HUD Proposes Recreational Vehicle Exemption Related to Manufacturing Housing

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has put forth a proposed rule that would exempt recreational vehicles that are not self-propelled from its Manufactured Housing Procedural and Enforcement Regulations.

The proposed rule follows a recommendation from the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC), a federal advisory committee, that HUD define a recreational vehicle as “one built on a vehicular structure” and is not certified as a manufactured home. Under this definition, the vehicle is designed only for recreational use and is not to be used as a primary residence or for permanent occupancy. The vehicles in question would also need to meet either the National Fire Protection Association 1192-15 or the American National Standards Institute A119.5-09 consensus standards for recreational vehicles.

HUD has been wrestling with the question of recreational vehicles and manufactured housing for four decades. In May 1976, the department issued its Mobile Home Procedural and Enforcement regulations, which first exempted recreational vehicles because they “do not fall within the definition of mobile homes and are not subject to these regulations.” The most recent change was proposed in December 2014 by the MHCC, which called for new language that more clearly spelled the differences between recreational vehicles and manufactured housing.