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Home Builders Association urges code, permitting changes to address Michigan housing shortage
Summary
The Home Builders Association of Michigan told the committee the state faces a housing shortage driven by supply, workforce and regulatory costs; the witness urged changes to code adoption process and criticized the potential adoption of the 2021 residential code while advocating for a 2024 code and stakeholder input.
Don (Dawn) Crandall, executive vice president for government relations at the Home Builders Association of Michigan, told the House Rules Committee the state faces a housing crisis driven by demand outpacing supply, workforce shortages and regulatory costs.
Crandall said single‑family building permits fell sharply after 2005 and that the industry currently needs to build 25,000–30,000 homes per year to meet demand; the association’s predicted permits for 2025 were cited as about 15,728. She said regulatory compliance, zoning and permitting add substantially to the cost of a new home: a National Association of Home Builders national survey (cited in testimony) estimated regulation added about $94,000 to the cost of a new home on average. Crandall said the median cost of a new home in 2024 was cited around $430,000 in testimony and that income needed to qualify for such a home was said to be about $137,000.
On building codes, Crandall described ongoing contention over adopting the International Codes Council model codes and said the 2021 Michigan residential code would trigger legal challenges from builders if adopted as written; she and her members favor skipping to the 2024 model code or restoring stakeholder advisory councils to the code‑setting process. Crandall also raised permitting delays in certain state offices (named in testimony as "Eagle") and said simple water tap connections have taken as long as nine months in some cases, which adds cost and slows housing development.
Crandall highlighted workforce shortages in construction, citing that membership in the association has fallen from about 14,000 to about 4,500 since she began with the organization. She described credential and outreach programs the association runs — including education materials and grants to reach students and veterans — but said such efforts are insufficient alone to meet demand. Crandall said her members will continue to comply with codes but urged a more timely, efficient permitting process and stakeholder-driven code development to reduce costs and expand housing production.
