The American Building Materials Alliance (ABMA) announced the national rollout of its federal housing proposal, Building Homes, Not Costs—a comprehensive plan designed to tackle drivers of America’s housing affordability crisis. The proposal has already earned the support of more than 200 businesses and organizations nationwide and has been shared with senior White House staff.
“Families can’t afford new homes when red tape and mandates pile up,” said Rod Wiles ABMA chair and vice president of human resources at Hammond Lumber Company. “This plan tackles both and puts affordability front and center, allowing builders to deliver homes within reach for the average American family.”
The rollout follows ABMA Director of Government Affairs Francis Palasieski’s address to legislative leaders from across the country during the State Government Affairs Council (SGAC) Policy Leaders Conference, where he outlined ABMA’s vision for restoring housing affordability by cutting red tape and reducing government-driven costs.
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“At the SGAC conference, it was clear that legislators across the country are searching for practical, achievable solutions to the housing crisis,” said Francis Palasieski, director of government affairs for ABMA. “Our message to them was simple: if we want more affordable homes, we must start by lowering the hidden cost of government. Building Homes, Not Costs gives policymakers a clear roadmap to do exactly that.”
The Building Homes, Not Costs proposal targets two of the most significant cost drivers preventing new housing from being built at price points working families can afford:
Permitting and approval delays that stack time and cost onto projects.
Mandates beyond the national building code that add thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, in hidden expenses.
ABMA’s plan aims to create a clear federal framework that accelerates approvals, increases accountability, and reins in unnecessary local mandates that go beyond the International Residential Code (IRC).
America’s housing shortage is not evenly distributed—it is concentrated in a single, critical segment of the market. $300,000 and under is the price range where demand is more than double the supply. 76 million American families fall into this affordability range. Only 36 million homes exist to meet that need.
“Affordability collapses when government-added costs make it impossible for builders to construct homes in the range where American families need them most,” Palasieski said. “If we want to solve the housing crisis, we must remove the obstacles that make reasonably priced homes unbuildable.”
Today, builders want to build in the price range where demand is greatest. But in many states and municipalities, that goal is undermined by:
- A sprawling and inconsistent permitting system
- Inspection and approval delays that add weeks or months to projects
- State and local mandates that exceed national building code requirements
These factors push base construction costs far beyond what average households can afford—and make new entry-level homes financially unviable. ABMA’s proposal directly targets these barriers, helping ensure that more new homes are built at price points the market desperately needs.