How to Advocate for Housing in Your Home District

NAHB members have the opportunity to build on the recent success of the June Legislative Conference by meeting with lawmakers in their home districts this August — during Congress' summer recess — to discuss key issues affecting the home building industry.

On June 10, more than 1,100 builders, remodelers and residential construction professionals came to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to act on four key policy priorities that will help builders produce more quality, affordable housing:

1. Landmark housing legislation. NAHB urged lawmakers to pass the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
2. Workforce development and immigration. NAHB called on Congress to pass the CONSTRUCTS Act, bipartisan legislation pending in the House and Senate to prepare young adults for careers in construction and other essential trades. NAHB also urged lawmakers to pass the DIGNITY Act, which would secure the border and create a pathway to permanent work authorization for undocumented workers who meet clear, stringent criteria.
3. Permitting obstacles. NAHB urged the Senate to reform the Clean Water Act to make permitting clearer, more predictable and more efficient while maintaining environmental safeguards.
4. Energy codes. NAHB urged Congress to pass the Energy Choice Act, which would prevent state and local governments from banning natural gas in new homes.

Thanks in large part to the Federation’s grassroots efforts, Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act soon after the NAHB Legislative Conference. The law will help expand the nation’s housing supply by reducing regulatory barriers and encouraging local governments to reform zoning and land-use policies that have constrained home building. By expanding homeownership and rental housing opportunities, it will help ease the housing affordability crisis.

NAHB secured two key changes in the final legislation: removing the single-family rental sales mandate, which NAHB estimates could have reduced single-family rental production by 40,000 units per year, and raising and indexing multifamily loan limits to better reflect construction costs and support new apartment development. These are major victories for the housing industry.

Key Points for Meetings with Lawmakers

Workforce development and immigration:

• There is a shortage of more than 200,000 construction workers.
• More than 25% of the existing workforce is foreign-born.
• Builders will need to add 2.2 million workers over the next three years to keep pace with demand and replace an aging workforce.

Urge lawmakers to pass the CONSTRUCTS Act and DIGNITY Act, bipartisan bills that would promote skilled-trades careers, advance comprehensive immigration reform and help builders increase housing production.

Permitting obstacles:

• Permitting delays at every level of government stall housing projects and increase housing costs.
• A federal Clean Water Act Section 404 permit — required for many housing projects — can take up to two years and cost as much as $470,000 to secure.

Urge senators to support Clean Water Act reforms that would ease overly restrictive environmental requirements that limit lot availability by increasing land development costs and delays.

Thank House lawmakers for passing the PERMIT Act and SPEED Act, regulatory reform bills that would modernize and streamline federal permitting.

Natural gas bans:

• Local governments across the country are banning gas appliances in new homes, limiting consumer choice and raising costs.
• The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently projected that households using natural gas spent about 42% less on winter heating than those using electricity.

Urge House and Senate lawmakers to pass the Energy Choice Act. The bill is important for housing because state and local gas bans would worsen affordability by raising new-home costs, limiting consumer choice and further straining the electric grid.