Dive Brief:
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Ahead of the Nov. 8 elections, the National Association of Home Builders has endorsed 137 U.S. House and Senate incumbents and candidates. This is the first time in the association’s 74-year history that it has made such endorsements. It did not endorse a candidate for president.
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The NAHB called on Congress to address the country’s lack of affordable housing, including streamlining the regulatory process, protecting the mortgage interest deduction and expanding the Low Incoming Housing Tax Credit.
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In a statement, NAHB Chairman Ed Brady said the association picked the 137 individuals because they have "demonstrated a commitment to make housing and homeownership a national priority." See the full list of candidates endorsed by the NAHB here.
Dive Insight:
Much to the dismay of industry advocates, the state of the nation’s housing market and how to spur activity there hasn’t been a key talking point with either of the major party candidates.
As Construction Dive reported last week, the NAHB came out in favor of Democratic party candidate Hillary Clinton’s $25 billion housing plan, which aims to making homeownership more attainable by facilitating down payments, clarifying lending rules, providing housing counseling and expanding risk criteria to include more than just credit scores.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he will reduce regulations that push up building costs in order to help raise the homeownership rate from its lowest point in half a century. A May 2016 NAHB report found that local, state and federal regulatory costs account for nearly one-quarter of a home’s selling price.
In addition to Congressional candidates whose policies lean favorably toward the housing industry, there are a host of state ballot initiatives that have implications for construction — most notably, infrastructure projects as well as businesses in the sector. Among them are right-to-work legislation, whether to restrict state spending on big infrastructure projects, legal pot and better allocation of infrastructure spending.
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