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NAHB-supported legislation designed to address the severe credit crunch for AD&C financing was introduced by Reps. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) and Brad Miller (D-N.C.) in the House of Representatives on May 5. Your help is urgently needed to build support for the bill among members of Congress — here’s what you can do.

TheHome Construction Lending Regulatory Improvement Act of 2011, H.R. 1755, represents a substantial step forward in the effort to restore the flow of credit to the housing industry. NAHB worked closely with the congressmen in creating this bill, and approximately 500 of our members helped drum up support for the legislation during our annual Legislative Conference, followed by many of our members making in-person visits to their representatives’ home district offices in order to urge support for the legislation during the recently concluded congressional recess. In an official statement released upon the bill’s introduction, NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen commended Rep. Gary Miller, Rep. Brad Miller, and the bill’s other 29 cosponsors “for championing a legislative solution aimed at ending the freeze in housing production credit that has forced countless home building firms across the nation to shutter their doors, resulting in grave repercussions for job growth and the overall economy.”

***Every member’s help is needed to build support for this critical legislation!
Click hereto find out how you can do your part!***

After many months of hard work to get this bill created and introduced, we are glad to report this significant advancement in our overall AD&C strategy. This bipartisan bill would direct federal and state banking regulators to take specific steps to ensure that financial institutions that provide financing to America’s home builders are permitted to make loans, restore liquidity and provide stable financing to the residential building sector. Specifically, it would: 1) stop arbitrary limitations on banks that keep them from lending more than 100% of their total capital on AD&C loans; 2) require appraisers, lenders and examiners to use the “as-completed” value when assessing loan collateral on projects that have reasonable prospects of reaching completion and bar the use of distressed sales in determining the value of collateral for new loans; and 3) abstain from compelling a lender to call AD&C loans where the builder is current in making payments in accordance with the loan documents. NAHB is now engaged in an aggressive push to build further support for the legislation to move forward, and this will be a central topic of discussion at NAHB’s upcoming Spring Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, D.C. NAHB’s press release and a section-by-section analysis of H.R. 1755 is available on our website. Contact: Scott Meyer (800-368-5242, x8144)

NAHB has received many inquiries from concerned members who want to help the victims of the severe tornadoes and storms that tore through large portions of the South in late April. These devastating events wiped out homes and businesses, and claimed hundreds of lives. Alabama was the hardest hit, with 31 out of 67 counties sustaining significant damage. Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee were also severely impacted. Accordingly, on May 2, NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen sent a memo to the Board of Directors and all state and local HBA Executive Officers to let them know how they can help. In this communication, he explained that the Home Building Industry Disaster Relief Fund (HBIDRF) is a recognized 501(c)(3) charitable organization that assists areas affected by disaster by facilitating the rebuilding of communities. The HBIDRF makes funds available for direct contribution to other recognized charities working to rebuild and/or repair housing in affected areas. While this fund cannot provide assistance directly to individuals or to NAHB’s affiliated associations, the HBA of Alabama has its own recognized 501(c)(3) charitable organization, which is now accepting donations online. Any contributions earmarked for the tornado disaster will go directly towards helping the local affiliated associations and their members recover from this tragedy. Potential donors to the HBIDRF can visit www.nahb.org/hbidrf or contact Jessica Lynch (800-368-5242, x8401) or Melissa Voorhees (x8251) for more information.

NAHB staff have reached out to each of the state associations affected by the disaster as well as several members from these same states. At this point, most of the HBAs themselves are back in operation, and so far, we have not heard news of any loss of life from the NAHB membership on account of these storms. That said, the physical damage to communities that were hit is tremendous and it will take a great deal of time to rebuild. In the meantime, we are pointing affected HBAs to NAHB’s free resources, including radio Public Service Announcement scripts that warn consumers about unscrupulous contractors following a disaster, and providing links to government assistance and downloadable information from FEMA, the Red Cross and the Small Business Administration. Please visit www.nahb.org/disasterresources to access all of these.

To Contribute

To contribute via mail, make checks payable to the Alabama Home Builders Foundation earmarked for “Tornado Disaster” and send them to:

Home Builders Association of Alabama
7515 Halcyon Summit Drive
Suite 200
Montgomery, AL 36117

Check out these bills introduced last week that will impact our members and their  businesses.

HB 101
Sponsor: Hudson
Status: House Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee
Title: AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 17 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO AGREEMENTS
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MAKES WITH LOCAL JURISDICTIONS FOR TRAFFIC
STUDIES RELATED TO DEVELOPMENT.
URL:http://legis.delaware.gov/lis/lis146.nsf/vwlegislation/HB+101

HB 102
Sponsor: Hudson
Status: House Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee
Title: AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 17 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REGULATION
OF TRAFFIC.
URL:http://legis.delaware.gov/lis/lis146.nsf/vwlegislation/HB+102

HB 103
Sponsor: Hudson
Status: House Housing & Community Affairs Committee
Title: AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE NEW
CASTLE COUNTY BUILDING CODE.
URL:http://legis.delaware.gov/lis/lis146.nsf/vwlegislation/HB+103

What a wonderful celebration of Winners it was at the 2010 Regal Awards Denim and Diamonds Gala Friday night.  Check out the photos of the winners here, provided by Karl Richeson Photography.