Opinion: ‘This time it’s different.’ U.S. of AmeRegCorp. AARP. UMMC. MHI. MHARR. Congress and manufactured homes

by Tony Kovach

Per the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) website: “MBA issued a Mortgage Action Alliance (MAA) Call to Action urging members to contact their U.S. Representative to ensure…troubling provisions within the Senate-passed 21^st Century ROAD to Housing Act are fixed as the House prepares its response.” A survey of quotes from various sources revealed tensions among various interest groups with the emerging bill. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) are among those pushing changes.

At the core of the issues for several groups is the question: Would the legislation deliver on its promise of increasing production of affordable housing?

The iron triangle and perverse incentives

In the backdrop is this: researchers have explored ‘perverse incentives’ leading organizations or politicians to prioritize maintenance of a problem over the solution.

While that iron triangle of perverse incentives operates under numerous terms, per Gemini: “AmeRegCorp (n.): The symbiotic consolidation of American regulatory agencies and dominant corporate entities, resulting in a market structure that favors established players while suppressing independent competition through legislative and financial bottlenecks.”

Some supporters claiming solutions from the emerging bill may have ‘perverse incentives’ for maintaining the status quo while posturing as the ‘champions of change.’

Recall HUD’s Pamela Blumenthal and Regina Gray said: “Without significant new supply, cost burdens are likely to increase as current home prices reach all-time highs…” and “The regulatory environment — federal, state, and local — that contributes to the extensive mismatch between supply and need has worsened over time. Federally sponsored commissions, task forces, and councils under both Democratic and Republican administrations have examined the effects of land use regulations on affordable housing for more than 50 years.”

Perverse incentives and the fingerprints of the Iron Triangle or AmeRegCorp are in evidence.

Key takeaways and ideas on affordable housing solutions

Without millions more inherently affordable homes, there is no solution to the affordable housing crisis.
“Build, Baby, Build.” Millions of new homes are needed. Conventional site-built, multi-family housing, tiny houses, modular, prefab and the most proven affordable housing in U.S. history, HUD Code manufactured homes.
HUD’s Regina Gray: “Operation Breakthrough’s biggest accomplishment…was the adoption of the HUD Code, which introduced the industry and the world to manufactured housing.”
Per the National Association of Realtors (NAR), LendingTree, Urban Institute, FHFA and HUD, manufactured housing is appreciating at a similar or faster pace than conventional site-built housing.
Scholastica “Gay” Cororaton in “The Market for Manufactured Homes” via “The Journal for the Center of Real Estate Studies” (starting at page 48) included graphics showing that manufactured homes have similar or lower payments than renting single-family or multi-family housing.

Example 1 of legislative disconnects: Patrice Onwuka

Patrice Onwuka shared her ideas in the Washington Examiner op-ed titled “Reclaiming affordability: A housing agenda that will move women forward.” Here are takeaways from her article:

“All issues are women’s issues, but no issue is more important today to the largest voting bloc than housing. Women want affordable housing...”
“Women today feel deep pessimism about their financial future. According to a New York Times poll in early 2026, shelter costs ranked as most concerning for women, followed by healthcare. Nearly six out of 10 women characterized the cost of housing as completely unaffordable, outpacing men by a 10-point margin.”
“How did we get here? Housing unaffordability is driven by an inadequate supply to meet growing demand.”
“At every level of government, restrictive zoning and land-use laws, opaque and arbitrary (even biased) permitting processes, and environmental laws and mandates pose major impediments to building more homes in America.”

That’s well supported. Onwuka’s disconnect?

“The ROAD to Housing Act, passed by the U.S. Senate last week, and the House’s version, are just the kind of packaged reforms that can spur the development of single-family and multi-family homes.”

That’s Onwuka’s ‘non sequitur.’ Myth #5 from the Senate brief stated the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will not preempt local zoning. Onwuka and others made the case for change but missed the key: failure to preempt local zoning.

Example 2 of legislative disconnects: Shelterforce

Shelterforce spotlighted members of the Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition (UMMC). Recall the UMMC addressed Biden-Harris (D) era FHFA Acting Director Sandra Thompson:

“…we believe these three-year plans do not fully articulate a strategic vision for meeting the spirit or the letter of the Duty to Serve Regulation.”
“…they [GSEs] inappropriately…drop highly touted and much needed programs such as purchasing manufactured housing loans titled as personal property without explanation…and…propose to reduce loan purchase targets for all three target areas—manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural housing.”

Steve Dubb’s article for Shelterforce proclaimed: “The Federal Housing Bill: ‘A Bunch of Tweaks, But Good Ones.” But weeks later, per Shelterforce.

“How can housing advocates and leaders hold the feet of Freddie and Fannie to the fire, and what can policymakers do?”
“The federal government didn’t want to give Fannie Mae monopoly power in that realm, and so they created Freddie Mac, basically, as competition—[or] at least the illusion of competition.”
“The other thing I would say is there was another question about what happens if the GSEs come out of conservatorship. I think that would only make home loans more expensive.”
“It’s a mystery to me, especially given that the duty-to-serve requirements require that they actually serve the manufactured housing space.”

For discussion, accepting at face value statements from “three expert panelists. George McCarthy, CEO of Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Sara Morgan, president of Fahe, community development financial institution. Tony Pickett, CEO of Grounded Solutions Network, a national group…”

Without fixing finance and zoning, these are disconnects. UMMC should support MHARR’s proposed amendments if they want authentic change.

Example 3 of legislative disconnects: MHI, AARP and others

The Manufactured Housing Institute, AARP or others supporting proposed legislation without the MHARR amendments on zoning and finance are making similar mistakes.

Comparison of Housing Legislation Approaches

Feature	Pending “ROAD” Act (Unamended)	MHARR Proposed Amendments
Zoning	Defers to local authority	Enforce Federal Enhanced Preemption under the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000
Financing	“Tweaks” to existing programs	Mandatory Chattel Lending under the Duty to Serve (DTS) enacted by HERA 2008
Market Impact	Incremental “tweaks”	Structural supply-side expansion is the only proven solution that supplies millions of federally regulated, safety-energy-affordability-structural standards – inherently affordable manufactured homes
Focus	Posturing/Status Quo	Resolution of production barriers

Per Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell:

“Americans…demanded a solution to the affordable housing crisis…What is government going to do about it? My view is simple. Government is not capable of solving this problem and history proves it.

…Unfortunately, manufactured housing, commonly referred to as mobile homes, has been stigmatized for decades. Local governments across the country have…regulated them out of existence, based on outdated perceptions…

Today’s manufactured homes are built to dramatically higher standards…They are safer, more energy-efficient, more storm-resistant, and far more attractive than older models. They…remain one of the only truly affordable paths to homeownership.”

Time for action: Enforcing existing housing laws

On paper, Shelterforce, UMMC, MHI, AARP, Onwuka, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHFA, and HUD tipped their hats in favor of more manufactured homes as a key part of the solution to the affordable housing crisis. Our industry-leading platforms have been ‘fisking’ or doing fact-evidence-analysis (FEA) checks for years, before and since the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). More on these organizations, people and topics are documented there.

These examples beg the question. Why hasn’t Congress or the White House mandated enforcement of existing laws that have been ignored or twisted?

Let’s make this bill different. Lawmakers, fix the affordable housing production problem.

L. A. “Tony” Kovach is the co-founder and publisher of ManufacturedHomeProNews.com and ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: zeb@hwmedia.com.