George Allen / EducateMHC Blog Mobile Home & Land Lease Community Advocate & Expert

Blog Posting # 841; Copyright 24 April 2025. EducateMHC

Know This! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory—built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction_. Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’), comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, considering various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans & real estate-secured mortgages), describes post-production segment of MH.

EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; emailgfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production levels since 1955.

And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as freelance consulting and authoring of 30 nonfiction texts.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrine, Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large for the MHInsider magazine.

Here’s FREE FIRE, a Project Rescue Adventure.

Latest novel by Charles G. Irion

OK Charles, you really hooked me on this one! Reading halfway through FREE FIRE, I’d just settled into the main story line when you ambushed me with a surprising and stunning change in direction. Not a change predicated by what came before, but one that made me sit up nonetheless, and say: ‘Wow, never expected this to happen!” Then, you revisit this shocking discovery near the end of the novel, pulling all the exciting plot lines together. Well done my friend!

You know I’ve been ‘with you before’ in your Murder Mystery novel series, most recently with FOUR, where you introduced General George Allen to readers.

Well, this new Project: RESCUE Adventure series certainly plows new territory, moving your main characters (Will Irons & Deke James) away from the art of war, into the sister arts of survival and negotiation.

Not only that, I’ve come to expect and respect two things in your fiction: accuracy and efficacy of local color anywhere in the world – this time the Tigray region of Ethiopia; and your characters’ familiarity with military-related lessons learned, as well as clandestine tactics and survival tips. Though a spoiler-alert, here’s a string of examples that hooked me this time around:

“As soon as…footsteps had faded, Will and Deke had gone to work. The razor blades, taped discreetly to their forearms with flesh-colored bandages were a standard precaution for the FAST Team, as were similarly concealed handcuff keys and the diamond-studded cable saw threaded into their bootlaces – precautions taken for situations exactly like this. With swift, practiced movements, they cut through their bindings, freeing themselves to make their escape.” P.128

The story itself? Well, for the most part, it does not stretch over a period of weeks or months, simply days. And there’re several groups of individuals who carry the action; a Doctors Without borders medical unit, the village home of Alem Tekle, the Hangar fair and Convention Center of the Amazon, and more. How does the tale begin? With an ill-fated blimp flight over the country of Esperia during 1935. Then fast-forward to today….

OK, so who’s this author, Charles G. Irion? Several personas really – author, artist and world traveler; but the one I know best, and have for the longest time, is described in a brief biographical sketch in the back material of FREE FIRE. “By 1982, Irion had founded U.S. Park Investments, which grew into a leading owner and manager of manufactured home and RV communities across the country.” Today, and for the past 15 years, Chuck has been “…an Executive Board Member and International Assessor for Project C.U.R.E., a charity that delivers medical supplies to more than 130 developing countries.” Hint. This is how Chuck researches locales for his new novels.

FREE FIRE, and many of Charles’ other titles (e.g. Roadkill Cooking for Campers, as well as aforementioned Murder Mystery novel series, can be ordered online directly from amazon.com, and www.charlesirion.com

George Allen

Blog Posting # 840; Copyright 17 April 2025. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction).Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’), comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, considering various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans & real estate-secured mortgages), describes post-production segment of MH.

EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production levels since 1955.

And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as freelance consulting and authoring of 3 nonfiction texts.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (“MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large for MHInsider magazine.

Continued Call for Unity & Better Advocacy!

When I first started writing about this matter two weeks ago I had no idea how far or where the conversation might go. Response to the first blog posting was immediate and wide-ranging, even an inquiry from MHPro News. As usual, things have quieted down during the past week or so. Perhaps what follows here will stir matters up again.

Don’t look for any significant changes at MHI and MHARR! Both are firmly entrenched in their respective ideologies relative to what’s best for manufactured housing, regulatory and otherwise. Notice I didn’t add ‘post production segment of manufactured housing’ to that coverage description. Should, but MHI and MHARR, each in their own right – and in my opinion, give little more than lip service to respective needs and matters within and about that segment of our industry.

MHARR, was formed in 1985 as a spinoff from MHI, and has long represented smaller, mostly regional fabricators of HUD-Code manufactured housing. They’ve long been identified and appreciated as manufactured housing’s ‘watchdog’ in Washington, DC. And, as an industry, we do have a lot to be grateful for due to their lobbying efforts over the past 40 years. But the organization, again in my opinion, is little more than a shadow of its’ former self. MHARR never publishes a list of its’ members.  And during their recent meeting with the head of HUD and his staff, could only bring their salaried leader, two retired former executives, and one member to the table, ostensibly representing the whole of our industry. Not a convincing presence. Plus, this gives rise to the thought that manufactured housing is a divided and fractious industry.

