NAHB Legal Action Fund Awards Grants to HBAs to Fight Local Issues

Legal
Published

At the 2023 NAHB Spring Leadership Meeting, the Board of Directors approved the recommendation of the NAHB Legal Action Committee to provide financial assistance through the Legal Action Fund to three local and state associations fighting impact fees and building code changes.

For more than 40 years, the Legal Action Committee has helped NAHB members and local and state HBAs defray litigation costs on issues that are common to the industry and that may carry nationwide impact or precedent.

The awarded grants include:

  • The BIA of San Diego received a grant to help fund an impact fee challenge against the City of Escondido. In an apparent effort to fund ongoing public services, the city passed an ordinance that created a jurisdiction-wide funding district. This district targets only home builders and residents of newly constructed homes, but the impact fees from this district fund existing services in addition to the demands created by new development.
  • In a similar impact fees case, the City of Spokane in 2022 passed a six-month moratorium on home building permits. Earlier this year, as part of ending the moratorium, the city imposed a 300%-400% increase in development fees. The Spokane HBA obtained a grant from the Legal Action Fund to challenge the city’s new fees.
  • The BIA of Washington received a grant to support its lawsuits challenging building code changes that would prohibit the use of gas furnaces and water heaters in new homes.  

NAHB will next consider Legal Action Fund applications at its Fall Leadership Meeting in September. Applications are due Friday, Aug. 25. For more information, contact Lavon Roxbury, 202-266-8359.

Subscribe to NAHBNow

Log in or create account to subscribe to notifications of new posts.

Log in to subscribe

Latest from NAHBNow

Workforce Development | HBA | Codes and Standards | Sustainability and Green Building

Aug 21, 2025

Santa Fe Students Build ‘Tiny’ Homes to Test Energy Efficiency Codes

To benefit the community and provide students hands-on construction experience, the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association recently completed the Northern New Mexico Ice Box Challenge.

Economics | Housing Affordability

Aug 21, 2025

New and Existing Homes Remain Largely Unaffordable in Second Quarter

While new homes remain largely unaffordable, builder efforts to improve housing affordability paid dividends in the second quarter of 2025, according to the latest data from the NAHB/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index (CHI). The CHI results from the second quarter of 2025 show that a family earning the nation’s median income of $104,200 needed 36% of its income to cover the mortgage payment on a median-priced new home. Low-income families, defined as those earning only 50% of median income, would have to spend 71% of their earnings to pay for the same new home.

View all

Latest Economic News

Economics

Aug 21, 2025

Existing Home Sales Rise in July

Existing home sales rebounded in July as mortgage rates retreated from the recent peak and home price growth slowed, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Economics

Aug 21, 2025

New and Existing Homes Remain Largely Unaffordable in Second Quarter

While new homes remain largely unaffordable, builder efforts to improve housing affordability paid dividends in the second quarter of 2025, according to the latest data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index (CHI).

Economics

Aug 20, 2025

Retreat for Single-Family Built-for-Rent Housing

Single-family built-for-rent construction fell back in the second quarter, as a higher cost of financing crowded out development activity.