Capitol
Reports
HUD Abolishes MPS
by Harlow G. Unger
For the first time in more than half a century,
home builders in the U.S. began the new year
free of all federal building-code restrictions.
In one of the most far-reaching actions of the
Reagan administration's conservative "revolution,"
the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban
Development (HUD) has abolished the
Minimum Property Standards (MPS) of the
Federal Housing Administration—the federal
building codes that effectively provided a nationwide
minimum standard for home construction
everywhere in the U.S.
Abolition of the standards this past
November was the latest step in a sweeping effort
by the Reagan administration to reduce
federal regulations and transfer governmental
authority back to states and local communities.
As a result