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Home Builders Association urges lawmakers to cut regulatory costs and broaden workforce pipeline
Summary
Representatives from the Home Builders Association of Michigan and several builders told the Regulatory Reform Committee that regulatory costs, zoning limits on lot supply and a shrinking skilled-labor pipeline are major drivers of housing unaffordability; they urged code updates, workforce development and zoning reforms.
Dawn Crandall, executive vice president of government relations for the Home Builders Association (HBA) of Michigan, told the House Regulatory Reform Committee that the state faces a substantial gap between housing supply and demand and that regulatory costs are a major component of home-price increases.
Crandall summarized association data showing an estimated national regulatory cost of about $94,000 per new home (presented to the committee as a national average), and she said Michigan’s estimated housing shortfall ranges from tens of thousands to roughly 44,000 units depending on the measure. She described a demographic challenge in the building trades—an aging licensed-workforce profile that the HBA says will leave fewer new builders entering the field.
Builders on the panel described practical barriers: local zoning provisions that mandate basements or minimum roof pitches, aesthetic requirements in municipal zoning that exclude more affordable building techniques, and the administrative cost and time of per-project appeals. They also raised concerns about code adoption timelines and a contested choice between proposed 2021 and 2024 model codes; panelists said the 2024 code provides more flexible ways to meet energy-efficiency goals and could be less costly overall than adopting the 2021 code.
Panelists gave several examples of regulation-related costs: requirements that add foundation or basement mandates, energy-code provisions with long payback periods, OSHA site-safety rules that make small remodeling jobs more labor-intensive, and municipal permitting and engineering review fees. Panelists also described workforce and training gaps and urged expanded vocational education and partnerships to attract workers into skilled trades.
Panelists asked lawmakers to consider housing impacts when drafting policy, to favor the 2024 model code approach for energy efficiency, and to work on zoning reforms and workforce development measures. Committee members asked specific follow-ups about the scope of licensed categories and the definition of a licensed builder in the HBA’s figures.
Documentation: testimony and a packet of district-level housing data were submitted and are recorded in the committee transcript.
