The following statement was released by MHI this morning signaling the end of merger discussions between MHARR and MHI. 
 
MHARR has rejected MHI’s latest counter proposal on merger and has determined that merger is not feasible at this time. See attached Ed Hussey’s letter of May 9 that came to me this morning and my response dated today.
 
The MHI Executive Committee and our members on the MHI-MHARR Coalition (B.J. Williams, Charley Lott, David Roberson, Kevin Clayton, Barry McCabe) worked in good faith, as did the MHARR Executive Committee, but our common objectives could not overcome the fact that the two organizations have different scopes.
 
The most recent MHARR proposal would have created an organization more reflective of the current MHARR, with members who are not HUD Code manufacturers being placed in less influential levels of membership. Task Forces would have been disbanded and all HUD Code manufacturer matters would have been handled by Danny Ghorbani out of an expanded Washington, DC office with Gail responsible for a reduced staff handling other industry affairs out of Arlington. A board of 14 would have included eight HUD Code manufacturers, six of whom would be specified by MHARR; the chairman would always be a HUD Code manufacturer.
 
MHI is and will remain broadly representative of all facets of the factory-built housing industry, emphatically including but never limited to HUD Code manufacturers. As the voice of a unified industry MHI enjoys effective access to members of Congress, federal agencies including HUD and to the GSE’s. Through the Federated States Division and our members at large MHI can reach to state legislative and executive branches when that serves the interests of modular builders, retailers, communities, lenders and suppliers. This broad representation does not diffuse our efforts, as MHARR believes, but gives our efforts critical context.
 
Our Executive Committee and Coalition members were prepared to compromise on matters of governance and representation but were not prepared to reduce our scope. MHARR members were equally unwilling to compromise their scope. Someday we may find common ground by bringing MHARR and our HUD Code Manufacturers Division together as part of a larger umbrella MHI, but that time is not now.
 
We all knew a successful merger would be difficult to achieve but well worth the effort. We owed this effort not only to the joint members who have been burdened with double dues but to an entire industry that would have been better served with a single voice in Washington. Gail will go the extra mile to maintain good rapport with Danny so that we can work collaboratively.
 
I applaud Barry McCabe and Kevin Clayton specifically for working so hard to try and negotiate this much needed merger.  Hopefully fruitful discussions will continue after the dust settles and a merger is still somewhere in the not-so-distance future.  We need a single voice in Washington D.C. and MHI is the only organization qualified to be that voice. 

Greg Harmon - President
Commonwealth Real Estate Services
E-mail: greg@cwres.com
Telephone 503.244.2300 Ext. 101