Help Save a Critical Jobs Training Program
The severe labor shortage in the construction industry is raising construction costs and harming housing affordability. NAHB’s workforce training affiliate, the Home Builders Institute, is building the next generation of skilled tradespeople and is the largest Job Corps national trades training contractor.
A House appropriations subcommittee has eliminated funding for the Job Corps program, the nation’s largest residential career training and education program. In response, NAHB is urging all residential construction industry members and supporters to contact their members of Congress and tell them to fully fund the Job Corp program. Visit builderlink.org/take-action to send a letter.
The redesigned BuilderLink portal allows members and supporters to send a letter to their congressional representative easily. The portal will be pre-populated with your information if you are signed in to nahb.org. To change the information on file to your current home address before sending a letter, visit the “My Information” page in the BuilderLink portal.
As part of the BuilderLink portal redesign, users can now access information on NAHB’s top advocacy issues. In addition, users can connect with BUILD-PAC, NAHB’s bipartisan political arm, which helps elect pro-housing, pro-business candidates to federal office.
Latest from NAHBNow
On Sept. 1, 2026, a temporary exception in the National Electrical Code (NEC) is scheduled to expire, which requires ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protection for outdoor HVAC equipment.
In his August update, 2026 NAHB Chairman Bill Owens spotlights the feedback received through NAHB’s Industry Pulse Check and next steps on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act implementation.
Latest Economic News
Residential building material prices, excluding energy, rose 0.4% in July and were up 5.0% from a year ago. Energy prices fell again in July but remained significantly higher than a year ago. Meanwhile, prices for services were down 0.3% over the month but were 6.2% higher than a year ago.
The latest homeownership rate declined to 65% in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Census’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS). The homeownership rate was unchanged from a year ago, and not statistically different than the rate in the first quarter of the year (65.3%).
Led by declines in gasoline and diesel prices, inflation eased for the second consecutive month after reaching a three-year high in May. As energy prices moderated, shelter resumed its role as the largest driver of headline inflation, accounting for one-third of the annual increase and over two-thirds of the monthly increase.