Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Economics topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Home Builders Association tells Blount County building 100 single‑family homes would add roughly $36.2M in local income, create hundreds of jobs
Summary
At a Blount County commission workshop Nov. 13, Dan Mitchell of the Home Builders Association presented an NAHB economic model estimating that building 100 new single‑family homes in the county would generate roughly $36.2 million in local income, about $5.2 million in first‑year taxes and hundreds of jobs during construction and thereafter.
Dan Mitchell, introduced by the chair as representing the Home Builders Association of Tennessee, told the Blount County commission at its Nov. 13 workshop that an NAHB economic model tailored to the county shows substantial economic gains from adding 100 single‑family homes. "Homes that are built in Blount County ... includes $36,200,000 of local income and $5,200,000 in taxes and revenue for local governments," Mitchell said during a roughly 25‑minute presentation.
Mitchell described the model in three phases: construction (phase 1), short‑term ripple effects from local spending (phase 2) and long‑term occupancy impacts (phase 3). He said the construction phase alone would generate about $19 million in construction activity, roughly $16–17 million in local wages and about 234 jobs during building. Combined ongoing impacts, he said, would add further income and some 65 additional long‑term jobs in the county.
Mitchell cautioned that infrastructure and service costs can rise when new construction stops: "When construction stops in a given community, ... infrastructure starts to deteriorate," he said, arguing that new housing spreads the cost of utilities, roads and schools across more taxpayers.
On the drivers of higher prices, Mitchell said construction costs have risen sharply since 2019: "cost of construction has gone up about 45% since the pandemic," he said, and he cited labor constraints and tariffs as factors. In response to a commissioner question about tariffs, he said recent changes in lumber tariffs were adding to materials costs. He also described slimmer profit margins for builders compared with earlier decades, saying many firms operate with lower net margins than in the 1990s and rely on volume.
Mitchell offered to share the full packet and a PDF of the PowerPoint with commissioners and staff for follow‑up. He also invited commissioners to contact him by email for additional detail.
The presentation was informational; no formal action was taken on the study during the workshop. Commissioners asked several clarifying questions about the data source (Mitchell said NAHB and Census data were used) and requested copies of the slides for review before any potential policy or regulatory response.
