The Trump administration’s deregulatory efforts have officially come to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD announced on Thursday that it is launching a “wholesale review” of its manufactured housing rules as part of a “broader effort to identify regulations that may be ineffective, overly burdensome, or excessively costly given the critical need for affordable housing.”
According to HUD, for the next 30 days, it will accept public comments to help the department identify regulations that may be “outmoded, ineffective or excessively burdensome” and should be “modified, streamlined, replaced or repealed.”
The move comes as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce governmental regulations.
Less than two weeks after taking office last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that directed the government to eliminate two regulations for each new one enacted.
The order instructed federal agencies to identify or streamline regulations that are “wasteful, inefficient or unnecessary.”
At Trump’s direction, HUD is now undertaking this effort to review all of its manufactured housing rules.
“Given the significant role that manufactured housing plays in providing affordable housing, HUD has determined that it should undertake a substantive review of all current and planned federal regulation of manufactured housing,” HUD said in its notice in the Federal Register.
“This review is intended to ensure that HUD can more effectively meet its responsibilities to facilitate the availability of affordable manufactured homes and encourage innovation and cost-effective construction techniques for manufactured housing while continuing to protect consumers by ensuring quality, durable, safe and affordable manufactured homes,” HUD continued.
According to HUD, manufactured housing serves a “vital role in meeting the nation’s affordable housing needs,” including providing nearly 10% of the nation’s total single-family housing stock.
HUD’s announcement states that it is estimated that more than 22 million American households live in manufactured housing, and the manufactured housing industry employs more than 35,000 people nationwide.
“HUD’s regulation of manufactured housing fulfills a critical role to ensure a fair and efficient market that supplies affordable housing for households of modest incomes and protecting consumers,” HUD said in its announcement. “HUD may adopt, revise, and interpret its manufactured housing rules based upon the public’s comments it receives and the recommendations of the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee, a statutory federal advisory committee comprised of producers or retailers of manufactured housing as well as consumers, residents and public officials.”
To read the full notice from HUD, click here.
