After recent approval in subcommittee, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has passed a bill to change the U.S. Department of Energy’s role to an advisory capacity when it comes to energy standards for the construction of manufactured homes.
The bill, H.R. 5184, was introduced by Rep. Erin Houchin of Indiana and Housing Subcommittee Chairman Mike Flood of Nebraska. The Affordable Housing Over Mandating Efficiency Standards — otherwise known as the Affordable HOMES Act — passed in subcommittee by a voice vote before being moved to the full Energy and Commerce Committee for consideration, the Manufactured Housing Institute said in recent communications to members.
The bill repeals Section 413 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and ensures that the DOE’s final rule on Energy Conservation Standards for Manufactured Housing will have no force or effect. Section 413 directed the DOE to establish energy efficiency construction standards for manufactured housing, an abrupt change from the long-standing authority of HUD to decide on federal construction standards for manufactured homes via the HUD Code.
“Manufactured housing is a proven and cost-effective solution serving first time homebuyers, young families, and seniors,” Rep. Houchin stated during committee discussion. “Yet, Washington has created conflicting regulatory regimes that increase compliance costs and slow production. That’s what the Affordable HOMES Act aims to fix. It is straightforward and common sense. It restores HUD’s longstanding role as the single regulator of manufactured housing construction standards and removes DOE’s overlapping authority.”
The measure passed the committee by a vote of 30-16.
HUD has been the regulatory and oversight body for manufactured housing for more than 50 years.
MHI and industry consensus contend that the duplicative agency mandate would create regulatory confusion, and “undermined the goal of advancing practical energy efficiency improvements within the HUD Code,” MHI stated.
In comments supporting the legislation, Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta from Ohio acknowledged that, under current law, DOE and HUD have overlapping authority to set energy efficiency standards for manufactured housing.
“Including DOE in this authority creates redundant unnecessary standards that confuse the regulatory process making it more difficult to construct and ultimately purchase affordable homes,” Latta said.
Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts offered an amendment to authorize the Department of Energy to serve in an advisory role to HUD.
“The amendment that I have at the desk is intended to strengthen this bill,” Auchincloss said. “The amendment retains the Department of Energy’s input on energy efficiency standards in an advisory capacity … It is the HUD secretary, the HUD staff that is best positioned to think about and to incorporate feedback from other experts and entities in putting forward regulations that make manufactured housing work at scale.
“Boosting manufactured and modular housing production is an important opportunity for us to build our way out of the current housing crisis, and this is a common-sense set of reforms that will help unleash housing production,” he said.
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