H.R. 7792 — Property Improvement and Manufactured Housing Loan Modernization Act of 2026

This section revises the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Title I loan insurance program (i.e., insures approved financial institutions against losses on loans for home improvements, manufactured home purchases, and related purposes) as follows: (1) expands eligible loan purposes to include construction of additional or accessory dwelling units, as defined by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; (2) sets maximum insurable principal amounts at $75,000 for single-family alterations, repairs, and improvements (replacing prior subparagraph (A)); $150,000 (from $60,000) and $37,500 (from $12,000) for other eligible structures (striking reference to apartment houses); $106,405 for single-section manufactured homes and $195,322 for multi-section manufactured homes (replacing prior subparagraphs (C) and (D)); $149,782 for a single-section manufactured home with lot and $238,699 for a multi-section manufactured home with lot; $43,377 (from $23,226) for lot acquisition and development; and amounts prescribed by the Secretary for accessory dwelling unit construction; (3) authorizes the Secretary to set such limits by notice (previously regulation), periodically reset limits through such amounts based on advance regulatory methodology to achieve FHA goals, and annually index them using appropriate data; (4) sets maximum loan maturity at 30 years, as determined by the Secretary; (5) requires leases for lessee improvements to meet Secretary-established terms and conditions; and (6) directs the Secretary to develop or select an indexing method within one year of enactment, with the prior method applying on an interim basis.

This section directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a study on the cost effectiveness of off-site construction housing (i.e., manufactured homes built to standards under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 and modular homes built to applicable state and local codes) and submit a report to Congress that includes (1) an analysis of advantages from factory centralization and transportation impacts on cost, precision, and materials waste; (2) the extent to which such housing meets housing quality standards (e.g., National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate) compared to site-built homes; (3) expected replacement and maintenance costs over the first 40 years compared to site-built homes; and (4) opportunities for use beyond single-family housing (e.g., accessory dwelling units, two- to four-unit housing, and large multifamily housing).