Kevin Kelly was elected as the 2014 chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) during the association’s International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas.
Kelly is president of Leon N. Weiner & Associates, Inc., Wilmington and became actively involved with the Home Builders Association of Delaware when he joined the company in 1979. His building experience includes land development, multi-family and single-family home building, with an emphasis on affordable housing.
“Our focus this year will be to ensure that the housing market continues to strengthen,” said Kelly. “We will fight to protect the mortgage interest deduction, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and other vital housing tax provisions. We will work with the administration and members of Congress in a bipartisan manner to enact meaningful housing finance reform that includes a federal backstop to ensure sufficient mortgage liquidity for homeownership and rental housing opportunities. On the regulatory side, we will oppose unnecessary and burdensome regulations that harm home builders and consumers and seek major reforms in appraisal practices to ensure that appraisals accurately reflect true market values.”
Kelly has been active in the association in local, state and national levels. A life director of the Home Builders Association of Delaware, he served two terms as its president (1998 and 1999) and was named Builder of the Year in 1999. In 2008, the Delaware association honored him with its distinguished service award. Kelly is only the third person to receive the award since the association was chartered in 1947.
Nationally, Kelly is an NAHB life director, and has been a member of the NAHB Executive Board for more than a decade.
In 2011, Kelly and his business partner, David Curtis, received the Fair Housing Person of the Year award from Housing Opportunities Inc., of New Castle County, Del.
Kelly is also president of the Leon N. Weiner Education Foundation, serves on the board of directors of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Wilmington, and is a member of the New Castle County Housing Advisory Board. He was appointed by now U.S. Senator Chris Coons.
Kelly and his wife, Marcia, are also active in their church and in several local community organizations that serve the homeless, the mentally and physically challenged, and victims of domestic violence. They have two sons, Sean and Ryan.
