s a part of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (the Act), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is required to develop model manufactured home installation standards. These model installation standards must be enacted by each state within five years of the passage of the Act, which translates to December 27, 2005.

For each state that does not implement the required program through state law in the designated time, the HUD Secretary is required to implement a program for that state. The program must include the development and implementation of manufactured home installation standards that are not less than those prepared by the HUD Secretary.

Time is of the essence. Before states can pass these laws, HUD must lay the groundwork. Under the Act, the HUD Secretary must enter into a contract with an "administrating organization" that will create a consensus committee of 21 individuals that represent the industry, consumers and interested parties. This committee will develop standards for manufactured homes, which include model manufactured home installation standards. The HUD Secretary must enter into a contract with the administering organization by June 27, 2001, with the consensus committee to be HUD-appointed by September 27, 2001. The consensus committee will then have 18 months to recommend the model manufactured home installation standards to HUD. HUD will need to receive the model installation standards from the consensus committee, as required by the Act, no later than March 2003. This leaves a mere two years and nine months for states to enact laws-not much time in the world of lawmaking.

Related to these events, the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards (NCSBCS) recently agreed that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) would assume the secretarial duties for updating the ANSI A225.1- 1994 Standard, Manufactured Home Installations. NFPA's installation standard for manufactured homes will likely be completed within its Fall 2002 cycle. MHI expects that NFPA will ultimately offer the document to the consensus committee for consideration in making its recommendation to HUD for model manufactured home installation standards. This could help speed the process.

At the conclusion of the MHI Winter Meeting, February 11-14, 2001, an MHI/MHARR Industry Task Force was activated. With collaboration between the industry trade associations, the task force has initiated the revision process to draft model manufactured home installation standards to assist in meeting the Act. The task force consists of 50 members, representing most segments of the manufactured housing industry.

The task force will be using the ANSI A225.1 standard as the base document to develop the model installation standards and submit its recommendations to track with the NFPA Fall 2002 cycle. The ANSI A225.1 publication stemmed from MHI's model installation manual developed in 1992.

Time is critical for the industry to develop draft model installation standards for consideration by the NFPA 501 Committee. However, the task force is adhering to a strict process to ensure the widest possible "buy-in" and consensus by the industry.

MHI received comments on the "first draft" proposed changes the first week of May. The task force will vote on the second draft of proposed changes by June 1, 2001. Under this balloting procedure, task force members can vote on each individual change to be approved as submitted, approved as amended, disapproved or abstention. Any proposed change receiving votes for approval as amended or disapproval must be accompanied by a reason for that vote.

At this time, the task force is planning to meet June 11 to incorporate the changes into the final proposed document. The task force draft model manufactured home installation standards will then be submitted to NFPA by June 29, 2001 for consideration during the Fall 2002 cycle.