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The Daily Scoop

NAHB, big builders meet to ease tensions over strategic issues

Richard Defendorf, contributor

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When debate over the economic stimulus package got underway in the fall, many big builders urged members of Congress to move forward on a tax break proposal for which they had been lobbying at considerable length.

But when, during the stimulus debate, National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi advising her of potential abuses of the measure, which would have allowed companies to carry back current losses five years, the big builders were not happy.

Stories in the Wall Street Journal on Monday and Tuesday point out Howard was concerned that large builders might abuse the tax break to dump land at discount prices to generate a tax loss and then buy back the land at a lower price, putting smaller builders at a disadvantage. He supported the measure but suggested that it include provisions to prevent abuse.

The carry-back measure was written into the stimulus package, but approved for use only by small builders. An expanded version that would include all builders is currently being considered by the Obama administration.

NAHB executives and members of NAHB's High Production Home Builders Council met in Chicago on Monday to discuss their concerns, according to the Journal, and ended calling a truce with NAHB and Howard, who, the association said, will remain as CEO. Both sides promised further talks.

“We had constructive dialogue about the framework needed for working cooperatively on issues critical to the industry,” NAHB Chairman Joe Robson and Tim Eller, chairman of Centex Corporation, said in a jointly released statement. “We face many issues in common and now more than ever, it is important for all homebuilders to be united. We agreed to have additional discussions in the near future and build on our many mutual interests in an effort to strengthen our industry,”

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Comments (1)

ShelterNerd writes: The high production council has dominated NAHB policy for a long time. When we look at who are the majority of dues paying members of the organization it is remodelers, small local builders and small production builders who make up the vast majority of our memership.

Many of us joined only for the discount on workers comp insurance and general liability and discovered the organization has a lot of good educational and professional resources that make it a great deal. The University of Housing, Builder Bookstore, and even the Research Center, with their mentoring of the Green Building Guidelines and noe the ANSI standard NAHB-ICC National Green Building Standard all add huge value to being a member of this group.

The high production builders are a small part of what our organization is but they have been having closed meetings and throwing their considerable financial weight around to direct the lobbying of the NAHB for a long time.

Bravo to Jerry Howard for having the guts to stand up for the small builders in a time when we really need an ally.
Posted: 11:58 pm on March 17th

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