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According to the latest numbers, North Texas housing prices are up 8 percent over last year. That sounds like great news for home builders. Yet,Phil Crone of the Dallas Builders Association went to the nations capital last month to make a desperate plea for immigration reform.

In our Friday Conversation, Crone talked about the link between immigration policy and soaring house prices with Rick Holter.

Listen to the KERA Friday Conversation.

Interview Highlights: Phil Crone

On the link between housing and immigration: The two of them are linked because its basic supply and demand. You are seeing about 100,000 jobs moving here. I always tell people homes are where the jobs sleeps at night. And when you see that kind of demand, the corresponding demand comes for your workforce, and a lot of our workforce comes from areas outside of the U.S., in Mexico in particular. We need those folks. Theyre essential to get the job done in the residential construction industry.

Were about 18,000 to 20,000 workers short in D-FW area, and I would argue that makes the shortage as bad here as anywhere in the country right now. The biggest thing driving the increased pricing is the lack of labor. We did a survey of our members, and on average, they said that the labor shortage alone is adding about $4,000 and about two months to every project.

"We're about 18,000 to 20,000 workers short in D-FW area."

On his trip to Washington and potential solutions: Talking to some of the area representatives and members of Congress from the Dallas area, they understand it, and they were certainly vocal in the meetings that we had about the undue distractions and inability to get the job done. And this is one of the jobs they would like to do if Congress could kind of coalesce around an idea that makes sense. And for our industry, that idea would be a guest worker program that takes into account the demand thats here.

Hopefully, there can be some programs that are set up to incentivize these folks maybe to get licenses and maybe get on the path to becoming a citizen here. Its certainly not an amnesty program that were talking about, but there should be a pathway for some of the people who are coming here and finding some good opportunities and really contributing to our economy and would all be people who wed love to have stay here.

Phil Crone is the executive office of the Dallas Builders Association.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Link:
Dallas Builders Are Pushing For Immigration Reform. Why? They Need More Workers. - KERA News