By BUILDER
Jerry Konter, chairman of the NAHB and a home builder and developer in Savannah, Georgia, issued a statement in opposition of the Inflation Reduction Act. Konter said the legislation, proposed by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin, fails “to ease any inflationary pressures on housing” and includes several provisions that “will exacerbate the nation’s housing affordability crisis.”
According to the bill’s summary, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 “will make a historic down payment on deficit reduction to fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030.” The bill also calls for permitting reform legislation to be passed by the end of the fiscal year.
“Housing costs account for 40% of the Consumer Price Index, and with home prices and rents rising faster than inflation, Americans are being squeezed hard,” Konter said in his statement. “And while this bill would do little to wring inflation out of the overall economy, it contains several changes to the taxation of real estate and new building and energy code requirements that will raise housing costs for millions of consumers while doing very little to provide meaningful energy savings.”
