George Allen / EducateMHC Blog Mobile Home & Land Lease Community Advocate & Expert

September 10, 2021

AN HISTORIC OCCASION, UNLIKELY TO BE REPEATED!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:10 am

Blog Posting # 655 @ 10 September 2021: EducateMHC

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing!’

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INTRODUCTION: An historic occasion & sobering statistics!

I.

AN HISTORIC OCCASION, UNLIKELY TO BE REPEATED!

Some will say this is ‘much ado about nothing’; others will opine ‘this is the way it should be’!

What are we talking about here? Well, the Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’), HUD’s official ‘scorekeeper’, reported 7,564 new HUD-Code manufactured housing shipments for the month of July 2021. This was remarkable for several reasons:

• This was the first time in contemporary industry history when ALL reporting entities (i.e. IBTS, HUD, MHI, MHARR, & EducateMHC) published the same number of new homes shipped – unaffected by adjustments for Destination Pending (‘DP’) units – as there were none! That’s the historic part.

• Quoting from MHI’s ‘Monthly Economic Report’, 7,564 homes shipped is “…a decrease of 1,870 homes, or 19.8 percent, compared to June 2021” (the previous month), and an increase of 74 homes or 1.0 percent compared to July 2020.”

• Furthermore. “…compared with the same month last year, single-section homes were down 9.2 percent, while multi-section homes were up 9.3 percent.” MHI

And there’s more. What does the total shipment picture look like come the end of year 2021?

“The seasonally adjusted annual rate (‘SAAR’) of shipments was 105,224 in July 2021, down 3.4 percent compared to the adjusted rate of 108,885 in June 2021.” What this means is that, given present day shipment levels, we might exceed the 94,390 total realized year end 2020. What do you think?

But the conundrum continues. How can HUD-Code housing manufacturers complain of building material shortages and high prices on one hand, and be boasting record profits on the other?

II.

CASUALTIES (# DEATHS) DURING SEVEN CONFLICTS

Have you ever wondered how the number of combatant deaths, among seven major conflicts, compare? I did, so engaged in a little research via the Congressional Research Service’s ‘American War & Military Operations Casualties’ website. Here’s what I learned:

Civil War, with 3,212,363 combatants, experienced 364,511 deaths; 2 percent of all who served

World War I, with 4,734,991 combatants, suffered 116,516 deaths; 2 percent of all who served

World War II, with 16,112,566 combatants, endured 405,399 deaths; 3 percent of who served

Korean War, with 5,720,000 combatants, tallied 36,574 deaths; one percent of all who served

Vietnam War, with 8,744,000 combatants, had 58,220 deaths; one percent of all who served

Afghanistan, Iraq, Persian Gulf War inconclusive to date, but more than 7,000 deaths to date

This is why it’s widely agreed: ‘War is hell!’ It’s also why some recall the sobering but true words of author George Orwell, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf!”

Had occasion to speak before a group of veterans last night at Warriors Hope 15th anniversary celebration. I shared how, on Christmas Eve 2005, I met a woman manager – my age, in a local pharmacy. And how she told me she marched in Vietnam protest marches at a nearby university and believed tales of us (combatants) being baby killers and worse! Nothing changed her mind for 40 years – until her son joined the U.S. Air Force. When she saw him graduate from basic training, she was convicted of her misplaced hatred, and decided to find a veteran – not to ‘thank him’, but ask forgiveness for what she did all those years ago! As three short sentences, in the ‘Making Amends’ short story I later wrote, say: “We talked. I cried. She atoned.” And, “I reflected on fallen friends who’d never hear these words but through me.”

I try not to think along these lines often. But when I do, I always walk away from the experience reminded of sentiments I’ve lived with for 52 – years, since last in combat; those being, I’m proud to be an American and having served my country. Very grateful to be alive and healthy. And how I now enjoy my family into the fourth generation. But God forbid I forget my friends who did not make it back to live out their lives like me.

Much the same can be said as we recall lives lost 20 years ago on 9/11/2001 or ‘911’. Did you realize? Children in school today, from kindergarten through 12th grade, were not alive on that tragic, historic day?

George Allen
EducateMHC

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