((a)) ** Findings** Congress finds that—

((1)) manufactured housing plays a vital role in meeting the housing needs of the Nation; and

((2)) manufactured homes provide a significant resource for affordable homeownership and rental housing accessible to all Americans.

((b)) ** Purposes** The purposes of this chapter are—

((1)) to protect the quality, durability, safety, and affordability of manufactured homes;

((2)) to facilitate the availability of affordable manufactured homes and to increase homeownership for all Americans;

((3)) to provide for the establishment of practical, uniform, and, to the extent possible, performance-based Federal construction standards for manufactured homes;

((4)) to encourage innovative and cost-effective construction techniques for manufactured homes;

((5)) to protect residents of manufactured homes with respect to personal injuries and the amount of insurance costs and property damages in manufactured housing, consistent with the other purposes of this section;

((6)) to establish a balanced consensus process for the development, revision, and interpretation of Federal construction and safety standards for manufactured homes and related regulations for the enforcement of such standards;

((7)) to ensure uniform and effective enforcement of Federal construction and safety standards for manufactured homes; and

((8)) to ensure that the public interest in, and need for, affordable manufactured housing is duly considered in all determinations relating to the Federal standards and their enforcement.