FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2002

Bush Administration Joins Home Builders In Opposing Community Character Act

Washington, April 17 ­ The Bush Administration has joined with the home building industry in opposing the Community Character Act (S. 975 and H.R. 1433), recognizing that the federal government has no right or authority to dictate to local communities the "right way" to plan for growth.

In an April 12 letter to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez said that the proposed legislation would "infringe on the rights of local and state governments to manage their growth."

The legislation would encourage communities to use prescribed land use planning techniques, Martinez added. "The danger lies in creating a set of ‘one size fits all’ federal rules that would dictate to communities the ‘right’ way to plan for growth."

NAHB President Gary Garczynski, a builder/developer from Woodbridge, Va., applauded the decision by HUD. "The legislation presumes that the federal government has a better idea of the source of local market pressures and the best way to solve those problems," Garczynski said. "Secretary Martinez, speaking for the Bush Administration, has the wisdom to understand that local citizens and local governments ­ not distant federal authorities ­ should make decisions about local land use plans."

In a March 15 letter to Martinez, Garczynski wrote that the proposed legislation "sets a dangerous precedent and presents constitutional problems. It would make the Secretary of HUD, Commerce or Agriculture the land use arbiter with the power to usurp the local government’s authority."

"What works in Portland, Oregon, may not work in Cheyenne, Wyoming," Martinez wrote in his April 12 response. "The standardization of land use planning would begin to define what constitutes ‘good’ growth management decisions. The problem is, of course, that what would be ‘good’ for one community could be ‘bad’ for another."

ABOUT NAHB: The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington-based trade association representing more than 205,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. Known as "the voice of the housing industry," NAHB is affiliated with more than 800 state and local home builders associations around the country. NAHB's builder members will construct about 80 percent of the almost 1.6 million new housing units projected for 2002, making housing one of the largest and most powerful engines of economic growth in the country.