Dive Brief:

• The National Apartment Association and the National Multifamily Housing Council have sent a joint letter to President Donald Trump asking for a thorough review of federal regulations and rules that affect the housing industry.
• The list covers more than 32 federal programs, rules and regulations, ranging from broad to specific, across 10 agencies. 
• The organizations state that these regulations have negatively affected the housing industry, and that the goal of a review would be to increase housing supply, lower costs and improve affordability.

Dive Insight: 

“Continued economic conditions pose a serious threat to housing providers’ ability to leverage the private-market capital necessary to generate needed housing,” the letter reads. “Higher interest rates contribute to economic volatility, which is driving up the cost of building new housing, discouraging needed new investment, increasing the cost of rent and pushing some housing providers out of the market altogether.”

Alongside the economic headwinds, the organizations cite an overly costly regulatory framework as a challenge to maintaining affordability. The organizations’ requests include:

• Directing HUD to release a legal opinion clarifying that the CARES Act, a COVID-era federal policy that established a 30-day notice requirement for evictions, expired in 2020 and is no longer in effect.
• Withdrawing the permanent 30-day eviction notice requirement that applies to some HUD-assisted housing.
• Revising HUD’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, with a focus on reducing costs, improving efficiency and incentivizing private sector involvement.
• Withdrawing a HUD rule strengthening floodplain management and wetlands protection, which the organizations state will raise costs for property owners with little data on risk reduction benefits.
• Withdrawing guidance released by HUD in April 2024 on the use of artificial intelligence in housing advertisements and tenant screening.
• Recommending that OSHA withdraw its notice of proposed rulemaking on a national heat safety standard across all industries. 
• Reviewing and revising the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidance for the Clean Water Act. 
• Retracting the new landlord and tenant policies required for properties newly financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which include extended notice periods for evictions and lease expirations.

The letter, signed by NMHC President Sharon Wilson Géno and NAA President & CEO Robert Pinnegar, is also copied to Vice President J.D. Vance, members of Congress and the heads of multiple U.S. agencies, including HUD Secretary Scott Turner. 

At least one of the organizations’ requests — rescinding HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule — has already been granted. Turner announced the termination of this rule in a news release on Feb. 25, a little over a week before the letter was sent. 

This letter follows a recent hearing on permitting reform in the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Environment & Public Works, in which the National Association of Home Builders testified about the challenges that permitting and environmental review posed for home construction.

Carl Harris, NAHB chairman and a home builder from Wichita, Kansas, noted in his testimony that almost all land developers have been forced to step away from particular land parcels due to uncertainty around permitting. He noted that the cumulative cost of regulations accounts for 24% of the final price of a new single-family home, according to a 2021 NAHB study. 

“Regulatory reforms that chip away at this block help reduce the overall cost of construction, which will help increase housing supply,” he said.