Peninsula Housing & Builders Association – What We Do

The Peninsula Housing & Builders Association acts as the voice of its members on issues that affect the housing and building industry. It works to protect economic growth and strives to keep housing affordable. Through its public and legislative efforts, it helps to educate the public and keep the building industry thriving.

Housing is vital to local and state economies, creating jobs and generating taxes and wages that positively influence the quality of life. Not only do these effects begin before the shovel even hits the dirt, but they last long after the housing has been built. PHBA works to protect the interests and vitality of the Hampton Roads building industry because a vibrant home-building industry translates into massive benefits.

PHBA supports and promotes “Smart Growth” policies. These policies address how to best plan for and manage when and where new residential and commercial development, schools and major highways should be built, how and where to preserve meaningful open space and protect environmentally sensitive areas, and how to pay for the infrastructure required to serve a growing population.

When used properly as a planning tool, Smart Growth can help expand homeownership opportunities and allow Americans to obtain the home and lifestyle of their dreams in new neighborhoods, older communities and city infill markets.

PHBA works with locally elected governments to balance competing interests and assure the realities of the housing marketplace are a part of local decision-making. PHBA encourages decisions based on direct citizen input that best reflect the needs, desires, and priorities of our communities.

The Peninsula Housing & Builders Association also monitors how local governments regulate residential development and home building. PHBA works with local government to remove regulations that no longer serve a useful purpose and to modify and adapt existing or new regulations to minimize regulations’ impact on the cost of new housing. Through these efforts, PHBA works with the following cities and counties to help keep housing affordable for all Peninsula residents:

The Peninsula Housing & Builders Association works closely with the Home Builders Association of Virginia to address concerns and promote the industry on a statewide level. During the General Assembly’s legislative sessions, PHBA members support the legislative agenda of HBAV.

In 2011, the following HBAV-supported legislation was passed: Traffic Impact Statements (TIS) were eliminated for by-right projects, TIS and connectivity regulations review by VDOT, phosphorous ban in fertilizers, per-lot cash proffer payment    delay extended to 2015, limitations of performance bonds, BZA appeal notice requirement, $5,000 tax credit for construction of accessible homes, USBC adopted without sprinklers and a balanced stormwater regulation was adopted.

The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association whose broad mission is to enhance the climate for housing, homeownership and the residential building industry. NAHB works with federal agencies on regulations affecting the housing industry in areas such as mortgage finance, codes, energy and the environment. It also provides a wide range of business-related services to members and home builder associations.

A federation of more than 800 state and local associations, NAHB represents more than 140,000 members nationwide. About one-third of NAHB’s members are single-family and multifamily home builders, developers and/or remodelers. The others are associates working in closely related specialties such as sales and marketing, housing finance, and manufacturing and supplying building materials.

Since its inception in the early 1940s, NAHB has served as “the voice of America’s housing industry.” Its primary goals are to ensure that housing is a national priority and that all Americans have access to safe, decent and affordable housing, whether they choose to buy a home or rent.

Each year, NAHB’s builder members construct about 80 percent of the new homes built in the United States, both single-family and multifamily.