King, Curtis Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Increase Affordable Housing Across the United States

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and John Curtis (R-UT) are introducing bipartisan legislation to increase affordable housing across the United States. The Build American Efficiency Act would streamline the process for home builders to determine and locate domestically sourced materials that comply with the Build America, Buy American Act (BABA). This small legislative step would help homebuilders cut costs and avoid bureaucracy as they work to address the national housing shortage.

To accomplish its goals, the Build American Efficiency Act would encourage the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to share industry-led initiatives to certify products and facilities that comply with BABA requirements. The BABA standards were passed in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In addition to King and Curtis, the legislation is cosponsored by Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Peter Welch (D-VT).

"Despite our country's desperate need for additional affordable housing options, American homebuilders face steep costs and bureaucratic red tape," said Senator King. "The Build American Efficiency Act would empower the Department of Housing and Urban Development to share information to help builders, manufacturers, and housing providers navigate complicated compliance requirements and identify verified American-made products. Eliminating this time-consuming and costly additional step for homebuilders will allow them to build more homes faster. It's a three-page bill that amounts to a common-sense helping hand."

"Utah's impressive growth has unfortunately brought with it the strain of rising housing costs-which has already been made worse by unnecessary federal red tape," said Senator Curtis. "This bipartisan bill is a commonsense fix that makes it easier for builders to identify American-made materials, cut through bureaucracy, and get more affordable homes built faster."

More specifically, the Build American Efficiency Act would:

• Clarify that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has the authority to recognize auditable and verifiable systems that document products that comply with Build America, Buy America domestic content requirements
• Allow HUD to treat documentation generated under the Make It American Process Standard, or similar standards that provide an auditable and verifiable certification process, as sufficient evidence for domestic content certification
• Help manufacturers, builders, and funding recipients more easily determine which products comply with BABA requirements
• Reduce time spent navigating waiver requests, duplicative paperwork, and uncertainty over which products have or have not been approved
• Preserve flexibility by ensuring the bill does not mandate the use of any one database or prohibit recipients from using other lawful methods to certify compliance.

In Maine, the Build American Efficiency Act is supported by Avesta Housing and Evernorth.

"The Build American Efficiency Act is an important step forward that will help Avesta, and creators of affordable housing everywhere, move ahead with creating desperately needed new homes for individuals and families. By streamlining and simplifying domestic purchasing provisions through clear, verifiable lists of compliant components, this bill removes a significant challenge to building housing that is now causing serious delays, increasing costs of construction, and putting the viability of needed developments at risk," said Jennifer Hawkins, President and CEO of Avesta Housing. "We deeply appreciate the leadership of Sen. King to bring this bipartisan bill forward to address this critical issue and for his unwavering support of housing for Maine people."

"Evernorth is proud to endorse the Build American Efficiency Act. This commonsense legislation is an important first step toward reducing the compliance burden and delays that are making it harder and more expensive to build the affordable homes our communities need," said Nancy Owens, President of Evernorth.

Nationwide, the bill is supported by ABB, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Associated General Contractors, Eaton, Bipartisan Policy Center Action, Inclusive Abundance Action, Maine Affordable Housing Coalition, National Association of Electrical Distributors, National Association of Manufacturers, National Association of Realtors, National Association of State Housing Agencies, National Electrical Contractors Association, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Prysmian, Schneider, Siemens, and Southwire.

Senator King has long been committed to ensuring Maine people across the state can access safe and affordable housing and has worked with his colleagues on creative solutions to combat the housing shortage. He introduced the Farmhouse-to-Workforce Housing Act, which would expand the existing Housing Preservation Grants program so rural homeowners can create more housing on their property - such as an attached apartment unit or a small home nearby - to be available for rent. Additionally, King has sponsored the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act to create nearly two million new affordable homes across the country - including thousands in Maine. He also worked with his Republican colleagues to improve affordability of rural homes and farms through the Access to Credit for our Rural Economy (ACRE) Act of 2023.

# # #