Delegate Report to BIA of Central Ohio

Tod Bowen, Exec. Director

IBS/NAHB Leadership Meetings Report

2/16 - 19/2026

IBS/KBIS – NAHB Leadership Meetings 

• 1.15mm sq.ft. of exhibit space
• 110,000 attendees
• 2,500 exhibitors

Bill Owens – Builder in Columbus was installed as National Chairman of the Board for NAHB.  OCCH and BIA were amongst the sponsors of the installation event.

Multifamily Board of Trustees - Debra Guerrero NRP chair.  I will chair this year beginning at June leadership meetings. 

I also serve on the State and Local Government Affairs Committee

Multifamily Board of Trustees Meeting - Sunday, 2/15/26

Federal Legislative update –

• Ban on Wallstreet private equity investors from buying up residential properties
• HUD Sec’y Turner – NAHB met with them.  Housing affordability is main topic. 

Housing Affordability –

• Housing Bill passed overwhelmingly.  House Bill –Housing for the 21^st Century (H.R 6644).  Senate’s response to the Senate Bill - Road to Housing Act (S. 2651) incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act.

Key provisions:

• House bill automatically raises FHA loan limits. $ 38K to $167K
• Home reform – House Bill includes reforms to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), AMI limits, Davis Bacon reform
• Supply and Zoning Reform: Incentivizes local governments to ease land-use regulations to speed up development, including grants for infrastructure.
• Manufactured/Modular Housing: Reduces barriers for developers and provides grants to repair/preserve existing manufactured housing communities
• HOME Program Reform: Authorizes $5 billion in funding for the HOME Investment Partnerships program for FY 2025, increasing to 5% annual growth through 2029.
• Streamlined Inspections: Allows affordable housing providers to use a single inspection to satisfy multiple federal requirements (e.g., for vouchers).
• Homeownership Access: Increases the cap on bank public-welfare investments from 15% to 20%, supporting affordable housing investments.
• Whole Home Repairs: Establishes a 5-year HUD pilot program for grants/loans to low-income homeowners for repairs and health hazard mitigation.
• Explainer: Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to ...
• National Low Income Housing Coalition
• Senate bill – build more housing in transit areas
• Going forward – Senate is expected to pass the bill to position their bill against the House bill
• NEPA reforms – includes unit limit threshold
• Remove duplicative reviews on HOME and other funding sources.
• Regulatory Reform – WOTUS reform, zoning reform.  Zoning reforms – more in the Senate Bill than in House Bill
• NAHB Legislative Updates:
• NAHB helped get multifamily Mortgage Insurance Premiums (MIP) reduced to the statutory minimum
• Build American Buy American Act (BABA) – Loan value ends up less than what the compliance costs.
• NAHB is pushing - Exempt affordable housing.
• OMB is driving this train.
• NAHB needs examples of developers who are experiencing BABA affecting the construction budgets.  Getting exemptions for things like elevator equipment, etc.
• Examples of increased materials and compliance costs in order to comply.
• Davis Bacon – HUD Secy Turner.  Labor is not budging. 
• The residential construction category
• Allowing more higher stories on buildings
• Lock in rates when you submit applications
• Recission of minimum energy codes. 
• Recission of Federal Flood Plains Act
• Rent Control –
• Governors are not taking a stand and deferring to locals to legislate their own rent control regulations.
• Flat rent caps across states
• SLIF Fund to help HBA’s to reform rent control with their state legislators.
• Multifamily Update:
• Vacancy rate – rising due to high financing costs.
• 2025 MF about 16% growth is estimated, near pre-covid numbers
• Columbus 47% increase.  One of the largest in the country for MF permits
• MF completions 38-year high in 2024.
• Housing deficit numbers from NAHB.  1.2  MM          
• rental vacancy is 5.2%
• Four states with the highest population increase in 2025
• Idaho, NC, Utah and Texas, Florida
• Workforce Update –
• 2030 is where we will have more deaths than growth which will make our population dependent on immigration.

Dignity Act of 2025 (H.R. 4393) –

• Over 30% of construction workers fall in this category.
• Undocumented workers working 7 consecutive years
• Mandatory verification
• Will be granted an extended work visa
• Will be granted a path to citizenship
• Job Corps – Was to be defunded.  NAHB worked with others to restore $1.6 B budget.
• Job Corps funds NAHB’s Home Builders Institute
• The Construct Act – workforce training.  Has bipartisan support.
• Job Corps –
• Worked with Congress to restore $1.6 B budget.
• Funds NAHB’s Home Builders Institute – workforce training center
• Working with sponsors on the Construct Act – Workforce Training.  Has bipartisan support.
• Miscellaneous:
• Lumber and material prices will remain flat during the rest of 2026.  Canadian imports currently have a 40% Duty Rate assessed on them.
• Variable Refrigerant Flow Systems – Janice and Brittany – Verified with other Developers around the country that they experience maintenance challenges and system failures using VFR systems.
• Energy Choice Act (H.R. 3699) also known as the  (Ban on the Ban Act) – State and Local Government Affairs Committee successfully funded campaign in Burclay, CA to ban natural gas stoves and appliances.  Also, in other areas of CA, Ill., WA, and VT had similar state and local legislation that were funded by the SLIF Committee.
• Lincoln Avenue Communities – Steve Lawson did a presentation on Affordable single-family, build to rent Housing case study.  Spoke about The Landmark on Scioto as one of his examples. 

State and Local Government Affairs Committee – Monday, 2/16/26

• NAHB staff updates
• James Pressly – Chairman
• Budget begins at this meeting. 
• Budget for the year is $400,000
• Lily Weatherby – SLIF Fund report
• Case study library is up and running on website.  This library contains all the information and materials of campaigns and studies that have been funded by the SLIF Fund for use by other HBA’s.
• Bailey Thompson – Housing Favorability Assessment
• Assessment showes area of the country that are favorable to development and home building.
• Information is on the website for all to access.
• Loren Lawry – National League of Cities
• Spoke of America’s Housing Comeback
• Legislative reform on land use, workforce, and code issues.
• Housing Supply Accelerator – NLC and NAHB have collaborated to develop the Housing Supply Accelerator which is available of NAHB’s website.
• Executive Committee
• Review of SLIF Applications
• Considered 13 applications.
• Awarded 11 of the 13 for a total of $180K.

Meeting of the Members/Leadership Meeting

• Let Builders Build Campaign – Kansas City BIA
• Funded by SLIF over several years.
• Designed to elevate public understanding of the region’a growing housing challeges and highlight outdated policies, excessive fees, and regulatory delays that contibute to rising costs for families across Kansas City.
• 3-phase messaging strategy created widespread visibility and stronger community understanding of the issues.
• Let Builders Build is a successful campaign that can be duplicated throughout the country. 

An unintended consequence was that the BIA increased their membership through increased exposure from the campaign.