Decades of regulatory barriers, including restrictive zoning, burdensome permits, and other forms of red tape, have made housing less accessible for millions of Americans. Reducing these obstacles would give people more choices and strengthen communities. A freer housing market empowers individuals and supports the ability to build stabler and more fulfilling lives.
Featured Posts
Blog
Third-party reviewers expand permitting capacity without expanding government
Housing permitting reform has become one of the few housing policies to attract support across the political spectrum. States as politically diverse as…
Study
Permitting Reform for a Freer and More Prosperous Nation
Contents Special Advisors The Importance of Permitting Reform Part 1: 11 Principles for Permitting Reform Part 2: Statute-by-Statute Analysis for Permitting…
Blog
The ROAD to Housing Act’s Moving to Work expansion still misses the bigger housing issue
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is Congress’s most sweeping housing legislation in years. As I previously covered, the legislation deserves…
Search Posts
Fox News
Biden’s Cold War: Anti-Air Conditioner Regulations Keep Piling Up
Think Biden administration regulators have it in for gas stoves? Just wait until you learn what they have in store for air…
Blog
Competitive Enterprise Institute Leads Coalition Comment Opposing Department of Energy Stove Regulation
On April 17, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and 30 free-market organizations filed a comment with the Department of Energy (DOE) critical of its…
Comment
CEI Comments to Department of Energy on Proposed Stove Regulation
INTRODUCTION The undersigned free market and consumer organizations have a longstanding interest in bringing to light the deleterious consequences of federal regulations, which are…
Fox News
5 ways Biden is still coming for your gas stove
Who knew President Joe Biden hated gas stoves so much? Not only does he have multiple federal agencies targeting them, but he is also…
Blog
It’s Not Just Stoves – Biden Administration Regulators Going After Many Other Appliances
Do you think that Joe Biden’s regulators are sticking to promises not to target gas stoves? Think again, and it is not just stoves…
Blog
Federal Attacks on Gas Stoves Continue
Think Biden administration regulators at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have really backed away from their threat to target natural gas stoves? No,…
Blog
It Isn’t Just Gas Stoves That Biden Regulators Dislike – EPA Adding Costly Red Tape To Air Conditioners
In response to a strong consumer backlash, Biden administration regulators now insist they are not considering a ban on natural gas stoves, at…
Daily Caller
Biden Admin’s Gas Stove Crusade Is Just A Preview Of What’s To Come
It was an amazing media 180. Just days after a wave of stories about the threat to asthmatic children from natural gas stoves and…
Op-Eds
Restrictions on Natural-Gas Stoves Are Climate Policy by Another Name
It has been heartening to see the strong backlash to the recent announcement that the Biden administration’s Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was considering restrictions…
Blog
CNN Cheers Proposed New Restrictions on Light Bulbs
CNN has some great news for American consumers—your choices in light bulbs are being reduced! The Department of Energy (DOE) will soon propose…
National Review
Biden Regulators Are Coming for Your Furnace
The Biden administration is not known for its light-handed regulatory touch, and so we should not be surprised that its efforts have included unhelpful initiatives…
Blog
A Tough Winter Ahead for Heating Bills, According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration
High gasoline prices will soon have an equally unpleasant partner in the form of high energy bills this winter, according to the U.S. Energy…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Comment Critical of DOE’s Proposed Furnace Regulation
Several recent Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency standards for appliances have been a bad deal for consumers, but the latest proposed standard for residential…
Blog
Could Heating Costs Set Records This Winter?
Gasoline prices reached their peak at over $5 per gallon last June before declining to the current $3.70, but the worst may be…
National Review
The Skyrocketing Cost of Staying Cool This Summer — and Future Ones
Add air conditioning to the long list of items experiencing inflation under the Biden administration. Whether it is fixing your home’s existing system or buying…
Blog
Think Handouts to Rich Electric Vehicle Buyers Are Unfair? Check Out the Inflation Reduction Act’s Homeowner Tax Breaks
The Manchin-Schumer Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extends the current tax credits up to $7,500 for electric vehicles (EVs). Among the many flaws…
Blog
Lack of Air Conditioning, Not Climate Change, Is the Real Summer Heat Wave Threat
Climate change policies often pose a greater risk than climate change itself, and that is especially true during summer heat waves. Each new heat…
Blog
America’s Heat Pump Emergency
The Biden administration announced it will use the Defense Production Act (DPA)—a Korean War-era statute allowing presidents to demand American industry increase production of…
Fox News
Washington’s war on air conditioning heats up
It’s the scariest moment of the year for many homeowners – that first really hot day, usually in May, when we…
News Release
CEI and Allied Free Market Groups Send Letter to Senate Urging “No” Vote on Treaty Restricting Refrigerants
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and nineteen allied groups and individuals sent a letter to the Senate urging a “no” vote on…
Blog
A Bad Day for Incandescent Light Bulbs – and Freedom of Choice
Consumers are better off with choices, and worse off when federal regulators step in and take them away. That’s the best way to view…
Blog
No Matter How You Heat Your Home, This Winter Is Costing A Lot More
We are wrapping up the winter of 2021-2022, the first full one under the Biden administration and its energy policies. It has been a…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to Department of Energy Defending Freedom of Choice for Light Bulbs
As I described in my recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, A Regulatory Burden For Every Room In Your House, the Biden administration has…
Comment
Coalition Opposes Proposed DOE Lightbulb Rule
Re: Docket Number EERE-BT-STD-0005: Department of Energy: Energy Conservation Program: Backstop Requirement for General Service Lamps: Notification of Proposed Rule: 86 FR…
News Release
New Biden Admin Rule Unnecessarily Tells Americans How Much Water They Can Use in the Shower
The Biden Administration today announced a finalized rule restricting the amount of water showerheads with multiple nozzles can use. The final rule reverts…
Blog
Is It Finally Goodbye for Incandescent Light Bulbs—and Consumer Choice?
