MBIA PRIORITIES
We Advocate For You & For Attainable Housing.
Access to Water
We work with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to preserve the rights of Montanans for access to our most abundant natural resource, which is essential for clean and healthy living. We need a streamlined and more transparent new appropriation process, we want adjudication completed, and we maintain that residential wells are necessary for development.
Reasonable Taxes.
We aim to keep our government in line when it comes to raising property taxes to fuel uncontrolled spending and mismanaged budgets. It is not the sole responsibility of the homeowner or landowner to foot bad spending due to poor government policy and we are here to stand for our homeowners and builders to keep housing affordable & attainable.
Workforce Development.
Through our newly formed Foundation, we aim to bring safety, education and job opportunities to our future generations, and we train our members on safety all year long.
Secure Supply Chain.
We support buying American. We support better foreign policy. We support American Jobs. We support small business incentives and relief. All of which will improve our supply chain woes and reduce the cost of building a home.
ELIMINATE EXCESSIVE REGULATIONS
Regulations significantly impact the cost of housing, accounting for approximately 25% of expenses in single-family homes and over 40% in typical apartment developments. It is essential for agencies and government officials to conduct thorough analyses of proposed regulations, taking into account both direct and indirect costs to small businesses.
Federal regulations concerning the housing industry should undergo closer congressional scrutiny, with ample opportunities for public engagement. Policymaking should be grounded in reliable data and necessitate a careful evaluation of the associated costs and benefits, particularly concerning small business operations.
At the local level, policies such as rent control exacerbate the housing affordability crisis. These measures discourage new development, which is crucial for alleviating the pressures of rising housing costs. Robust and thoughtful regulatory frameworks are essential for fostering an environment conducive to growth and affordability in the housing market.
OVERTURN INEFFICIENT LOCAL ZONING RULES.
Many local and state governments have adopted zoning laws that inhibit home construction and drive up costs. Inefficient land use policies make it harder and more expensive to build. Localities need to rework their zoning plans to increase density and allow more flexibility for developers. NAHB supports ideas such as reducing minimum lot sizes, allowing more accessory dwelling units, minimizing parking requirements and promoting missing middle housing (townhomes and duplexes). In addition, localities should consider a range of housing types, including multifamily; opening up areas where residential development has not been previously allowed; and prioritizing development around existing or planned transit stations. Accommodating these ideas can increase supply and lower overall housing costs. .
REDUCE LOCAL IMPACT FEES AND OTHER UPFRONT TAXES ASSOCIATED WITH HOUSING CONSTRUCTION.
While some impact fees may be necessary to cover the costs of increased public services for new home developments, those fees must be imposed fairly with the cost to the home buyer in mind. When fees are levied arbitrarily or used to fund unrelated city or county services not connected to new home construction, they unfairly raise housing costs for home buyers and renters alike. Excessive impact fees also act as a barrier to home construction at a time when more housing is needed to satisfy unmet demand.
Building Codes.
We work closely with the Department of Labor and Industry on building code regulation and reform. We bring common sense and real world application to the table when we fight for changes to adopted codes. We push back when code changes are restrictive, unnecessary and unrealistic.
PROMOTE CAREERS IN THE TRADES
In any given month, there is a shortage of roughly 400,000 construction workers, and home builders will need to add 2.2 million new workers over the next three years just to keep up with demand. This severe labor shortage is exacerbating the housing affordability crisis through higher home-building costs and construction delays. Policymakers at all levels of government can help by supporting funding for education in the building and construction trades and providing more placement services to job seekers. In addition to promoting training and jobs in the trades, Congress can help by adopting sensible immigration policies that preserve and expand existing temporary work visa programs while also creating new market-based visa programs that will accurately match demand with available labor.
ALLEVIATE PERMITTING ROADBLOCKS.
Permitting delays at all levels of government delay housing projects and raise construction costs. At the federal level, Congress can reform the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to expedite the permitting processes by providing clarity and predictability while respecting environmental safeguards. Obtaining a CWA Section 404 permit takes upwards of one year, and completing a required ESA consultation can take years. At the state level, the Building Industry Association of Washington estimates that the average permitting delay in the state is 6.5 months and costs home buyers more than $31,000. One easy solution is a time limit on how long the government has to either deny or approve a permit. If the time limit ends without action, the permit is deemed approved.
UPDATE EMPLOYMENT POLICIES TO PROMOTE FLEXIBILITY AND OPPORTUNITY.
Building a typical singlefamily home requires the skills and commitment of 11 to 30 independent specialty trade contractor firms. Subcontracting out large portions of work has- consistently proven to keep housing production costs low and provide opportunities for small businesses. But a builder’s ability to compete efficiently and optimally price a home depends on the degree to which overall costs are certain and predictable. The current patchwork approach for determining worker status (i.e., employee or independent contractor), calculating overtime pay and prevailing wages, and documenting employment status not only creates additional and unforeseen burdens, but also disincentivizes housing production. Employment policies and requirements must both recognize the common practices among regulated industries and be simple and economical enough for all-sized businesses to comply. MAY 2024 The nation’s home builders are committed to doing their part to boost housing production to meet the needs of a growing population, make homeownership and renting more affordable, and elevate housing as a national priority. But we cannot do it alone. By implementing these practical solutions and reaffirming their commitment to housing, policymakers at all levels of government can help fulfill the promise of the Housing Act of 1949, which set a goal of “a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.”
Local, State & Federal.
Subdivision review is taking too long. Duplicative and Complicated Governmental processes delay progress. Growth policies are not being followed. Rules are being violated and development is being unnecessarily delayed. All of this adds to the cost of building a home. We take on local and state agencies, holding them accountable and ensure housing attainability.
FIX BUILDING MATERIAL SUPPLY CHAINS AND EASE COSTS.
The cost of building materials has surged 38% since the pandemic, with the four-fold lumber price spike in 2021 adding more than $30,000 to the price of an average new single-family home. The price of distribution transformers is up 72% since February 2020, and the severe shortage of transformers is delaying housing projects across the nation. Federal policymakers can help mend faulty building material supply chains and ease price spikes and volatility through boosting the production of sorely needed transformers and other materials, ending tariffs on Canadian lumber shipments into the U.S. and on building materials coming from China, and increasing the domestic supply of timber from federally owned lands in an environmentally responsive manner.
ADOPT REASONABLE AND COST-EFFECTIVE BUILDING CODES.
New homes are resilient and energy efficient, yet there continues to be a push to mandate the use of restrictive, costly energy codes that raise housing costs while providing little energy savings to consumers. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently finalized a decision that requires them to insure mortgages for new single-family homes only if they are built to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and HUD-financed multifamily housing be built to 2021 IECC or ASHRAE 90.1-2019. A study by the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City found that building to the 2021 IECC can add as much as $31,000 to the price of a new home while only minimally increasing the energy efficiency of the home. Meanwhile, a Home Innovation Research Labs study revealed that it would require up to 90 years for a home buyer to realize a payback on the added upfront cost of the home. That’s not a reasonable trade-off for a new home buyer and clearly would do very little to provide meaningful energy savings for residential homes and apartments. Policymakers also have to update appraisal practices to ensure that appraisers recognize the value of energy efficient and other green and innovative features in newly constructed homes.
About the National Association of Home Builders
About the National Association of Home Builders The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) strives to protect the American Dream of housing opportunities for all, while working to achieve professional success for its members who build communities, create jobs and strengthen our economy. Each year, NAHB’s members construct about 80% of the new homes built in the United States, both singlefamily and multifamily. A federation of 700 state and local builders associations, NAHB represents more than 140,000 members who work to provide homeownership and rental housing opportunities for all Americans.