (i.e., chattel loans at fair and reasonable rates) that has bedeviled our industry. Nearly 80% of HUD Code consumers — who are mostly moderate- and lower-income homebuyers – are currently pushed into chattel loans at much higher rates with Clayton Homes’ Vanderbilt Mortgage and 21st Mortgage companies, the largest providers of such loans in the absence of DTS.
So, it is obvious that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need major reforms that have long been overdue and ignored.
President Trump has already taken one potentially helpful action by appointing Bill Pulte Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the organization that regulates these two runaway government-chartered corporations, as a new board member of Fannie Mae. Thus, Director Pulte could bring about some common-sense to one of them. But deeper and more expansive reform of the two mortgage giant GSEs, which get taxpayer backed benefits, while defying the implementation of the straightforward Duty to Serve law should not be tolerated.
On a related note, President Trump’s persuasion and cajoling of the Federal Reserve’s Chairman, Jerome Powell, to lower interest rates should pay dividends to both the housing industry and its consumers.
There is no better friend to the housing industry and consumers than lower interest rates on home loans.
Low rates are as or more important to the manufactured housing industry which serves the moderate and lower-income American families. The lack of chattel lending support for the manufactured housing industry is part of the assault by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and those who benefit from that status quo.
Also important is the President’s “BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL” which, among many other things, would extend the Trump tax cuts, and help the economy by putting more money in people’s pockets, including potential home buyers as well as smaller businesses.
This next point is so important. President Trump’s continuing efforts to both cut unnecessary federal regulation and make the federal government more efficient will have far-reaching effects on all businesses. But it could be especially useful to industries like ours that are comprehensively regulated by the federal government.
I doubt that millions of Americans realize just how wasteful, bloated, abusive and out of touch governments at all levels have become.
Folks who work in comprehensively regulated industries understand because they see and feel it every day that they go to work.
The manufactured housing industry has busted its behind and created two landmark laws that would double, triple and arguably quadruple the industry’s production within a few years. Meanwhile the industry could be providing affordable homeownership to potentially millions of Americans. The fact that currently it cannot do so because of government resistance to their full and proper implementation is a perfect example of government’s wasteful, bloated, abusive and out of touch mentality and actions.
To be sure, in the case of our industry, a large share of the blame must rightly and squarely be placed on MHI, which is the industry’s self-proclaimed post-production representation. But a good association’s job is supposed to be to advocate for all of its members, not just favored ones.
Be that as it may, the fact remains that thanks to the creation of MHARR in 1985, which led the fight and successfully reformed the old trailer laws, the United States Congress passed those two laws in a widely bipartisan way. But the relevant federal agencies and the GSEs obviously continue to resist their full and proper implementation.
Put simply, our industry and our consumers can no longer tolerate these types of ridiculous failures by a representation that gets paid handsomely by our hardworking post-production retail, community, finance, transport, installers, insurance, suppliers and others.
Fortunately for our industry, with President Trump’s second term, we have a second opportunity to correct these failures and do the right thing for all members of our industry and not just a few companies.
In my view, the post-production representation of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) totally wasted the Trump Administration’s first term. They wasted the opportunity of working more productively with a similarly like-minded HUD Secretary in Dr. Ben Carson while he was in office. Secretary Carson was clearly ready and willing to advance our industry.
Now, in this second Trump Administration, the President and Secretary Turner have already etched in stone their vision and goal of “AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP” for American home buyers.
As I personally explained to Secretary Turner at his March 25, 2025 meeting with MHARR executives, such a great undertaking and cause can best be achieved by full inclusion and participation of the HUD regulated manufactured housing industry.
As usual and to its credit, MHARR has once again taken the lead for the entire industry and openly and publicly reported all the steps it has taken and will continue to take since its Board of Directors meeting on Friday November 8, 2024. That was just three days after President Trump’s victory on November 5, 2024 election.
Hopefully, the rest of the industry will wake-up and do the same in order to seek manufactured housing’s alignment with President Trump’s and HUD Secretary Turner’s vision and goal of “AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP” for the most positive outcome and results for consumers and other stakeholders going forward.
Danny Ghorbani
May 2, 2025
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Other Q&As with Danny Ghorbani are found at this link here.
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.
