In a major blow to the Biden Administration, a federal court has struck down a Biden-era rule that threatened to reduce the availability of affordable housing by imposing costly green energy requirements for new home construction.
The lawsuit, brought by a coalition of 15 states and the National Association of Home Builders, was argued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The court’s ruling is a significant victory for Paxton and the states involved, who argued that the rule violated federal law by reducing the availability of affordable housing.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a rule requiring that new homes be built with certain federal housing financing to comply with significantly stricter energy-efficiency building codes. The rule would have applied to housing financed through programs such as FHA-insured mortgages, USDA rural housing loans, and various federally assisted housing initiatives.
The mandates required builders to install stronger insulation, higher-efficiency windows, tighter building envelopes, upgraded heating and cooling systems, and other costly requirements that would have increased construction costs and made affordable housing harder to build. Attorney General Paxton successfully argued that the rule violated federal law because it would reduce the availability of affordable housing.
Federal law allows adoption of new energy standards only if they do not negatively affect the availability or affordability of housing. The court also ruled that HUD and USDA lacked the statutory authority to impose the updated standards in 2024. As a result of the ruling, the 2024 energy standard has been vacated and is no longer in effect.
According to Attorney General Paxton, “The Corrupt Biden Administration’s radical policies were reducing the availability of affordable homes and making it harder for Americans to achieve the dream of homeownership. This ruling is a major victory for homebuyers, builders, and families and helps protect access to affordable housing.”
The ruling is a significant setback for the Biden Administration, which had touted the rule as a key part of its efforts to address climate change. However, critics argued that the rule would have had a disproportionate impact on low-income and minority communities, who would have been priced out of the housing market by the increased construction costs.
The court’s decision is also a major victory for the National Association of Home Builders, which had argued that the rule would have led to a significant increase in housing costs and a decrease in the availability of affordable housing. The association praised the court’s ruling, saying that it would help to ensure that affordable housing remains available to American families.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: TX AG
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: Official Source ↗
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