The proposed rule that clarifies how RVs are defined, and is used to distinguish them from manufactured homes, now awaits final approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
After a two-month public comment period that ended April 11, the department will review the public feedback, and determine whether or not to redraft the proposal.
“We feel very confident that HUD is just going to go with the definition that they proposed, and we’ll have a very clear distinction between park models and manufactured housing,” said Ron Breymier, who serves as executive director of the RV Indiana Council.
HUD proposed the rule earlier this year, hoping to settle the years-long debate that centered on how an RV is defined in its manufactured housing regulations. By the standing rule, some park models, and even fifth wheels, could qualify as manufactured homes.
Among the sticking points in the standing rule – which was enacted in 1976 to exempt RVs from HUD’s manufactured housing oversight – was a definition of an RV as a structure under 400 square-feet.
In 2014, HUD Administrator Pamela Danner issued a memo stating that the measurement should include an overhanging porch area, but for years, RV Industry Association officials had not considered the unenclosed overhang of a porch part of the 400-square-foot measurement.
Danner’s HUD predecessor Bill Matchneer also had clarified in a 2010 meeting that porches were not part of the measurement.
To further complicate the 39-year-old rule, some modern fifth wheels now surpass the 400-square-foot measurements, according to HUD.
To remedy the measurement issue, HUD omitted a measurement from the proposed rule, deferring to NFPA and ANSI standards on RVs.
“We believe that the new definition, and certainly the definition we’ve adopted in Indiana, makes it clear that it’s the unit itself, it’s not anything that is added later on,” Breymier said. “It’s clearly just the park model.”
To draft the new definition, HUD asked that the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee propose a definition that would appropriately distinguish between manufactured homes and RVs.
The timeline for approval of the proposed rule is not yet known, though it is currently on the HUD docket for review, following the two-month public comment period.
The Threat to ‘Tiny Homes’ and RV Full-Timers
Between Feb. 9 and April 11, more than 5,500 comments were submitted for the proposed HUD rule, many of which came from full-time RVers, as well as the dwellers and builders associated with the miniature homes known as “tiny homes”.
Numerous online publications and commenters feared that a portion of the rule, which states an RV is designed as a temporary residence (a portion that is also in the standing rule), would affect tiny home dwellers.
Breymier said the response appears to be a misunderstanding, since tiny homes are neither defined as park models nor RVs, and in fact, have no current unified standard for construction.
“That’s the problem with tiny homes,” he said. “They are not built to a HUD code; they’re not built to an RV code; they’re not built to any standard. People just build them.”
Unlike RVs, which are built to NFPA (1192-15) or ANSI (119.5) standards, tiny homes are not currently defined by any standard.
Other commenters included full-time RVers, who also took exception to the portion of the rule stating that RVs are intended for temporary dwelling, not full-time residences.
Breymier notes that this portion of the rule has existed for years, but points out that HUD’s jurisdiction only oversees manufacturing process.
“From HUDs perspective – and the industry’s perspective – HUD’s jurisdiction ends with the construction code itself,” he said.
State and local authorities are charged with oversight of how the RVs are classified in specific jurisdictions, and the enforcement of those rules varies between municipalities.
Rule Breakdown
Below is a comparison of the standing definition of RVs in HUD’s code, and a brief summary of the new rule:
Standing Rule
According to the Code of Federal Regulations (24 CFR Part 3282.g), an RV is currently defined as a vehicle that is:
- Built on a single chassis;
- 400 square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projections;
- Self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and
- Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling, but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.
Proposed Rule
Under the proposed rule change, the definition defining RVs for use in distinguishing them from manufactured homes would be:
- 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 RVs and not certified as a manufactured home.
- Each ANSI A119.5-15 certified structure seeking an exemption includes a notice to be prominently displayed in a temporary manner in the kitchen (i.e., countertop or exposed cabinet face) until the completion of the sale transaction that explains that the manufacturer certifies that the structure is a recreational vehicle designed only for recreational use, and not for use as a primary residence or for permanent occupancy.