Affordable Homes Act Passes House

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5184, the Affordable HOMES Act, on Friday with a bipartisan vote of 263–147. The legislation aims to boost housing affordability and supply through manufactured housing.

The measure drew support from 57 Democrats, with no Republicans voting against it.

Before the vote, a coalition of affordable housing organizations led by the National Housing Conference (NHC) urged House leaders to back the bill. They pointed to manufactured housing as one of the quickest and least expensive ways to expand options for lower-income households.

Sponsored by Reps. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), the legislation would restore sole authority over manufactured housing energy efficiency standards to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), eliminating overlapping oversight by the Department of Energy (DOE).

“As demand for affordable homes has surged, so have unnecessary costs, making the dream of homeownership slip further out of reach for Americans. The Affordable HOMES Act takes a practical approach by cutting red tape and regulations that contribute to pricing American families out of owning a home, which will increase supply and lower costs,” Houchin said in a statement.

“Affordable homeownership should be Congress‘s top economic priority,” Auchincloss said. “This bill makes progress by unlocking production of manufactured housing and lowering prices by up to $10,000 per unit. Coming off a big bipartisan vote in the House, the Senate should pass this, fast, to start cutting costs in the housing market.”

The bill would also repeal the DOE’s May 2022 manufactured housing energy efficiency rule that applied site-built housing standards to manufactured homes, which has not yet taken effect. It would also allow the DOE to offer recommendations to HUD during future updates to the HUD code.

Housing advocates said energy efficiency standards should balance sustainability with affordability and be developed by agencies with housing expertise.

“Higher energy efficiency standards are an important goal, but they must be designed with affordability in mind and by the agency with housing expertise,” NHC’s letter states, noting that HUD has regulated manufactured housing standards since 1974. “At a time when our nation urgently needs more affordable housing of all kinds, unworkable standards, increased costs, and regulatory confusion only hamper progress.”

In addition to NHC, the letter supporting the bill was signed by several other trade groups, including the California Community Reinvestment Corp., the Manufactured Housing Institute, the Mortgage Bankers Association and UnidosUS.