For more than 50 years, homebuilders, developers, landowners and government regulators have wrestled with determining when a wetland is considered to be “waters of the United States” and subject to the Clean Water Act. The questions even stumped the United States Supreme Court in 2006, with the court unable to reach a decision. In May 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court settles this question with Sackett v. EPA.

The latest edition of Housing Affordability Institute’s Federal Legal Precedent series outlines the new, two-question test established in Sackett v. EPA and what this means for housing going forward.

Read Sackett v. EPA.