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The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has slammed the Biden administration’s decision to force the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will insure mortgages for new homes only if they are built to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).

On Thursday, HUD and USDA announced the adoption of an updated “Minimum Energy Standards” for new single-family and multifamily homes. In a joint press statement, the departments claimed the standards “will yield significant cost savings for residents, reduce energy use and pollution, improve resident health and comfort, and increase resilience in extreme weather events of both single and multifamily homes.”

NAHB Chairman Carl Harris, a custom home builder from Wichita, Kansas, questioned the manner in which the standards were enacted and the claims made by the departments over the impacts of the standards on the housing market.

“Without adequate review and consideration of how it will affect home buyers or renters, HUD and USDA have rammed through a rule that will do little to curb overall energy use in the U.S. but will exacerbate the housing affordability crisis,” said Harris. “Studies have shown that building to the 2021 IECC can add up to $31,000 to the price of a new home and take up to 90 years for a home buyer to realize a payback on the added cost of the home. This unreasonable trade-off for a new homebuyer will do little to offer meaningful energy savings for residential homes and apartments.”

Harris added, “The Biden administration has set a goal of building an additional 2 million homes and this new rule runs completely counter to that objective. HUD and USDA are meant to help the most vulnerable home buyers and renters – not price them out of the housing market. This senseless nationwide codes mandate will significantly raise housing costs – particularly in the price-sensitive entry-level market for starter homes and affordable rental properties – and limit access to mortgage financing while providing little benefit to new home buyers and renters.”