Recently there’s been a lot of buzz around a proposal by the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to modify the current exemption for recreational vehicles in the Manufactured Home Procedural and Enforcement Regulations.
The HUD wants to classify park model homes into the broad class of recreational vehicles (RVs). Once it distinguishes a clear difference between park model homes and all RVs from manufactured homes. People from across the RV living community were understanding that the proposed rule could then madate that RVs, including park models, motor homes, fifth-wheelers, trailers and tiny homes are designed only for recreational use and not as a primary residence or for permanent occupancy.
If RV living became regulated and enforced, it could negatively impact millions of law-abiding, tax-paying Americans and business owners. Millions of US citizens permanently reside in their motor homes, trailers, park models and tiny homes. For some, they do it for the adventure, travel and freedom. For many, they are forced into the RV life due to financial reason; housing foreclosures, low paying jobs, job loss, the flexibility to move for work and so on. A large population of senior citizens and disabled workers fall into the lifestyle because it’s a more affordable way to live. All of these people would be either out of a place to live or become outlaws by not following suit of the proposed new rule.
There are many more tax-paying citizens that could be effected. Most RV parks have at least a few long term and full time residents. Several parks are full of only park model homes that serve as full time domiciles. These park owners will lose their business and in some cases all their income. RV sales will plummet negatively impacting those businesses who thrive on people who travel and live in RVs.
If you don’t have an RV or even know anyone with an RV this could still effect you in some capacity. It would displace millions of individuals, many of which who can not afford anything more in housing. Certainly a few will be taking to the streets, many will have to head back to work to afford more expensive housing, others will get on welfare plans. This will effect entire communities because we all are part of an ecosystem. When one element changes, it’s effects will ripple outward.
However, regulations.gov along with HUD clarify that this proposed regulation is more about defining RVs vs. manufactured homes for the purposes of building and construction codes and policies than it is about potentially regulating those living in their RVs.
I wonder what qualifies as “living” and as 365 day vacation ?
snopes has this article regarding the topic and claims is “false”
http://www.snopes.com/hud-tiny-homes-ban/
Thanks for the heads up on the HUD proposal.
Hey Pippi, I posted an invite to you on Pippenings on the free camping in Grand Junction CO . Please delete my post after reading…. I cant find a way to edit or delete and is has my phone and address listed… and its been up there for weeks…. thanks.
I can only see your two comments from today. Is it posted under a different name possibly?
This revision to the regulation isn’t going to make RV living illegal. What HUD is doing is defining what units they will regulate in the manufacturing phase. Basically they are trying to exclude RV’s from the code. So if you purchase a vehicle don’t plan to hold the manufacture to the HUD guidelines.
Is the same being considered in Canada? I, for one cannot afford nor want to live in a house that costs $100,000.00 or more. I have been thinking on going full time in an rv for a while now, and would be able to provide for myself quite comfortably. Since I like to travel and photography why not combine the two.
You said it yourself in the above text. It is a proposed REGULATION – but is not law. Besides, could you imagine what that take to police it should it ever become law. Police are not going to drag you out of your home just because you are a full timer. In addition there are so many mobile home parks that rent spaces to full timers. The police would have there hands full just tackling this issue, the cost of which would be staggering to local cities with all the thousands of sites around the nation. The whole proposal is just plain stupid .
I also find it interesting that the IRS supports full-timers with legal tax deductions if they qualify.
I am not exactly sure what impact this would have on folks living in RVs, as I have heard mostly speculation, and the rule is hard for average folks to determine exactly what it proposes. But if it does indeed affect people residing in Recreational Vehicles, Tiny Homes or similar, I would like to know exactly WHERE… HUD is granted the authority to tell a private individual what type of structure they are permitted to live in within any given State? If this proposal does indeed make that pretense, then it is at the very least an illegal overreach violating the rights of States and Citizens that should be dropped and not ever be considered again.
So true what you say and it should not be past in any way. But all is down to is more taxi for the government. To pick at. By me Francis
Hi Pippi! Just want to say I love watching you teach things about RVing, but your last couple of YouTubes had your neighbor doing stuff while you narrated. I really didn’t care for it-sorry. I think the draw to your site is seeing how you do things. I’m a grandma, my hubby and I are nomads and we thoroughly enjoy the info you post. Hope to see more of you fixing things and renovating. Laurie
No worries, Laurie. I had one that I narrated while he changed out his AC unit and sawed a hole in his roof. For some people this is valuable information. But I understand not, everyone likes or gets the same value out of each video. I’ve always got more coming up!
Hi Pippi
Didn’t know were else to leave you a msg so i’m leaving it here.
Thank’s for my bumper sticker,it arrived today :).
Much love Law’s.
You bet Law’s thank you for your support!! 😀
I would like to order your sticker but am having trouble with finding the order page. Please email me travelingtreasures06@yahoo.com with how to order. Thanks
There’s a big order button on my homepage at http://www.pippenings.com. You’ll see a pic of me holding one and a button that says “I want mine”. CLick that and you’ll then log into Paypal to finish the order. Thank you!
Hi there, Pippi, sorry, but you have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick here.
The proposed regulatory change merely *simplifies* the distinction between an RV and a manufactured home. Under the current regs, some larger trailers, such as 5th wheels, meet the HUD definition of a “Manufactured Home”, which would in theory make their manufacture subject to HUD building codes.
“RV’s” are not subject to HUD building codes, but the current HUD exemption for RV’s is complex, and RV manufacture has moved some RV’s into ‘manufactured home’ territory. HUD does NOT want to have to mess with RV’s, so they have proposed a new definition of an RV.
Under the new definition, an RV is “a factory built vehicular structure designed only for recreational use and not as a primary residence or for permanent occupancy, built and certified in accordance with NFPA 1192-15 or ANSI A119.5-09 consensus standards for recreational vehicles and not certified as a manufactured home.”
Note that this does NOT mean that HUD says you can’t live in one full time, merely that that is not what it was *DESIGNED FOR*. In fact, since the rule specifically *exempts* RV’s from the HUD rules, HUD has no authority to say ‘what’ you do with your RV, since it is, by definition, not covered by their rules.
The only ‘real’ change this rule will bring in is that RV’s will have to be sold with a removable sticker on the kitchen countertop that informs buyers that the unit is not a manufactured home, and is not subject to HUD building codes.
No-one is trying to ban full-time RV living.
Richard
Thank you for your clear and concise understanding of the proposal.
It is only a manufacturing and building code proposal addressing park models mostly trying to separate them from RVs. They have to display a sign that the rv is for recreational purposes to AVOID the burdensome building regulations and Then only until it’s sold. After that the new owner can do whatever they wish. The proposed rule does not say anything about fulltimers and nothing should be read into it. In fact, it’s not even new language. Once you own it, it’s yours. People live in houses that don’t meet code all the time. Don’t read more into it.
Government loves regulations which then justify that department’s existence. These are basically laws that have bypassed the constitutional structure of creating a law.
They will justify this regulation as concerning consumer safety. But it’s never that simple.