The Biden administration on Monday rejected claims from Congress and homebuilding groups that new energy efficiency standards for home construction would make a bad economic situation even worse.
In late May, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Agriculture implemented updated energy efficiency standards for new home construction that reflect 2021 International Energy Efficiency Conservation Code (IECC) Criteria for Federally-Financed Homes.
The response comes after nearly 20 lawmakers recently sent a letter to the president urging him to halt the adoption of new efficiency standards that are set to be implemented, citing affordability and inflation concerns.
In comments to Fox News Digital, a Biden-Harris administration official rejected claims that the new standards would further burden first-time homebuyers and families already facing record high prices.
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Single-family homes in a residential neighborhood of Aldie, Virginia. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“As a result of this rule, energy efficiency improvements will reduce costs by hundreds of dollars per year, potentially saving homeowners thousands of dollars over the life of the home,” the official said.
“(HUD, USDA) and the Department of Energy are providing billions of dollars in resources and support to builders to ensure that these standards result in lower energy bills for homebuyers, make their homes more resilient to extreme heat and cold, and even benefit their health.”
In a separate statement, HUD officials wrote that adopting the 2021-IECC “will result in significant annual and lifetime cost savings to landlords and tenants, improve the health and comfort of residents, and increase the climate resiliency of both single-family and multifamily covered housing.”
According to a HUD fact sheet, the agency calculated energy bill savings of $80 per month for homes built under 2021-IECC compared to previous standards. The current IECC standards were drafted in 2009 and implemented in 2015.
In their letter, more than a dozen House lawmakers led by Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., warned Biden that adopting the 2021-IECC standards would exacerbate the housing affordability crisis and push some households out of the market entirely.
Kline’s letter, co-signed by Reps. Keith Self, R-Texas, Dan Meuser, R-Pa., and 15 other lawmakers, notes that so far 44 states have declined to adopt the 2021-IECC standards on their own because they understand the market consequences.
“In fact, HUD estimates that implementing the 2021-IECC standards would increase new home prices by an average of $7,200 per single-family home. Additionally, data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that approximately 107 million households are already unable to afford the average price of a new home,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Adoption of this new standard would put an additional 724,525 homes out of the market,” the letter said. The letter also claimed the new standard would disproportionately harm disadvantaged communities and first-time homebuyers.
A spokesperson for Mueser said that although the 2021-IECC standards went into effect May 28, there is still time for Biden to roll back any enforcement.
The spokesperson cited the Federal Register, which set compliance dates at 18 months from the May date for FHA-insured single-family new construction, one year for multifamily projects and two years for projects in rural or “persistent poverty” areas.
In a statement, Kline said Biden-era regulations have already had a negative impact on the Shenandoah Valley, which he represents, and adopting 2021-IECC would “only exacerbate the housing crisis.”
Another co-signer, Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Florida, quipped, “First inflation, now this.”
Bean said Biden’s energy policies are “killing the American dream of homeownership.”
Bean cited data from Kansas City, Missouri. Home Builders Association In which the price of a home was estimated to increase by more than $31,000.
“It’s clear Biden stands with Wall Street billionaires and environmental advocates, not hard-working Americans,” Bean said.
Self said in a statement that the new rules would provide only “minimal” energy-saving benefits while imposing a higher price burden on new homebuyers.
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An NAHB spokesperson pointed Fox News Digital to recent testimony in Congress by Missouri homebuilder Shawn Woods, who appeared on the organization’s behalf.
He added, “Without adequate review or consideration of how this would affect homebuyers or renters, HUD and USDA passed a mandate that would require all new, single-family construction financed through the two agencies to be completed by the 2021 IECC.”
Woods also reiterated lawmakers’ concerns about potential inflationary effects on the housing affordability crisis during his previous testimony.
Meanwhile, Craig Tolson, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Virginia, applauded Cline’s move and predicted that mandatory adoption of the standards by HUD and USDA would not result in “meaningful” energy savings for homebuyers.
“This misguided code policy will deter new construction at a time when increasing the supply of housing is critical to reducing cost of housing inflation,” Tolson said.
The current and past standards were drafted by the International Code Council, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. It prepares building safety codes and provides validations and techniques, according to its website.