President George W. Bush initiated the federal government’s targeting of incandescent light bulbs in energy legislation he signed in 2007. Subsequent Department of…
The Washington Examiner
Biden Declares War on Showerheads
President Joe Biden may lack the authority to reach into your shower and turn the dial down in order to save water.
News Release
Biden EPA Rule Strictly Limiting Common Refrigerant Will Increase Costs Air for Consumers and Businesses
WASHINGTON – The Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to strictly limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the most commonly used refrigerant in air…
Blog
Cost of Air Conditioning to Heat up, Thanks to New EPA Climate Regulation
We can soon add air conditioning to the long list of products contributing to inflation, thanks to a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)…
Comment
Comments to DOE Regarding Water Use Limits For Showers
Docket Number EERE-2021-BT-STD-0016; Energy Conservation Program: Definition of Showerhead; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking And Public Meeting 86 FR 38,594 (July 22, 2021)…
Blog
Washington’s War against the Incandescent Light Bulb Is Back
The Trump administration called a truce in the regulatory war against the incandescent light bulb by declining to target them with additional efficiency standards,…
Blog
War on Natural Gas—End User Edition
No matter that it is clean-burning, domestically plentiful, and affordable, natural gas is demonized by the Biden administration as a fossil fuel and for…
Blog
Free Market Organizations Oppose Costly EPA Air Conditioner Regulations
With temperatures in Washington D.C. topping 90 degrees in recent days and with most of the summer yet to go, it is hard to…
News Release
Mark Calabria Had Excellent Stewardship of Fannie, Freddie While at Federal Housing Finance Agency
On news today that President Biden is replacing Trump appointee Mark Calabria as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which oversees government-sponsored…
Real Clear Policy
Is Joe Biden Coming After Your Air Conditioner?
America’s air conditioning season is underway, and millions of unlucky homeowners whose systems break down between now and the fall will be in for…
Blog
Biden Administration to Impose Wave of Costly Regulations on Home Appliances
The spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) has been released. It’s the roadmap of federal regulatory priorities, and…
Inside Sources
Is the Biden Administration Coming After Your Air Conditioner?
We’re reaching the point where it is easier to list the things the Biden administration isn’t doing in the name of fighting climate change. One such…
Blog
EPA Proposes Rule Cracking Down on Refrigerants
On April 30, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a notice of proposed rulemaking to create a rationing scheme for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a…
Blog
Does the Rebound Effect Undercut Savings from Energy Efficiency Standards?
There are plenty of reasons to oppose Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency standards for home appliances such as those for air conditioners, refrigerators, clothes…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Urging GSE Reform
View Full Document as PDF Dear Chairman Brown, Chairwoman Waters, Ranking Member Toomey and Ranking Member McHenry: On behalf of…
Blog
Trump DOE Finalizes More Flexible Regulation for Residential Furnaces
In one of the Trump Department of Energy’s (DOE) last regulatory actions, the agency on January 15 revised the energy efficiency standards for…
Blog
Treasury, FHFA Reverse ‘Net Worth Sweep” at Fannie and Freddie
The headlines yesterday were that the Trump administration had failed to exit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government-owned conservatorship. This is…
News Release
New Law Banning Refrigerant Will Harm Consumers and Benefit Special Interests
WASHINGTON, DC – Congress intends to include ban a chemical commonly used in air-conditioners and refrigerators and extend billions in existing government spending toward…
Blog
The Bipartisan War on Affordable Air Conditioning
Congressional Democrats and Republicans are currently collaborating on a bill that will make air conditioning more expensive. Hooray for bipartisanship! Both the House…
News Release
Energy Department Reforms #Neverneeded Regulations on Consumer Washers, Dryers, Showerheads
Today the U.S. Department of Energy issued a set of two new rules that, respectively, allow the sale of faster clothes washers and…
News Release
CFPB Makes Needed Changes to Qualified Mortgage Rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued final rules related to qualified mortgage loans, which require lenders to determine at the onset that…
Comment
CEI Comments to DOE on Proposed Change to Shower Regulations
Introduction The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a policy and analysis organization committed to advancing the principles of free markets and limited government. For…
Blog
Finally, a Fix for Fannie and Freddie
In my recent blog post on the 10th anniversary of Dodd-Frank, I lamented that while “this supposed ‘financial reform’ has caused harmful and…
Blog
Senate Reaches Bipartisan Deal to Raise Air Conditioner Costs
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee just agreed to a measure that would raise the cost of air…
Comment
CEI Comments on Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Proposed Regulatory Capital Framework
Dear Mr. Pollard: On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I am pleased to submit the following comment letter on the Federal…
