Surprise Manchin-Schumer Deal Would Affect Home Builders
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) have announced an agreement to address health care and climate change, raise taxes on high earners and large corporations and reduce the federal debt.
The measure includes a number of provisions that could affect the residential construction industry and NAHB members. In terms of funding, the bill provides $837 million to HUD for loans and direct grants to improve energy efficiency, water efficiency, and climate resilience of affordable housing.
It also includes funding for forestry measures, including fuels reduction and vegetation management. But there is concern these funds may be limited to use in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Additionally, there is concern that funds designated for protecting old-growth forests will result in locking up U.S. Forest Service lands.
Grants for Energy Codes
While NAHB supports the adoption of cost-effective, modern energy codes, we oppose these grant programs as they lack flexibility and consideration of overall performance to account for local conditions when adopting the 2021 edition of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).
Click Here for more from NAHB, including preliminary analysis of the bills tax provisions and credits, as well as concerns NAHB has regarding grant programs that push provisions of the 2021 IECC that do not meet cost-effectiveness criteria and would “exacerbate the current housing affordability crisis and limit energy choices for consumers.”