On May 6, HUD and USDA published a joint Federal Notice that establishes the 2009 IECC/ASHRAE 90.1-2007 as the minimum standard for new construction of certain HOME and FHA-insured properties (both multifamily and single family) as well as USDA- guaranteed single family homes..

• This Notice fulfills a statutory requirement  under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) that requires HUD and USDA to jointly adopt the most recently-published energy codes subject to a cost-benefit housing “affordability and availability” test.

• The Notice, while an incremental step forward, is an important part of the two agencies’ efforts to improve the efficiency of their single family and multifamily portfolios, and helps fulfill the President’s Climate Action Plan goal of cutting energy waste in the residential sector.

• The Notice applies to new construction only.  And while it applies nationally, 34 states, DC and Puerto Rico have already adopted some version of these codes.  As a result it will directly impact 16 states that have not yet adopted statewide either or both these standards statewide.

• The 16 States most impacted are Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, Wisconsin.   (In some of these states, e.g. Colorado and Arizona, localities have adopted these codes and as a result most housing built in these states already meet these standards).

Under the implementation procedures outlined in the Notice, these updated codes would take effect in 4 months (for multifamily pre-applications) or 7 months (for new single family building permits) after Federal Register publication.