Sources: National Association of Home Builders, Washington, D.C.; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; CP staff
The National Association of Home Builders and 15 state attorneys general have filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division seeking to stop the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of Agriculture from stipulating 2021 International Energy Conservation Code and ASHRAE 90.1-2019, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings in certain housing loan programs.
The 2021 IECC applies to new single family and low-rise multifamily housing, ASHRAE 90.1-2019 to mid- or high-rise (> four story) developments. The agencies adopted the code and standard in an April 2024 Final Determination, superseding their recognition of 2009 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2007. Higher insulation requirements and mechanical system improvements contribute to HUD- and USDA-cited energy savings metrics informing their revised policy: 2021 IECC is 34.3 percent more efficient and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 is 22.5 percent more efficient than respective 2009 and 2007 versions. The 2021 IECC adoption stands to impact more than 150,000 units of HUD- or USDA-financed or insured housing in states or territories that have not adopted the code.
“Our suit seeks to show that granting HUD and USDA authority to insure mortgages for new single-family homes and apartments only if they are built to the 2021 IECC or ASHRAE 90.1-2019 was done in an unconstitutional manner,” noted NAHB Chairman and Wichita, Kan. custom home builder Carl Harris in a statement on the court filing. “Compliance with the 2021 IECC can add more than $22,000 to the price of a new home, but in practice, home builders have estimated increased costs of up to $31,000.”
“Home builders can document how this egregious regulation will needlessly raise housing costs and hurt the nation’s most vulnerable home buyers and renters. This ill-conceived policy will act as a deterrent to new construction at a time when the nation desperately needs to boost its housing supply to lower shelter inflation costs. It is also in direct conflict with the current energy codes in the majority of jurisdictions around the country,” he added.
Plaintiffs ask the court to a) set aside the Final Determination provision in which HUD and USDA reference 2021 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 compliance among requirements to obtain the agencies’ mortgage insurance; and, b) declare as unconstitutional a section of the Cranston-Gonzalez Affordable Housing Act of 1990 to the extent it delegates to the International Code Council, 2021 IECC author, or ASHRAE the authority to set energy efficiency standards for HUD- or USDA-covered housing.