NAHB Commends Trump Administration's Six-Month Delay of Costly Energy Code Rule

Buddy Hughes, chairman of the NAHB (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Lexington, N.C., issued the following statement after the Trump administration filed a six-month delay in the implementation of the Biden administration’s mandatory energy code policy for certain Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs, saving thousands in new construction costs:

“Today’s announcement by HUD to delay for six months the compliance dates of the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) as the minimum energy-efficiency standards for certain single-family and multifamily housing programs is an important step forward to help ease the nation’s housing affordability crisis. NAHB urges the USDA to take the same action soon and thanks the Trump administration for recognizing the importance of bringing down the cost of housing. Compliance with this rule would make it much harder for home builders and multifamily developers to build housing that is available and affordable for American families. In fact, the Home Innovation Research Labs has found that compliance with the 2021 IECC could add more than $20,000 to the price of a new home, but in practice, home builders have estimated increased costs of up to $31,000. NAHB will continue to pursue all avenues on the congressional, regulatory and legal fronts to overturn this harmful energy code rule.”