And MHI? A much larger staffed and dues-financed organization for sure, with ‘divisions’ representing most segments of the industry, including most state MH associations – since absorbing the National Manufactured Housing Federation around 1990.. Also prefer to advocate for the manufactured housing industry in a conciliatory rather than combative manner. And known for hosting the largest annual gathering of industry players, the Manufactured Housing Congress. The MHI Achilles heel (‘vulnerable spot’)? That varies among observers and commentators; but from the land lease community perspective includes: inability to solve the paucity of ‘home only’ financing (a.k.a. personal property & chattel capital) for product going directly into land lease communities and onto vacant rental homesites, lack of leadership relative to combatting rampant site rent increases among aggressive property portfolio owners/operators acquiring land lease communities – leading to rent control. Some even sight MHI’s failure, since 2010, to advocate for the professional engineering-approved Frost Free Foundation methodology HUD ignores to the detriment of homeowners/site lessees.

There is still more to be said about the present state of affairs relative to MHARR & MHI, but it’d be best pursued within both organizations among their dues-paying members and other interested parties. If you’d like to continue to add your opinion to the mix on this timely and controversial topic, communicate with me via gfa7156@aol.com

George Allen

Blog Posting # 839; Copyright 11 April 2025. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’), comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, considering various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel of ‘home only’ loans & real estate-secured mortgages), describes post-production segment of MH.

EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production levels since 1955.

And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as freelance consulting and authoring of 30 nonfiction texts.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large of MHInsider ,magazine.

TOTAL U.S. HOUSING COMPLETIONS DURING FEBRUARY 2025

‘Onsite & Offsite Construction Totals Combined!’

This Total U.S. Housing Completion Report combines input from the U.S. Census Bureau (i.e. monthly onsite construction completions); and, offsite construction completions, via  combination of formula (re: modular & panelized units estimated to be @ 2% of onsite construction completions), Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’) monthly survey data of  HUD-Code housing production & shipments, and finally, RVIA website for Park Model RV production data.

Bottom line? Unlike the U.S. Census Bureau, that reports only onsite construction completion estimates; plus IBTS’ HUD-Code housing production volume, and RVIA ‘s Park Model RV unit count, this ‘total U.S. housing completion’ report presents a more accurate, all-encompassing picture of total U.S. housing completions for the month being reported! This month, the U.S. Census Bureau reports 132,667 new single-family, site-built, privately-owned housing completions (i.e. 1,592,000 divided by 12 months); while the true overall total, when including four types of offsite construction (Again, HUD-Code housing, modular units & panelized homes, plus Park Model RVs) is 143,887 units for the month of February 2025.

That’s a difference of 11,220 units completed during the month of February 2025, or 134,640 offsite construction units when annualized. And, when the 143,887 offsite construction units are added to the 1,592,000 onsite completions, the grand total estimated annual figure is 1,736,887.

What tells the more accurate and useful story? Just the limited view onsite construction picture OR the one that presents onsite and offsite construction totals together?

Once again, the ‘Total U.S. Housing Completions Report’ is a work in progress. Please let us know what you think of this all housing inclusive concept via gfa7156@aol.com

Call for Unity & Better Advocacy…continued

Last week this blogger referenced a recent Press Release describing MHARR’s recent meeting with HUD Secretary Scott Turner and senior HUD staff on March 25, to suggest the manufactured housing industry might be better served by one national trade entity instead of two. Ended the blog by requesting reader input. And input we received. Here’re but samples of reader opinion:

From a veteran MH industry veteran and RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee. “George. You will remember that a merger (between MHI & MHARR) was almost made years ago (15+/- years ago as I recall. GFA), but my memory suggests that _____ scuttled it. MHI director at the time was a woman. It is my opinion the head of HUD changes often – though Dr. Carson did a great job. However, the players in the bowels of the department stay constant (i.e. career employees) and they make the decisions. I believe the home builders (i.e. NAHB) have more sway over the department than the MH builders and entities. My two cents worth.”

Then there’s the finagling of IBTS data each month that, like the marginal public image of MH, negatively affects the credibility of our industry. The nature of the finagling? One national advocacy entity reports IBTS monthly production/shipment totals as received, unadulterated. The other national advocacy entity, each month, deducts the number of Destination Pending units shown for the current month, then adds back the number of Destination Pending units from the previous reporting month, before reporting to members. End result? The manufactured housing industry never has ‘just one’ total of new HUD-Code homes produced in any given month – but two.

And then there’s this. Most industries seem to have an idea of their national economic impact. Manufactured housing does not! For example, here’s the ‘RVs Move America Economic Impact Study’ summary: “The RV Industry Association’s latest economic impact study in 2022 measured the impact the RV economy has on jobs, wages, taxes, and spending. The study revealed the RV industry had an overall economic impact to the U.S. economy of $140 billion, supporting nearly 680,000 jobs, contributing more than $48 billion in wages and paying over $13.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.” Think how impressive and influential such an economic impact would be where HUD-Code manufactured housing and land lease communities are concerned!

