HUD Backs ‘06 IBC for Safe Harbor

WASHINGTON, DC-The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has endorsed the applicable accessibility requirements in the 2006 edition of the International Building Code and the 2003 edition of the International Code Council.

Essentially the endorsement, just announced by Kim Kendrick, HUD’s assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the National Association of Home Builders’ Spring Board of Directors meeting, gives multifamily developers safe harbor assurance that they are in compliance with design and construction requirements in HUD’s Fair Housing Accessibility Guidelines.

The HUD endorsement also provides safe harbor for the American Disabilities Act. “There has been a lot of focus on harmonizing all of the building requirements related to accessibility,” Jeffrey Inks, staff vice president with NAHB, tells GlobeSt.com. “Because most buildings in this country are built to IBC, it also serves as a primary resource to developers on these issues.”

In March, NAHB met with Kendrick about the 2006 IBC. According to the building association, it was being adopted by state and local jurisdictions without the safe harbor endorsement.