Cost Analysis: Conner Homes Demonstration Project, Incorporating Proposed Changes to the HUD Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards

On August 16, 1983, HUD published in the Federal Register a series of proposed changes to the current version of the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (CFR Vol. 48, No. 159, page 37,136 -37,195). Among the supporting documentation for that proposed rulemaking was a report* projecting the cost impact of a series of proposed changes on typical homes built by the manufactured housing industry. The projected costs of several of these changes proposed by HUD were disputed by industry sources and, as a result, HUD arranged to conduct a Demonstration Project in association with the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and the Conner Homes Corporation in order to attempt to verify the accuracy of HUD's CORt projections. This Demonstration Project involved the construction of both "standard" units (built to Conner Homes' typical specificatinns) and "demonstration" units (incorporating many of the changes included in the proposed rulemaking).