Manufactured Housing Institute & Next Great Affordable Housing Debate?

"The people on Patch are your neighbors. Treat them as such. Always use clean and civil language, even in heated debates." That's from the Patch community guidelines. The platform for engagement that Patch has provided ought to be celebrated. And the Patch is correct. There are topics that need and merit even "heated debates." That idea of the importance and value of debate will be near the heart of this post. The late President John F. "Jack" Kennedy (D) put it well. "Debate" is not a four letter word.

On this date at about the time shown (it takes a few moments to screen capture the date and time) was the following Q&As with left-leaning Bing's artificial intelligence (AI) powered Copilot. The text will follow for SEO and other purposes.

You (i.e.: this writer, L. A. “Tony” Kovach)

Sent by you:

Copilot this article linked here: Frank Rolfe-Special Interests ‘Don’t Want to Solve Affordable Housing' has been online for nearly a month at this link here: https://patch.com/florida/lake... Can you find any direct response on their website, social media, or elsewhere by anyone involved with the Manufactured Housing Institute making a direct response to Frank Rolfe's stated concerns?

Copilot

Sent by Copilot:

It appears that there hasn’t been a specific public response from the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) directly addressing Frank Rolfe’s concerns as stated in the article123. The article itself and related discussions on platforms like MHProNews and MHLivingNews highlight the lack of direct engagement from MHI on this topic 1 2.

If you have any other questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!

Learn more

1 patch.com 2 manufacturedhomepronews.com 3 manufacturedhomepronews.com 4 manufacturedhomelivingnews.com ..."

Copilot made several import points. As a disclosure, I've been doing tests using Bing's Copilot since May of 2023. So, I've become reasonably familiar with it. At the time I began those tests, Copilot was the top-rated free AI search tool. I've since used others, including left-leaning Google's Gemini. Bing and Google both say results should be double checked because AI can glitch. It is an emerging technology. That said, used correctly, while experts say Bing and Copilot have bias, it can produce a reasonably objective result. I make an effort to reflect the bias - left or right - of sources we use here on the Patch and on our own trade media, as the graphic this writer has previously linked numerous times indicates.

That said, Copilot has a point in saying: "The article [on the Patch] itself and related discussions on platforms like MHProNews and MHLivingNews highlight the lack of direct engagement from MHI on this topic (1) (2)." Our readers on MHProNews and MHLivingNews have been made aware of these issues and concerns with respect to the Manufactured Housing Institute's (MHI) leaders many times. Consider some examples below.

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

That linked article is about MHI openly joining forces with conventional housing trade groups. Don't get me wrong. If conventional housing trade groups wanted to help get more affordable manufactured homes built and installed where needed, not many would cheer louder than this writer.

But that is apparently often not the case. MHI is openly supporting rival housing industry
organizations in ways that arguably harms the interests of smaller firms in the manufactured housing industry and harms the interests of the millions who need or want more affordable housing.

Let's quickly say that in my view there are scores of fine professionals either involved in an MHI linked state association and/or are involved at MHI itself. This post and related challenge should not be construed as a slam on everyone involved at MHI. This challenge for a public debate is MHI leadership and their allies specific. But the fact that many at MHI are fine people doesn't not mean that some are perhaps involved in problematic, maybe even illegal, behavior. Who said?

Among others, Samuel "Sam" Strommen (now J.D.), while he was at Knudson Law.

Strommen made a 17-page heavily footnoted legal argument that MHI insiders are involved in "felony" antitrust behavior. A Democratic congressional staffer told MHLivingNews that MHI is seen as 'anti-consumer.' I spoke with Strommen's law school professor, who couldn't go on the record, but said he thought highly of him. The pull quotes by Strommen that follow come from those linked articles. Several mainstream media outlets, many if not most on the left, have shed light on problematic behavior that often traces back to specific MHI members and top staffers. I'll link an example here.

These are serious legal allegations made by Strommen. To the best of my knowledge, they are from an outsider to manufactured housing, who is apparently open to manufactured homes as an affordable housing solution. Strommen made the argument in an obvious effort to shine a light on why manufactured housing is underperforming during an affordable housing crisis. Keep in mind that since Strommen's remarks at least 4 national class action lawsuits were filed. Many of those named are MHI members and/or are members of an MHI linked state association.

Danny Ghorbani is an ex-MHI vice president. He said the following.

Several years ago, then ManageAmerica partner and MHI member Andy Gedo said the following in an online debate via LinkedIn.

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

An Invitation to Publicly Debate

That background is sufficient to issue the following invitation for MHI leaders to publicly debate these issues and concerns. MHI leaders can do so in person with a third party moderator. They can do so online, like Gedo and I did via LinkedIn. Let's note that debate was quite respectful, in my view. Or the debate can be done virtually in some other fashion.

The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) has been saying in their own way for years that MHI's leadership are apparently part of the problem rather than part of the solution. MHARR has said the industry's "bottlenecks" could be resolved if the industry would join forces and push for a proper implementation of existing federal laws. Note that nothing is published by MHARR without their President and CEO, Mark Weiss, J.D., first reviewing it.

https://manufacturedhousingass...

There are several things that could be debated, starting with MHI's lack of public accountability and lack of performance. MHI's website home page has said for months that they are working for "Elevating Housing Innovation; Expanding Attainable Homeownership."

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

If so, then there are residents, investors, MHI members, and third parties that see it differently. There needs to be accountability. MHI has demonstrably ducked accountability for years.

Several of the articles that follow directly or indirectly relate to the troubling issues that often trace back to specific members and leaders involved at MHI.

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

I'm hereby calling on MHI's leaders to publicly explain and debate their performance. The details of a debate can be discussed.

If they are not willing to explain publicly why they do, or don't do, what others think should be obvious if they are sincere about their claims then I'm respectfully encouraging federal and/or state public officials (wherever MHI is operating directly or through state associations) to investigate the concerns related to the trade group.

Let's see what MHI leaders say. To better understand the issues, see the linked and related articles. ##

L. A. “Tony” Kovach and his family live in a manufactured home in Winter Haven, FL. He is the co-founder of ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com and ManufacturedHomeProNews.com, trade publications serving segments of the manufactured home industry. Having worked in several aspects of the industry for over 3 decades, Kovach is a widely acknowledged and often praised expert on manufactured housing.

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