In spite of recent positive signs in the housing market, the National Association of Home Builders announced a series of cost-cutting measures to help it cope with the downturn. Falling fees from the industry group's membership pool have forced the move, CEO Jerry Howard told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. At its peak in May 2007, NAHB had 256,000 members. But the housing recession has taken its toll, whittling total membership to roughly 190,000 today. That number is expected to fall further, Howard told the paper. "We are starting to see a bottom in the housing market," he said, but "we're not in a recovery mode yet." The organization's Washington office will close for the last week of August and the week of Thanksgiving, meaning eight fewer paid work days for its staff of 341. Howard warned that the penny-pinching might not stop there. "We're looking under every rock" for new ways to save money and generate revenue, he said.