December 27, 2006

$1,000 Tax Credit Extended
Through December 2008

In the closing hours of the 109^th Congress, the Manufactured Housing Research Alliance (MHRA) and the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) achieved a significant victory with a one-year extension of the $1,000 tax credit for manufacturers of ENERGY STAR qualified manufactured homes. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, were instrumental in adding the one-year extension of the tax credit as part of the “Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006.” MHRA and MHI have worked extensively with the staff of both Senators Grassley and Baucus to support an extension of the tax credit. The Senators plan to introduce legislation in the 110^th Congress in 2007 further extending the tax credit. MHI and MHRA will continue to work on this important issue in the upcoming Congress.

With passage of this legislation, the New Energy Efficient Home credit will not expire until December 31, 2008. This business credit allows producers of manufactured homes to qualify for $1,000 by either building homes under the provisions of the ENERGY STAR Qualified Manufactured Homes program administered by MHRA or by exceeding the IECC by 30 percent. The legislation also allows builders of site-built, modular and manufactured homes to qualify for the $2,000 credit by exceeding the IECC by 50 percent.

As a reminder to producers of HUD-code homes, if you plan to build ENERGY STAR homes that qualify for the tax credit, they must display both the EPA ENERGY STAR Qualified Home and the SBRA ENERGY STAR quality assurance label. The labels are available from MHRA. To download an order form, visit the web site at: http://www.mhrahome.org/media/forms/ES_label_order_form.pdf.

MHRA to Develop ENERGY STAR Protocols for Modulars

MHRA will soon begin work on a redesign of the rules for building ENERGY STAR modular homes.  EPA turned over responsibility for reconfiguring the program to MHRA, specifically in developing an alternative verification protocol for modular homes built in HUD-code plants.

Copyright 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of MHRA. For comments or questions related to MHRA ENERGY STAR Update, contact Gwynne Koch via e-mail at gkoch@research-alliance.org.