WOTUS Rule Hurts Housing Affordability Builders Tell Congress
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told Congress on September 11 how the Biden administration’s latest interpretation of the waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule has further muddied the regulatory process and exacerbated the housing affordability crisis.
The Supreme Court last year issued a decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that redefined the scope of the Clean Water Act and compelled the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide additional regulatory guidance for builders and developers.
“The federal agencies are not faithfully adhering to the Supreme Court’s holdings, and the regulated public has been stiff-armed on implementation guidance,” Vince Messerly, president of the Streams and Wetlands Foundation, a non-profit wetlands mitigation bank based in Ohio, testified before a congressional panel.
As a mitigation banker working in partnership with home builders to navigate the Clean Water Act’s Section 404 permitting process, Messerly told lawmakers that uncertainties and delays in permitting are increasing housing costs and causing developers and builders to abandon projects at a time when more housing is desperately needed to address America’s affordability challenges.
“The residential construction industry and others in the regulated community continue to experience prolonged and opaque permitting processes, which makes it more difficult for home builders to provide homes or apartments at a price point attainable for most households,” said Messerly. “Consequently, this unpredictable regulatory environment that builders and developers are forced to operate under will make home building more inefficient and costly and ultimately worsen our nation’s housing crisis.”