House passes rollback of energy efficient regulations
On Jan. 16, 2026, the House of Representatives passed The Affordable Housing Over Mandating Efficiency Standards (HOMES) Act (HR 5184). This removed the Department of Energy’s regulations on manufactured housing energy efficiency standards. The 263-147 vote passed the bill to the Senate. The HOMES Act garners support for targeting affordability, however there is debate whether this is an effective way to address the affordability concern.
Data from Realtor.com reports that the median price of manufactured homes was consistent from 2022 to 2024 and even decreased in 2025.
“It’s important to note that while the DOE regulations would add to the price of new manufactured housing upfront, they were also expected to save monthly costs on energy usage going forward,” said Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com, “So without them, there is a trade-off between purchase price and carrying costs.”
