News

ARTICLE
Date ArticleType
3/24/2021 Member News

NAHB Leading National Coalition Pushing Congress on Lumber Pricing


Nationally, lumber prices have risen more than 250% since last spring, adding more than $24,000 to the cost of a new single family home and $9,000 to the cost of a new multi family home. Our national association, NAHB, is part of a broad coalition calling on Congress to take action to address this additional impact to housing affordability. The coalition includes over 40 organizations, including Habitat for Humanity International, the National Low Income Housing Association, the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders, plus lumber dealers, realtors, utility providers and many others.

Specifically, the coalition is asking Congress to push the administration to undertake a thorough examination of the lumber supply chain, identify the causes for high prices and supply constraints, and seek immediate remedies that will increase production. Since the U.S. does not produce enough lumber to meet domestic needs, Congress can do its part to boost domestic production by doing a better job of more actively managing federal forest lands in an environmentally sustainable manner. Lawmakers should also urge the White House to make it a priority to work with Canada on a new softwood lumber agreement that would end tariffs that are contributing to extreme price volatility.

Learn more about NAHB's efforts to provide relief for rising material costs here. While there is currently no specific legislation to lobby for, if you would like to write a letter to your Congressperson encouraging their support of these broad efforts, NAHB provides a very easy way to do that here.