The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has joined 15 state attorneys general in a lawsuit to stop to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) from adopting 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,” said NAHB Chairman Carl Harris, a custom home builder from Wichita, Kansas. “Along with 15 state attorneys general, NAHB is the only private entity in this lawsuit seeking to halt HUD and USDA from adopting the 2021 IECC because home builders can document how this egregious regulation will needlessly raise housing costs and hurt the nation’s most vulnerable home buyers and renters. This ill-conceived policy will act as a deterrent to new construction at a time when the nation desperately needs to boost its housing supply to lower shelter inflation costs. It is also in direct conflict with the current energy codes in the majority of jurisdictions around the country.”
Harris added that the lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, “seeks to show that granting HUD and USDA authority to insure mortgages for new single-family homes and apartments only if they are built to the 2021 IECC or ASHRAE 90.1-2019 was done in an unconstitutional manner.”
HUD and USDA did not publicly comment on the litigation. The incoming Trump administration has not stated whether it would drop this policy once new leadership is installed at HUD and USDA.
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Drop it.
The cost of building a home has increased by over 50% making it almost impossible for a young couple to buy. Increasing the cost more would be doing a disservice to our young buyer.
Incomes haven’t kept up with gains in productivity. The problem isn’t the cost of construction, it’s that corporations have been increasingly cheating employees over the last 40 years.
We shouldn’t try to make up for this by cheating customers on the quality of their homes. Nor should be lag on vital improvements to energy conservation.
Drop it.
Yes drop it! Its BS! Low income individuals deserve energy effecient homes-and homes w/ crawl-spaces-that are not built in flood plains
This is really pushed by contractors and suppliers and manufacturers. For their increased profits. This is a real reason housing continues to go up in price
Keep fighting to drop it. It’s time to review all these regulations if you made it so nobody can afford a home. It’s time to drop the prices. This will help
Get real! If you ask the appraisers (we figure these costs every day) you will find the builders and contractors are telling the truth. If you want the prices to drop then you must remove the unnecessary regulations that don’t increase the structural integrity or safety of the dwelling.
If you want to drop prices of homes get the investors away from buying single family residential homes. Homes were originally built for home occupant buyers, not investors to rehab and increase the price by $200k+ to flip for a profit!!!!
I will not sell a single family home to an Investor!