The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), along with 15 state attorneys general recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over energy efficiency requirements for new homes and apartments. According to National Mortgage Professional, the suit, filed on Jan. 2, 2025, claims that the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 are unconstitutional. The attorneys general argue that these standards will increase housing costs without significantly reducing energy use, worsening the affordability crisis and impacting vulnerable buyers and renters.
Tom Ward, vice president of legal advocacy at NAHB, told NMP in an interview that the trade group has "been complaining about this since they proposed it and since they finalized it.”
“We knew their numbers are not accurate, and we’re finding it in the field now," Ward said. "We’ve got members who are showing $20,000, $30,000 cost increases trying to comply with this; we’ve got members who, even if it’s not that much, they’re only finding a couple hundred dollars of savings a year in energy bills. It’s not working the way HUD and USDA say it was going to work.” Read more
