Critique of the National Association of Home Builders’ Research on Land Use Emission Reduction Impacts /

This report critiques National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) research concerning how various land use factors affect travel activity and pollution emissions, and therefore the impacts and benefits of smart growth policies. The NAHB contends that these impacts and benefits are small, so smart growth is an ineffective emission reduction strategy, but these conclusions are based on misinterpretations of smart growth concepts and inaccurate summations of its own research. These misrepresentations significantly understate smart growth’s potential impacts and benefits. Actual travel impacts are probably four to eight times greater than the NAHB implies (doubling all land use factors typically reduces affected residents’ vehicle travel 20-40%, compared with the 5% indicated), and total benefits are far greater due to additional co-benefits ignored in this study. The NAHB actually has good reasons to support smart growth policies that prepare communities for future consumer demands, and provide savings that leave households with more money to spend on housing.