More than 1,000 Housing Professionals Urge Congress to Act on Key Affordability Issues
More than 1,000 builders, remodelers and associates engaged in all facets of the residential construction industry trekked to Capitol Hill today to urge their lawmakers to support policies that will help builders unleash the housing market by allowing them to increase the production of quality, affordable housing.
“Members of the housing community from across the nation have come to Washington for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) 2025 Legislative Conference to deliver an urgent message to their lawmakers: The best way to ease the nation’s housing affordability crisis and boost housing production is to break down the barriers that are impeding new home and apartment construction,” said NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes, a home builder and developer from Lexington, N.C.
In more than 250 meetings with their representatives and senators, housing advocates urged lawmakers to act on three key issues that can have an immediate impact on housing affordability:
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Energy Codes. NAHB is urging Congress to pass legislation that would prevent the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from requiring a minimum energy standard that raises housing costs and prices out potential buyers. HUD and the USDA have adopted and will implement the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 as the minimum energy-efficiency standards for certain single-family and multifamily housing programs. Compliance with the 2021 IECC can add more than $22,000 to the price of a new home, but in practice, home builders have estimated increased costs of up to $31,000.
Congress should also pass the Energy Choice Act, legislation pending in the House and Senate that would prevent state and local governments from banning the use of natural energy in new homes. A gas ban would exacerbate the housing affordability crisis by increasing costs on new homes, eliminate consumer choice and further strain America’s already stressed electrical grid.
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Workforce Development. To ease the severe construction labor shortage that is worsening the housing affordability crisis through higher home building costs and construction delays, lawmakers should pass the CONSTRUCTS Act, bipartisan legislation pending in both chambers of Congress that will help prepare adults for rewarding careers in construction and other essential trades. To further strengthen the federal government’s approach to workforce training, Congress should also implement reforms to the Job Corps program.
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Tax Policy. As lawmakers consider tax legislation, Congress should pass a tax package that:
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Permanently extends pro-business and pro-housing policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,
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Provides more resources for affordable rental housing by expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit,
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Addresses limitations placed on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap that burden home owners in high-cost areas, and
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Preserves long-standing energy tax incentives, especially the Section 45L New Energy Efficient Home Credit, the Section 25D Residential Clean Energy Credit and the Section 48E Clean Electricity Investment Act. Builders and remodelers have made significant business investments to comply with these credits, which offer a voluntary, cost-effective pathway to improving energy efficiency. A sudden termination of these credits would undermine these efforts.
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To highlight how housing is essential to the social fabric of the nation and is critical to the health of the economy, four leading members of Congress spoke to NAHB members before they conducted their Hill visits: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.); Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), who is championing the CONSTRUCTS Act; Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.), the lead sponsor of the Energy Choice Act; and Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.
For more information and to view images, visit nahb.org/legcon.