[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4485-4487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-01594]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5768-N-01]


Request for Comment on Proposed Changes to the Survey of New 
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Placements Data Collection Methodology

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and 
Research, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that HUD is soliciting public comments 
regarding changes to the data collection methodology for Survey of New 
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Placements, commonly referred to as the 
Manufactured Homes Survey. The goal of the data collection methodology 
changes is to reduce survey costs while continuing to produce 
statutorily-mandated estimates of prices of manufactured housing for 
the nation and for states, as well as important characteristics of new 
units produced and sold.

DATES: Comments Due Date: April 28, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments must refer to the above docket number and 
title. There are two methods for submitting public comments.
    1. Submission of Comments by Mail. Comments may be submitted by 
mail to Shawn Bucholtz, Director, Housing and Demographic Analysis 
Division, Office of Policy Development and Research, Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th St. SW., Room 8222, Washington, 
DC 20410. Due to security measures at all federal agencies, however, 
submission of comments by mail often results in delayed delivery. To 
ensure timely receipt of comments, HUD recommends that comments 
submitted by mail be submitted at least two weeks in advance of the 
public comment deadline.

[[Page 4486]]

    2. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit 
comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly encourages commenters to submit 
comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments allows the 
commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, ensures timely 
receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make them immediately available to 
the public. Comments submitted electronically through the 
www.regulations.gov Web site can be viewed by other commenters and 
interested members of the public. Commenters should follow the 
instructions provided on that site to submit comments electronically.

    Note: To receive consideration as public comments, comments must 
be submitted through one of the two methods specified above. Again, 
all submissions must refer to the docket number and title of the 
rule.

    No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not acceptable.
    Public Inspection of Public Comments. All properly submitted 
comments and communications submitted to HUD will be available for 
public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the 
above address. Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters 
building, an advance appointment to review the public comments must be 
scheduled by calling the Regulations Division at 202-708-3055 (this is 
not a toll-free number). Individuals with speech or hearing impairments 
may access this number through TTY by calling the Federal Relay Service 
at 800-877-8339. Copies of all comments submitted are available for 
inspection and downloading at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shawn Bucholtz, Director, Housing and 
Demographic Analysis Division, Office of Policy Development and 
Research, 451 7th Street SW., Room 8222, Washington, DC 20410-0500, 
telephone number 202-402-5538 (this is not a toll-free number). Hearing 
or speech-impaired individuals may access this number via TTY by 
calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at telephone number 1-800-
8-77-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    As required by statute,\a\ HUD annually sponsors the Survey of New 
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Placements, commonly referred to as the 
Manufactured Homes Survey (MHS). The MHS collects data on the placement 
\b\, price, and characteristics of new manufactured homes. Consistent 
with the statute, the MHS is used to produce annual estimates of price 
for the nation, Census regions, and for each state. Although not 
required by statute, the MHS is also used to produce monthly estimates 
of price, placements, and dealer inventory for the nation, and annual 
estimates of selected characteristics of new manufactured units. Each 
year, HUD enters into an Interagency Agreement with the Census Bureau 
to conduct the survey and publish survey results. HUD annually spends 
approximately $820,000 for the MHS.
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    \a\ The statutory mandate for HUD to conduct the MHS is found at 
12 U.S.C. 1703 Notes Section 308(e) of Public Law 96-399.
    \b\ A manufactured home is considered placed when it put on a 
site for residential use.
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    Manufactured housing units, as a share of all new housing units, 
have been declining over the past decade. In 2011 and 2012, 
manufactured housing units represented about 8 percent of all housing 
units constructed. There were 55,000 manufactured housing units 
constructed in 2012.

B. Current Data Collection Methodology

    Under its regulatory authority to set and certify compliance with 
construction standards for manufactured housing, each month HUD 
provides Census with a list of all manufactured housing units shipped 
to dealers (these are used to make national and state-level shipment 
counts). The Census Bureau draws a sample of the units shipped to 
dealers and sends the MHS form to the dealer to which each sampled unit 
was shipped. The dealer fills out the MHS form for each unit that has 
been placed at its final destination. If a unit has not yet been placed 
(meaning it is still part of a dealer's inventory), the Census Bureau 
contacts the dealer each month to inquire about the status until the 
unit is placed at its final destination and the dealer returns the MHS 
form. These monthly follow-up calls to dealers are necessary in order 
to produce placement and dealer inventory estimates. The Census Bureau 
estimates that the annual cost to produce estimates of placements and 
dealer inventory is $467,000, or 58 percent of the entire cost of the 
survey.

C. Reconsidering the Usefulness of Placement and Dealer Inventory 
Estimates

    The production of a manufactured home begins when an individual 
places an order for a new home with a dealer. The dealer then relays 
the order to the manufacturer. When the manufacturing process is 
complete, the home is shipped to the dealer, where it remains until the 
final destination site on which it is to be placed is ready to receive 
the unit.
    Considering today's industry practices, placement estimates do not 
add additional useful information for estimating demand beyond what can 
be gleaned from shipment counts. Unlike twenty years ago, manufactured 
homes today are typically produced on an ``on demand'' or ``as 
ordered'' basis. The result of the industry shift towards ``as 
ordered'' is that the number of shipments and number of placements are 
essentially (and statistically) measuring the same thing. The 
correlation coefficient between annual national-level shipment counts 
and annual national-level placement estimates between 2006 and 2012 was 
0.99. Furthermore, about 90 percent of all new manufactured homes are 
eventually placed in the same state to which they were shipped.
    The dealer inventory estimate is not measuring a supply of housing 
units waiting to be sold. Rather, it is estimating the number of 
manufactured housing units already sold and waiting to be transported 
to their final destination. That is, the ``dealer inventory'' of 
manufactured homes as currently measured by MHS is more akin to 
counting the goods sitting on the front porches of customers of an 
internet retailer rather than counting the goods sitting in the 
company's warehouse.

D. Proposed Changes to the Data Collection Methodology

    HUD is considering changing the MHS data collection methodology to 
eliminate follow-up calls with dealers, beginning in fiscal year 2015. 
The impact of this change is that the MHS would no longer be used to 
produce estimates of final placements or dealer inventory. Consistent 
with the MHS statute, the MHS would continue to be used to produce 
annual estimates of price for the nation, Census Regions, and states. 
The MHS would also continue to be used to produce monthly estimates of 
price for the nation and annual estimates of selected characteristics 
of manufactured housing units. This proposed change to the MHS data 
collection methodology is estimated to save up to $467,000 per year.

D. Request for Comments

    HUD is seeking information from the public regarding these proposed 
changes to the MHS for fiscal year 2015 and beyond. Governmental policy 
makers, academic researchers, MHS

[[Page 4487]]

data users, and other interested parties are encouraged to participate 
by submitting comments. Official address, contact, and due date for 
submitting comments are stated above.

    Dated: January 17, 2014.
Jean Lin Pao,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.
[FR Doc. 2014-01594 Filed 1-27-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P