Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT <CFR>24 CFR Parts 3280, 3282, 3285, and 3286</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FR-6233-F-02]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2502-AJ58</RIN> <SUBJECT>Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> This final rule amends the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (MHCSS or the Construction and Safety Standards) by adopting most of the fourth and fifth groups of recommendations made to HUD by the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC). This rule also amends the Manufactured Home Procedural and Enforcement Regulations, the Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards, and the Manufactured Home Installation Program regulations. The MHCC prepared and submitted to HUD its fourth and fifth groups of recommendations to improve various aspects of the MHCSS. HUD reviewed those proposals and drafted a number of proposed revisions to the MHCSS and associated regulations. On July 19, 2022, HUD published a proposed rule detailing these revisions to provide the public an opportunity to comment. The comment period closed on September 19, 2022. This final rule adopts HUD's proposed revisions based upon the MHCC's fourth and fifth groups of recommendations with some minor revisions made in response to the public comments. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Effective:</E> March 17, 2025. The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register beginning March 17, 2025. The incorporation by reference of certain other publications listed in the rule was approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of July 3, 2014. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Teresa B. Payne, Administrator, Office of Manufactured Housing Programs, Office of Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20410; telephone 202-402-5365 (this is not a toll-free number). HUD welcomes and is prepared to receive calls from individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals with speech or communication disabilities. To learn more about how to make an accessible telephone call, please visit: <E T="03">https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> On August 22, 1974, the President signed the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-383, 88 Stat. 633-2), which contained the National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-383, 88 Stat. 700; tit. VI; 42 U.S.C. 5401 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) (the Act). The Act, which was later renamed the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, authorizes HUD to establish and amend the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (MHCSS) codified in title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), part 3280. The Act was amended by the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106-569, December 27, 2000), which expanded the Act and created the MHCC, a consensus committee responsible for providing HUD recommendations to adopt, revise, and interpret the MHCSS. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> The MHCSS only applies to the design, construction, and installation of new manufactured homes. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  The MHCC is composed of twenty-one voting members as provided under section 604(a)(3)(B) of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000. The twenty-one members are comprised of seven producers or retailers of manufactured housing, seven persons representing consumer interests, and seven general interest or public officials, which rotate. The current group of seven producers or retailers of manufactured homes can be broken down into two small businesses that manufacture homes, four large businesses that manufacture homes, and one retailer. </FTNT> The MHCC held its first meeting in August 2002. The MHCC began considering revisions to the MHCSS afterwards. The MHCC developed its own priorities for preparing proposed revisions for HUD to consider. As the MHCC's efforts proceeded, proposed revisions to the MHCSS were divided into groups of recommendations and provided to HUD in sets. This rule is based on the fourth and fifth sets of MHCC recommendations to HUD. HUD reviewed the recommendations submitted by the MHCC and made editorial revisions and additions prior to publishing the proposed changes in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on July 19, 2022 (87 FR 43114). HUD received 49 comments on the proposed rule and made further revisions in response to the public comments. The following is a discussion of the specific revisions to the MHCSS that were included in the proposed rule and are enacted by this final rule. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Changes Made at the Final Rule Stage</HD> In response to public comments and in further consideration of issues addressed at the proposed rule stage, this final rule adopts the proposed rule, published at 87 FR 43114 (July 19, 2022), with the revisions discussed in detail below. <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Clarification of Fire Sprinkler Requirements for Manufactured Homes</HD> HUD received numerous public comments on the proposed sprinkler standard. The comments addressed topics including whether HUD has statutory authority to impose any fire sprinkler standard, whether the voluntary sprinkler standard would be the first step to HUD imposing a mandatory standard, and whether the HUD regulations would be duplicative of existing local or State regulations. While HUD discusses these comments and its legal authority in greater detail in the public comment section of this preamble, the comments demonstrate that clarification on certain topics would be beneficial. With respect to the fire sprinkler standard itself, the Secretary has not received a recommendation from the MHCC on the imposition of a mandatory fire sprinkler standard and cannot consider or act until that time. In addition, HUD defers to consumer choices, as well as State and local jurisdictions that have the appropriate expertise, to determine the necessity for installing fire sprinkler systems provided the requirements apply to all single family homes, including manufactured homes. The comments also raised a question of whether the proposed language of § 3280.214 is sufficiently clear for parties with equity in the rule to understand the requirements related to installation of a fire sprinkler system. One commenter suggested a revision to the language by adding “when a manufacturer installs a fire sprinkler system as an optional feature or to meet state or local laws and regulations” after the phrase “Fire sprinkler systems are not required by this subpart; however,” in § 3280.214(a)(1). HUD accepted this language and added “as selected by the consumer” after “optional feature” because it provides necessary clarity on commenters' concerns about their obligations under the final rule and was adopted by HUD. HUD made minor changes in the final rule to clarify and streamline the language of § 3280.214(e). In § 3280.214(e)(1), HUD moved the phrase “separated from heat sources as required by the sprinkler manufacturer's installation instructions” from the end of the paragraph and placed it after the first usage of “sprinklers.” This placement clarifies that the standards apply when a fire sprinkler system is selected by the consumer as an optional feature of the home or when required to meet State or local law. In § 3280.214(e)(2), the phrase “located within the distance to a heat source as specified in table 7.5.5.3 of NFPA 13D (incorporated by reference, see § 3280.4)” has been moved and placed immediately after the first usage of “sprinklers.” This new language specifies that the optional sprinklers must be located near the heat source in the described manner. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Testing and Certification for Fire Sprinkler Systems</HD> HUD proposed language that initially placed the responsibility of testing and certifying the water supply pressure available for fire sprinklers, if installed as a voluntarily add-on feature, on the installers of manufactured homes. HUD received several comments stating that installers of manufactured homes do not have control over the design and production process and they may lack relevant expertise to meet this obligation. The commenters offered three remedies: (1) HUD could set requirements for factory production to place the obligations on manufacturers; (2) the water supply pressure testing and certification could be completed by a fire protection technician during the installation of the home; or (3) HUD could withdraw the rule. HUD has revised § 3280.214(q), (r), and (t) to require that this water supply pressure testing and certification be completed by a fire protection technician during the installation of the home upon consideration of the commenter's suggestions. HUD selected this option because it addresses the concerns raised by the commenters and fire protection technicians have the most relevant and specialized experience needed for testing and certifying the adequacy of water supply pressure for fire sprinkler systems compared to manufactured home installers. <HD SOURCE="HD2">C. Exterior Door Requirements</HD> HUD proposed removing language from § 3280.105 providing that “[d]oor seals are permitted to reduce the opening, either vertically or horizontally, a maximum of one inch” in the proposed rule. HUD received two comments explaining that door seals on exterior doors were importa ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 386k characters. 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