Don't miss the HBA Home & Outdoor Living Show, April 12 - 14, 2024 Wilson Logistics Arena  |  Ozark Empire Fairgrounds  |  Springfield, MO
Don't miss the HBA Home &
Outdoor Living Show
April 12 - 14, 2024
Wilson Logistics Arena
Ozark Empire Fairgrounds
Springfield, MO

Top 10 National Advocacy Efforts on Behalf of Builders

Following is a summary of the latest “top ten” advocacy efforts by the National Association of Home Builders on behalf of its members and the broader residential construction industry. To read the other monthly “top ten” reports from NAHB for this year, follow these links: January 2011, February 2011, March 2011, April 2011, May 2011June 2011, July 2011, August 2011.

You’ve no doubt heard it said that your HBA membership is three memberships in one. In addition to this local HBA and our state organization, you also have the National Association of Home Builders advocating on your behalf. And, there is so much going on at the national level right now, we are fortunate to have the NAHB fighting for the industry. Here are the top 10 recent NAHB actions with a direct benefit to you:

1. In June, NAHB rolled out the results of a nationwide poll that we commissioned by two of the nation’s leading pollsters. The findings overwhelmingly confirm the continued strong value that Americans place on homeownership, and the fact that voters are more inclined to support candidates who embrace pro-housing policies.

NAHB is providing details of the poll to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, to the media and to HBAs for their use going forward. They also plan to use the poll results to help make housing a priority subject in the upcoming campaign season. NAHB members who are logged in to the NAHB website can access full results of the poll along with resources such as a fact sheet and talking points at www.nahb.org/pollresources.

2. NAHB is part of an industry and consumer coalition that, along with 325 House and Senate lawmakers, is calling on federal regulators to revise a proposed 20 percent down payment requirement for Qualified Residential Mortgages.

At a special news conference on June 22, Senators Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Representatives John Campbell (R-Calif.) and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) expressed the views of a group of more than 325 of their colleagues in Congress when they publicly called on federal regulators to revise a proposed 20% down payment requirement for Qualified Residential Mortgages (QRM). The lawmakers were joined by members of the Coalition for Sensible Housing Policy, which includes more than 40 consumer and industry groups as well as NAHB.

3. In response to concerns raised by NAHB at a meeting between representatives of our respective leadership, OSHA announced a 90-day phase-in for fall protection regulations. In a June 8 letter to NAHB, Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, announced a three month phase-in period to allow residential construction companies additional time to come into compliance with the Agency’s new directive Compliance Guidance for Residential Construction (STD 03-11-002). This decision followed a meeting with OSHA in which NAHB First Vice Chairman Barry Rutenberg and Dean Mon, Chairman of NAHB’s Construction Safety and Health Committee, argued that builders need additional time to fully understand the steps that must be taken and to properly plan for the fall protection change. The three month phase-in period runs from June 16 to September 15, 2011.

4. As Congress looks into mandating E-Verify – a voluntary Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S. – lawmakers need to ensure that this is a fair, efficient and workable system, NAHB First Vice Chairman Barry Rutenberg told Congress on June 15. Barry noted that NAHB strongly believes that the E-Verify program must continue to focus on the direct employer-employee relationship, holding every U.S. employer accountable for the identity and work authorization status of their direct employees. Under current law, employers are responsible for verification of the identity and work authorization status of their direct employees only. While employers do not verify the employees of subcontractors, they are precluded from knowingly using unauthorized subcontracted workers as a means of circumventing immigration law.

5. NAHB has asked the House Committee on Small Business to convene a panel to discuss the failure of the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, citing its excessive regulatory burdens and costs.

6. NAHB has developed member resources to assist remodelers with lead rule compliance. With the EPA now stepping up inspections and enforcement actions on contractors working in residences subject to the Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, NAHB has developed members-only resources to help remodelers with lead rule compliance.

NAHB has learned that inspectors are requesting three years of records from firms under investigation. These records include: signed copies of EPA’s PreRenovation Disclosure Form; a copy of Firm Certification by the EPA or an EPA-delegated state; a copy of the Certified Renovator Certificate, and a copy of the certified renovator’s report for each job subject to the lead rule. Members-only resources can be found at www.nahb.org/leadcompliance. These include a sample compliance checklist, sample contract language, a pre-renovation disclosure form, a sample record-keeping checklist, and more.

7. NAHB is part of a coalition of 20 business organizations that are challenging EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases in the courts. On June 20, a coalition of 20 business organizations including NAHB filed the fourth in a series of briefs challenging the regulation of greenhouse gases by the EPA. The legal briefs have been in response to a series of EPA-initiated rules, which have led to the unreasonable regulation of stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions. If left unchecked, the coalition has warned, these EPA mandates will have a crippling impact on manufacturers and could even result in the regulation of millions of stationary sources — from small businesses to hospitals and schools.

8. Custom home builder and NAHB member Tony Crasi testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on June 9 to urge that, as lawmakers consider a suite of energy efficiency bills, they take into account the differences in energy savings between the newest, highest-performing homes and older, less efficient homes that comprise the vast majority of the nation’s housing stock.

Speaking on behalf of the nation’s home builders regarding The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2011 (S. 1000), the Akron, Ohio-based builder advocated for “an effective retrofit plan for older, less-efficient housing that allows builders and remodelers to create the benefits of energy efficiency for all housing.”

9. On October 1st, some mortgage loan limits for the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration will drop from their current temporary levels to reduced limits based on permanent criteria established by Congress in 2008.

A new study by NAHB presents estimates of the impacts of these changes in affected counties across the 50 states and Washington, D.C. In all, the scheduled declines in GSE loan limits will affect 204 counties that contain 1.38 million owner-occupied homes in the affected price ranges. The effects of the scheduled declines for FHA limits are even more expansive; these will be felt across 620 counties, adding 3.87 million homes to those outside the temporary loan limits.

Affected homes, if they were to be placed on the for-sale market, would likely require financing with higher mortgage interest rates and other less favorable loan terms, such as higher required down payments and more stringent credit history thresholds. This would reduce housing demand and place downward pressure on prices.

10. The NAHB Executive Board recently approved Legal Action Fund grants to assist two of our state HBAs in challenging overreaching endangered species regulations and excessive building permitting fees.