The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has called on Congress to address federal regulations that is blames for exacerbating the affordable housing shortage by raising costs of construction.
In testimony before a hearing of the House Small Business Committee, NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes complained that residential construction was among the most excessively regulated industries.
“Regulatory costs, which include complying with building codes, zoning issues, permitting roadblocks and other costly challenges, make up nearly 25% of the cost of building a single-family home and more than 40% of the cost of a typical apartment,” said Hughes, a home builder and developer from Lexington, North Carolina. “Congress and the Trump administration must look for ways to reform the regulatory rulemaking process while also eliminating excessive or unnecessary regulations so that more Americans can achieve homeownership and have more affordable rental options.”
NAHB cited a shortage of roughly 1.5 million housing units that the organization blamed on the regulatory process. One of the most onerous regulatory burdens, according to the organization, were the Biden-era energy building code requirements mandated on single-family and multifamily properties.
“In these challenging economic times, the significant undersupply in housing coupled with rapidly increasing home prices clearly indicate the need to reduce the regulatory burden on the housing industry,” said Hughes. “NAHB stands ready to work with Congress to reform our broken regulatory rulemaking process, unburden and empower small businesses and make housing attainable for all Americans.”
It is regualtion that costs consumers an arm and a leg in every busimess, not tariffs.
Government people say, “if it moves or breathes, let’s regulate it and tax it.”. This is contrary to liberty, freedom and self-determination.
Of course, if you go down this path of freedom, you have to bear the consequences yourself.
The over regulation of the housing industry is what causes a lack of affordable housing. When you consider that a licensed engineer and a licensed architect present plans based upon all codes and requirements, and then some little desk, reviewer puts their thumb into it, unnecessarily delays expenses, and we drafts all contribute to the cost of housing.
Look at Arkansas you submit the plans from the licensed engineering architect, pay small fee and you build it, that’s it, none of the excessive reviews, excessive fees, excessive expenses, and guess which housing is cheaper California or Arkansas, of course Arkansas! Let’s stop this nonsense. Certified plans should be built and all of the other malarkey. It’s just that a bunch of baloney costing up to 50% of the housing in some parts of Northern and Southern California
The harsh reality is that government regulators and bureaucrats have more incentive to deny and delay permits than they do to approve them. They gain wealth, power and job security through denials and delays. If government is sincerely interested in reducing housing costs, they need to radically reform the regulatory review and permitting process (NEPA, CWA, ESA, etc.) by eliminating subjectivity and discretionary powers. If a project satisfies the objective criteria/checklist, it should be approved without negotiations and delays caused by members of the public, litigation or government bureaucracy.