New home construction permits declined in Michigan this August when officials say the state should be at its peak.
With Michigan still in a housing shortage, a recent report from the Home Builder’s Association of Michigan shows new home construction permits are down 8% this August when compared to last August.
Bob Fika, CEO of Home Builder’s Association of Michigan, said while many experts point to inflation, a number of government and utility-related delays are also to blame.
Fika said issues like getting power and gas to sites can cause lengthy delays increase costs.
“It’s really holding back the number of homes that could be built,” said Fika. “That's part of the reason I believe we’ve seen not as many permits pulled as we normally would in the summer months.”
Fika said a project in Bay County to build workforce housing applied for a permit to hook up to the town’s water and sewer systems. They received the permit nearly eight months later, when Fika said it should have been issued in 30 days.
“That project is hugely important because there's a big chip plant that is being built over there that’s going to create, I believe more than 1,000 jobs and they need that housing to house their workers, and now they’re seven, eight, nine months behind,” said Fika.
Fika said in order to fix the housing shortage, new homes need to be built, and for new homes to be built, utility companies and government agencies need to streamline their process.
