NAHB Announces Plan to Address the Housing Affordability Crisis

The nationwide housing shortage has prompted policymakers at all levels of government to seek ways to provide more affordable housing opportunities at a time when housing costs continue to rise. A key cause of the crisis is a lack of new housing units, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which has unveiled a 10-point housing plan that aims to curb shelter inflation and ease the housing affordability crisis by removing impediments that get in the way of building new homes and apartments.

In addition to pushing for the elimination of excessive regulations and promoting careers in the skilled trades, NAHB's plan calls for initiatives that will:

3. 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.

4. Pass federal tax legislation to expand the production of affordable and attainable housing. The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit finances the production of affordable rental housing, but demand for this housing greatly exceeds available resources. NAHB supports bipartisan legislation to increase resources for this program. NAHB also supports bipartisan proposals to create a new tax credit to produce affordable workforce rental housing geared toward middle-income households, such as teachers, health care professionals and law enforcement.

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