Biden Administration’s Mandate Will Raise Costs On Manufactured Homeowners For ‘Zero” Climate Benefit, Experts Say
The Biden administration’s upcoming rules requiring stricter energy efficiency standards for manufactured homes will raise costs for low-income home buyers while failing to meaningfully limit emissions, industry experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The following contains excerpts from a narrative by John Hugh Demastri, contributor, posted by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Department of Energy;s (DOE) rules – set to go into effect May 31,* one year after they were finalized – update insulation and sealing requirements among other efficiency standards for manufactured homes, formerly known as mobile homes, which the agency estimates could save the average consumer between $177 to $475 per year on utilities while boosting average manufactured home prices by $4,100 to $4,500. This rule will have an “adverse” impact on low-income homebuyers via increased prices – the median household income for manufactured homeowners is $35,000, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute – but will likely have a “negligible” effect on carbon emissions, Jonathan Lesser of the Manhattan Institute told the DCNF.
“Not only does [the DOE rule] increase the upfront cost of buying a manufactured home for lower income families, but by the time these additional costs pay themselves off, a new generation of heating and cooling equipment will likely be available, which will use less energy,” said Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni told the DCNF.
Jonathan Lester characterized the rule as seemingly having been “designed to force more low-income consumers into rentals, rather than being able to own their own homes.”
The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and Texas Manufactured Housing Association (TMHA) filed a lawsuit in February, alleging that the one year compliance date was “arbitrary, capricious, and impractical.” The organizations also alleged that the agency failed to consult with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and failed to balance the affordability of manufactured homes and energy efficiency,
*(Editor Update) Thanks to a coordinated multi-pronged MHI strategy to stop implementation of the DOE standards, the compliance date has been extended to July 1, 2025.