George Allen

Blog Posting # 838; Copyright 4 April 2025. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction), complimentary to traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’), comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, considering various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans & real estate-secured mortgages), describes post-production segment of MH.

EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC Vis (317) 881-3815; email gfa7516@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book should be in land lease community offices nationwide!) and SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH productions since 1955.

And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as freelance consulting and authoring of 30 nonfiction texts.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large of MHInsider magazine.

Burning Bridges or Call for Unity & Better Advocacy?

You decide! Using a recent Press Release describing the meeting of “A delegation of officials from MHARR (and) HUD Secretary Scott Turner and senior HUD staff on March 25, 2025…” as impetus, here’s is a sincere challenge to our two national manufactured housing-related trade organizations (i.e. MHI & MHARR), to end their 40 years standoff (a.k.a. advocacy competition), unify, and far better represent all segments of our industry in Washington, DC!*1

This is not the first time, by any stretch of recollection; this challenge has been voiced by folk from within various segments of the manufactured housing industry. One might say said appeal has been routinely suggested-but-ignored since 1985, when MHARR spun off from MHI. So, what makes ‘today’ the right timing for unity and far better advocacy?

Some details from the aforementioned meeting between MHARR and HUD Secretary and senior staff.

Let’s begin with the title of the Press Release from MHARR, describing the MHARR/HUD meeting: MHARR ALIGNS MH INDUSTRY GOAL WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HUD SECRETARY TURNER’S AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP VISION. Pretty impressive to read, but raises the question: ‘Who commissioned MHARR to represent (presumably all) manufactured housing in the important and timely matter of aligning industry and presidential housing-related goals?’ Yes, this is an important national matter, so what say in all this does MHI have? Moving on.

“The MHARR delegation included MHARR Chairman Peter James, MHARR Chairman Emeritus Edward J. Hussey, Jr., MHARR President and CEO Mark Weiss, and MHARR Founding President/Senior Advisor Danny D. Ghorbani.” At first glance, a team of heavy-hitters, but maybe not. So you know Peter James? I don’t, but he’s the elected leader of MHARR. And Mark Weiss is present day salaried leader of MHARR. The two remaining individuals? Possibly retired RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrines; ‘yesterday’s leaders’. So, why no senior executives of other MHARR member companies? Hardly expect James and Weiss to adequately represent the entire manufactured housing industry, even just the HUD-Code housing manufacturers.

And while this meeting did address several significant regulatory-related matters*2, the industry’s 25 year pause in housing production, due to lack of ready access to ‘home only’ loans for in-land lease community siting, received but passing mention.

What’s with the ‘burning bridges’ reference in the title of this week’s blog posting? Just the  reality that if/when industry observers, sometimes even stakeholders, speak out about controversial industry issues (In this case, whether we should continue with one or two national trade entities); they are oft excoriated in the trade press and otherwise, by present day and erstwhile peers. Who knows. Maybe this time around, circumstances will prevail and the manufactured housing industry will see its’ national presence unified and empowered!

So, what do you think? Again, You decide! Is the manufactured housing industry better served, in Washington, DC. by two or one national trade advocacy group? Let me know via gfa7156@aol.com

End Notes.

1. MHARR = Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform & MHI = Manufactured Housing Institute

• “…need to maintain reasonable and cost-effective regulation of MH”; “ongoing mismanagement of the HUD manufactured housing program”; “manipulation of appointments to the statutory Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee”; “monopoly on the monitoring contract by one entity…since the inception of the federal program”

STRUCTURAL BUILDING COMPONENTS ASSOCIATION

Have you ever heard of the Structural Building Components Association or SBCA? Didn’t think so. It’s a fairly recent trade association arrival on the national scene. Interestingly, the SBCA association appears to bridge the construction supply gap between onsite construction (i.e. traditional single-family residential housing construction) and offsite construction (e.g. manufactured housing, modular & panelized housing, and Park Model RVs).

In a recent issue of SBCA Magazine, a writer offers this sobering prescient observation about the contemporary housing construction workforce: “According to a Pew Research study, at least 15% of all construction workers are illegal immigrants and another 25% are in the U.S. with temporary status. In many parts of the country, these percentages are much higher. At the same time, the Associated Builders and contractors (‘ABC’) estimates the industry needs at least 450,000 new workers in 2025 to meet industry demand. This estimate presumes a slowing of construction spending which experts say is counter to what the industry is predicting. Deportation of illegal and temporary workers could be devastating to the construction industry. While the reduction in skilled workers could lead to more interest in offsite manufactured and prefabricated components, the lack of workers in the field could severely impact investment in construction and reduce the demand for our products.”

So, did you catch that? Possibly more demand for offsite construction in general, manufactured housing in particular, during year 2025. Let’s hope so!

George Allen