The U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) published a Final Rule on January 3, 2025, implementing changes for the Single Family Housing (SFH) Direct Loan Program and the SFH Guaranteed Loan Program to allow for financing of the purchase of existing manufactured homes that are newer and meet updated construction and safety standards.
Under the new provisions, the USDA will permit the purchase of existing manufactured homes that are newer and meet updated construction and safety standards. Units must have been constructed in conformance with Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (“FMHCSS”) as evidenced by both an affixed HUD Certification label and HUD Date Plate on or after a date determined by the USDA, considering factors such as industry standards and practices. Also, the manufactured home cannot have been previously installed on a different homesite or had any alterations since construction in the factory, except for porches, decks, or other structures which were built to engineered designs or were approved and inspected by local code officials.
As previously discussed here, the Final Rule was published in the Federal Register with an effective date of March 4, 2025. However, the USDA has now published a correction in the Federal Register which defers the effective date of the Final Rule to May 5, 2025.
As part of the implementation, revisions are being made to several Chapters of Handbook 1-3555. Advanced copies of the revised chapters will be available at least 30 days prior to the new effective date on the USDA’s LINC Training and Resource Library webpage.
