Join NAHB’s DASH for reasonable building codes

August 1, 2022

The NAHB Federation needs help in the development of building codes that enable home builders to Deliver Affordable, Safe Housing.

We need NAHB members to encourage their local building departments to designate voters who support reasonable, enforceable building codes up to the permitted number of voting representatives, based on the size of the community as permitted under their governmental membership in the International Code Council (ICC). These governmental member voting representatives are the ones who participate in the final votes to determine building codes.

Smaller towns and counties are woefully underrepresented among ICC governmental members. The roster is dominated by large cities.

Talk to your local officials in building departments or planning and zoning offices – and even mayors or councilors in very small towns – and see if they are ICC members. If so, tell them that by designating their voting representatives, they can have a say in developing reasonable building codes that produce safe, cost-effective and affordable housing.

The time to act is NOW. The deadline for all ICC governmental members to designate their voters is August 15 at iccsafe.org to be eligible to vote at this year’s Public Comment Hearings and during the Online Governmental Consensus Vote. And this year, ICC is developing the next edition of the all-important International Residential Code (IRC), so this effort is extremely important.

But this is not a one-time effort. The NAHB Code DASH program is a year-round initiative to encourage members to develop relationships with their local building code officials. Right now, we need to ensure as many local building officials are involved in the ICC code development process. Soon, we will send voting guides highlighting NAHB’s official position on important code change proposals.

Look under your state on this list to find current governmental members and validated voters in your state and government offices without validated voters. Contact Jeff Munsterteiger at jmunsterteiger@nahb.org if you have any questions.

Join in NAHB’s DASH and encourage your peers and members to do the same. Together, we can help ensure building codes will enable builders to Deliver Affordable, Safe Housing.