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Rules that were meant to help American manufacturing are slowing construction. Five years ago, Congress mandated that builders use U.S.-made materials for things such as roads, bridges and affordable housing in order to get federal funds. Maine Public's Nicole Ogrysko reports.
NICOLE OGRYSKO, BYLINE: Tyler Norod stands on an abandoned lot in Biddeford, a small city south of Portland. The pavement is cracked and overgrown with weeds. The former mill town has been revitalizing itself in recent years. Norod says his nonprofit development company plans to build a few dozen affordable apartments on this lot.
TYLER NOROD: So these piles of dirt and old foundations over here to our left were back in that corner.
OGRYSKO: By now, Norod says he hoped the site would have been buzzing with activity. But instead, it's quiet because federal requirements now in effect have brought the project to a standstill.
NOROD: Right now, we would be lucky to break ground - if we can even break ground at all - by the end of the year. And more likely into 2027.
OGRYSKO: That's because of the Build America, Buy America mandate. It requires developers who've received certain federal housing funds to source 95% of their construction materials from domestic manufacturers. While there are a few hundred components that go into building a bridge or a highway, there are thousands of items that go into constructing a typical apartment building. Housing developers must track and confirm the origin of each one. And some components are just not made in the United States at all, leaving developers to hunt for things like...
LAURA READING: Door hardware - a little bit of elevators. We've ended up finding one that is compliant.
OGRYSKO: Laura Reading is developing affordable apartments with a childcare facility in downtown Portland. She says her project got held up when they couldn't find a certain American-made heating and air conditioning system. So last fall, she asked the federal government for a waiver that will allow her to use a foreign-made system. It got approved eight months later.
READING: There's this desperate need for affordable housing. And so the longer that that gets put off, the longer these families are experiencing some form of housing instability.
OGRYSKO: By one estimate, the United States faces a shortage of roughly 7 million homes that are affordable to Americans at the federal poverty line or lower. To keep rents low, every dollar counts. Developers have historically relied on federal grants to make their financing work. But Jennifer Schwartz with the National Council of State Housing Agencies says some developers have decided it's not worth it because of the Build America requirements.
JENNIFER SCHWARTZ: Some that have taken these funds are now turning them back because they're realizing that the cost of compliance sometimes even exceeds the value of that grant.
OGRYSKO: Builders and state housing agencies have appealed to Congress and the Trump administration for solutions, but so far, there hasn't been a quick fix. Tyler Norod says his nonprofit will continue to develop affordable housing in Southern Maine, but he worries Build America challenges could deter others from getting into the business at all.
NOROD: I'm just hoping that the folks in D.C. will listen to us on the ground that are just trying to do what everyone right now is asking of us, which is to build more housing that Americans can afford.
OGRYSKO: The Trump administration did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the Build America requirements.
For NPR News, I'm Nicole Ogrysko in Portland, Maine. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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