In a June 3, 2026 letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and David McCormick (R-PA) requested urgent action from the agency to address issues with Build America, Buy America (BABA) for affordable housing development.

BABA, which was enacted in 2021, requires that certain materials used in federally-funded infrastructure projects to be made in the U.S. Specifically, construction and manufacturing products, as well as all iron and steel products, used in the construction, alteration, maintenance, and repair of federally-funded infrastructure, must be American-made. However, many of the required materials are not produced in America or cannot be traced by the housing provider, leading to dramatic cost increases (5-20%) and project delays (more than one year) reported by LeadingAge members; some housing providers report halting projects or turning down federal funding for affordable housing, in turn building less housing for older adults with low incomes.

The bipartisan letter stated that while the Senators support the domestic production goals of BABA, there is a “persistent challenge” regarding implementation. “Unfortunately, for years dating back through the previous Administration, HUD has not fully developed its process for reviewing waiver requests, nor has it worked to assess housing components where there are persistent shortages or insufficient domestic production capacity,” reads the letter.

In addition to requesting an improved and accelerated waiver process, the Senate letter urges HUD to request public input on products that are not available in the U.S., so that HUD can issue general applicability waivers instead of “requiring repeated product-specific waiver applications for products that are known to be unavailable,” which “wastes time and money for all parties.”

LeadingAge has advocated for HUD programs, including Multifamily Housing programs like Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly, to be fully exempt from BABA. Despite the public need for and value of a robust affordable housing stock, privately-owned homes leveraging public subsidy are not generally treated as public infrastructure, like roads or bridges. And, unlike projects more traditionally considered public infrastructure, HUD programs were not appropriated congressional funding to help comply with BABA, signaling congressional intent that HUD be exempt from BABA altogether.

When BABA began to apply to developments in 2022, HUD declined to exempt affordable housing programs, but instead rolled out a waiver process that applies when either the total project cost of a development increases by more than 25% or when a property says that a particular product is not available for that specific development.

However, securing a waiver can take more than a year, is costly for housing providers, and must be done for each individual product separately per project, including each type of appliance or each type of hardware used – often the same type of product for a variety of projects, each of which need to request the waiver separately.

Because the housing provider is not guaranteed an approved waiver or a timeframe for approval, the waiver process creates high levels of risk and uncertainty for the projects, leading to an infeasible approach for project-level exemptions.

While LeadingAge supports an improved and time-restricted waiver program, LeadingAge continues to advocate for a full exemption from BABA for affordable housing programs. LeadingAge will continue to pursue both authorizing language and appropriations language that exempts affordable housing programs from BABA, and we will continue to provide information to HUD in support of an improved and expanded waiver process in the meantime.