The Patriot Post® · Biden's Green Building Codes Make Homes Unaffordable

Houses aren’t cheap. Since Joe Biden has been in office, they have only gotten more expensive. In July, homes on the market hit the second-highest average cost in U.S. history, coming in at nearly $414,000. The record came last summer, and despite the increasing rate of inflation, the only reason the price has dropped slightly this year is because interest rates are so high that few homes are selling.

By the way, in January 2021, the average home price was $309,900.

According to a recent report from real estate data company ATTOM, roughly 99% of average Americans cannot afford to purchase a house right now. With the average annual income of $71,214 and median house prices at near record highs, combined with high inflation and high interest rates, purchasing a home is increasingly unaffordable for most.

The Biden administration’s response to this reality is a gaslighting campaign it’s dubbed “Bidenomics.” Everything is getting better, more jobs have been created, unemployment is way down, the deficit is reduced — these are all bogus claims that Biden and his administration have repeated, trying to convince the American public to believe the lie that life in Joe Biden’s America is better than it was under Donald Trump’s.

Adding insult to injury, the Biden administration is not only gaslighting the public on the state of the economy but actively making life ever more expensive for more Americans via the regulatory state.

The Biden administration has gone after appliances in Americans’ homes, from gas stoves to ceiling fans to lightbulbs. But Team Biden is targeting new homes as well. Last week, the Energy Department trotted out a $400 million “incentive” program designed to encourage state and local authorities to adopt “green” building codes in an effort to “lower greenhouse gas emissions” and fight the “climate crisis.”

Of that $400 million, $240 million would go to governments to implement the “energy conservation code.” Complying with that code could raise the price of a new home by a whopping $31,000 — or about 7.5% for that aforementioned average-priced home.

The Biden administration claims that the upfront costs of these new green codes would be quickly recouped in overall energy savings to the tune of “billions.” But the National Association of Home Builders rejects that claim, saying these “restrictive” new codes are unnecessary due to the fact that new builds “are already highly energy efficient.” Furthermore, the association says, “Newer versions of energy codes add costs to housing production that are not paid back in efficiency gains, further exacerbating the housing affordability crisis.”

The association calculated that recouping the upfront costs of Biden’s green energy codes would take upwards of 90 years through lower energy bills. Some savings.

So, just as Biden’s push for electric vehicles is making all vehicles cost more, so his administration’s green building codes will likewise only make new homes even more unaffordable for Americans.

This is what happens when commitment to a pie-in-the-sky ideology trumps any genuine concern for people’s livelihoods and liberties.