NAHB Cites Policy Priorities to Bipartisan Working Group
NAHB Chief Lobbyist Lake Coulson on Feb. 10 addressed members of the Congressional Bipartisan Policy Working Group and urged the nearly dozen Democratic and Republican members of Congress to assist home builders in three key areas — comprehensive housing legislation, building codes and workforce development.
The group invited Coulson to discuss solutions to chip away at our nation’s housing affordability obstacles, and he thanked lawmakers for acting quickly on a major housing package and urged action on two other bills.
“First, I would like to thank members who last night supported the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which passed on an overwhelming bipartisan basis,” said Coulson. “This legislation includes favorable provisions geared toward land-use and zoning, environmental permitting, multifamily financing tools, and community banks.”
Turning to building codes, Coulson urged lawmakers to pass the Promoting Resilient Buildings Act, legislation that would help jurisdictions preserve local control over the building code adoption process while also encouraging communities to take positive steps to withstand and recover from extreme events.
“In order for local communities to access disaster relief funding, they must adopt the latest published building codes edition, which can force locals into a faster, more expensive cycle of compliance, prioritizing speed over sound policy,” Coulson said. “The Promoting Resilient Buildings Act provides a necessary fix to FEMA’s current approach by restoring the long-standing definition of ‘latest published editions’ of building codes to include the two most recent code cycles and allow for state flexibility.”
Noting that there are nearly 300,000 job openings in the construction industry, Coulson called on lawmakers to pass the CONSTRUCTS Act, legislation that would provide resources to technical and community colleges for residential construction education.
“We look forward to continue working with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to advance policies that will help builders increase the nation’s housing supply,” said Coulson.