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Week of March 15, 2004

Front Page

President's Message

* For Working Families, Affordable Housing Is in Short Supply

Housing Politics

* NAHB President Rayburn Discusses Housing Priorities With Leaders in Washington

Housing and Economics

* Rising OSB and Steel Prices Raise Concerns as Peak Building Season Nears
* Atlanta Leads Nation in Single-Family Housing Activity for 13th Consecutive Year
* New Study Weighs in on California’s Housing Woes
* Report Cites Economic Benefits of California Home Building
* Eye on the Economy

Environment

* Briefing Paper Examines ‘No Surprises’ Rule on Habitat Conservation

Sales and Marketing

* After the Tradeshows: Five Easy Steps to Maintain Marketing Momentum

Seniors Housing

* Shifting to the 50+Market? Don’t Overlook Sales Staff Training

Member Dividends

* NCHI Membership Helped Culligan Business Flow

Housing Finance

* Builders Need to Know the Basics to Obtain Financing

Small Builders and Remodelers

* How to Get That Final Payment

Women's Council

* Marketing Yourself for Success: The Resumé

Military Housing

* Air Force Announces Forum for Large Military Housing Privatization Project

Labor

* HBI Trustees Visit Job Corps Campus

Building Products

* Composite Fire Door Meets Local Standards

Builder's Engineer

* Why 'Oscar Plumbing' Will Never Make Much Money

Building News Coast To Coast

Association News & Events

* Home Builders Renovate Homeless Shelter in Washington, D.C.
* Sign Up for the Legislative Conference and Make Housing a Priority in Congress
* Help Build This Year’s Family Build Home for a Mother of Three
* Calendar of Events

NBN Back Issues

 

NAHB President Rayburn Discusses Housing Priorities With Leaders in Washington

NAHB President Bobby Rayburn embarked on a four-day visit to Washington last week to impress upon Bush Administration officials and leading members of the Senate and House the need for action on a wide range of legislative and regulatory issues affecting the nation’s housing industry.

“My message to Congress and the Administration is that NAHB members are going to stand united, we are going to be heard and we are going to fight to maintain a healthy secondary mortgage market; to seek fair and balanced solutions on lumber and other environmental issues; and to pursue a strong national policy agenda for housing to open new opportunities for millions of working American families who are unable to purchase or rent a decent home,” said Rayburn.

Toward this end, Rayburn met with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Leavitt and many of the nation’s most influential lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), Senators George Allen (R-VA), Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Trent Lott (R-MS), House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley (R-OH) and Reps. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS).


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Rayburn made it clear that NAHB wants to work with Congress and the Administration to:

  • Ensure that the housing mission of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remains the central focus as Congress moves to enact meaningful regulatory restructuring of the housing government-sponsored enterprises
  • Enact homeownership tax credit legislation that will result in the construction and rehabilitation of 50,000 affordable housing units for working Americans each year
  • •  Achieve balance in legislation so economic factors are considered as well as environmental factors
    •  Oppose quotas on Canadian softwood lumber shipments, allow lumber consumers to be factored into trade policy discussions and permit the legal cases now pending before NAFTA and World Trade Organization panels to proceed without delay
  • Reform wetlands legislation to achieve consistency in designation, shorten the decision and appeals processes and provide a statutory definition of the term, “wetland”
  • Support the EPA’s land revitalization program, which is designed to clean up and redevelop brownfields and lightly contaminated petroleum sites
  • Protect the general permit storm water program and reform the EPA’s storm water enforcement policies so that they are timely, focused, predictable and tied to their environmental impact
  • Strengthen the link between housing, jobs and the economy, noting that robust housing production has been critical to the economic recovery, producing hundreds of thousands of jobs and pouring billions of dollars into the economy.

Photos by Herman Farrer
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