Page 8 - Builder Brief May 2021 Issue

2021 PRESIDENT
THE IMPACT OF HOUSING
In the State of Texas
Texas is the 5th fastest-growing state in the country and the U.S. Census Bureau said that in 2019, Texas increased its population by 1.35 percent or by 367,215 new residents. We do not have the growth numbers for 2020 but they are significant even in the wake of COVID.
The local impact of 100 new homes to San Antonio is $28.7 million in local income, 394 local jobs and $3.6 million in taxes and other revenue for local governments. Housing is one of the main economic drivers of our economy. Construction of a single-family home creates one permanent and three temporary jobs per year according to the NAHB Housing Policy Department. However, Texas ranks 46th in the nation in homeownership and is slightly below the national average of 64.2 percent with 61.7 percent of Texans who own their own homes.
We recently hosted our statewide Rally Day in Austin in conjunction with the Texas Association of Builders (TAB). Your Association hosted 14 face-to-face meetings with our elected officials from the greater San Antonio area. We were very pleased with how engaged our State Senators and Representatives were with our critical issues.
The meetings we hosted in person gave us an opportunity to share several of our legislative priorities. One of our priority bills was HB 2590 that supports changes to the current building permit approval process timeline statute to remove municipalities’ ability to force waivers on builders that result in costly delays to the homeowners. We also shared our support of HB 3595 to support amendments to the Residential Construction Liability Act (RCLA) to update the existing statutory process for resolving residential construction defects prior to litigation and to lower the statute of repose for homebuilders who provide an expressed written warranty to homeowners.
There are a few other crucial bills like HB 2548 which supports legislation to allow the use of 3rd party building inspections during a declared disaster. I went to the State Capitol on Wednesday, April 7th and testified for HB 2548 at the Urban Affairs Committee hearing chaired by Representative Philip Cortez. Chairman Cortez, who represents District 117 in San Antonio was also our Luncheon Speaker for Rally Day. We were grateful for him taking time away from the House floor to visit with GSABA’s Rally Day attendees in person.
These face-to-face meetings were invaluable, and I want to invite you to participate in our upcoming Bringing Housing Home initiative that will be held the first week of May. We will be meeting with our United States Congressional delegation in person and virtually in conjunction with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Please call the Association at (210) 696-3800 to get more information on Bringing Housing Home and the meeting schedule. There is strength in numbers!
ED BERLANGA
It has been a privilege to participate in key calls with our Washington delegation over the past few weeks. TAB has hosted calls with Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Chip Roy. These meetings are critical to our industry and I invite you to get involved with members of the GSABA leadership team the first week of May as we share the impact of housing on Texas!
Thank you for being a member of GSABA. Please do not call on me if I can assist you in any way.
Sincerely,
8 MAY 2021 | GREATER SAN ANTONIO BUILDERS ASSOCIATION