2014-26198. Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards; Request for Recommended Changes

AGENCY:

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing—Federal Housing Commissioner, HUD.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

Consistent with the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, as amended, this notice invites interested persons to submit proposed changes to update and revise HUD's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards. These proposed changes will be submitted to the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) for review and consideration as part of its responsibility to provide periodic recommendations to HUD to adopt, revise, and interpret the HUD standards.

DATES:

To ensure consideration, proposed changes from the public must be received at the address provided herein no later than December 31, 2014.

ADDRESSES:

Proposed changes to the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards are to be mailed to Home Innovation Research Labs, 400 Prince Georges Blvd., Upper Marlboro, MD 20774, Attention: Kevin Kauffman or are to be submitted to the following URL address: mhcc.homeinnovation.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Pamela Beck Danner, Administrator and Designated Federal Official (DFO), Office of Manufactured Housing Programs, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 9168, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number 202-708-6423 (this is not a toll-free number). Persons who have difficulty hearing or speaking may access this number via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Section 604(a) of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, as amended by the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 5401 et seq.) (the Act) establishes the MHCC. Among other things, the MHCC is responsible for providing periodic recommendations to HUD to adopt, revise, and interpret the manufactured housing construction and safety standards. HUD's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards are codified at 24 CFR part 3280. According to Section 604(a)(4) of the Act, the MHCC is required to consider revisions not less than once during each 2-year period.

Today's notice requests that interested persons provide proposed changes for revising or updating HUD's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards. Consistent with the Act, recommendations are requested that further HUD's efforts to increase the quality, durability, safety and affordability of manufactured homes; facilitate the availability of affordable manufactured homes and increase homeownership for all Americans; and encourage cost-effective and innovative construction techniques for manufactured homes. To permit the MHCC to fully consider the proposed changes, commenters are encouraged to provide at least the following information:

• The specific section of the current Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards that require revision or update; or whether the recommendation would require a new standard;
• Specific detail regarding the recommendation including a statement of the problem intended to be corrected or addressed by the recommendation, how the recommendation would resolve or address the problem, and the basis of the recommendation; and
• Information regarding whether the recommendation would result in increased costs to manufacturers or consumers and the value of the benefits derived from HUD's implementation of the recommendation, should be provided and discussed to the extent feasible.

The Act requires that an administering organization administer the process for the MHCC's development and interpretation of the Federal Standards and Procedural and Enforcement Regulations. The administering organization that has been selected by HUD to administer this process is Home Innovation Research Labs, Inc. This Notice requests that proposed revisions to the Federal standards be submitted to the MHCC for consideration through the administering organization, Home Innovation Research Labs, Inc. This organization will be responsible for ensuring delivery of all appropriately prepared proposed changes to the MHCC for its review and consideration.

Paperwork Reduction Act

The information collection requirements contained in this notice have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), and assigned OMB Control Number 2535-0116. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information, unless the collection displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Dated: October 29, 2014.

Teresa B. Payne,

Deputy Administrator, Office of Manufactured Housing Programs.