A new report shows the number of houses built in Michigan increased by almost 9% between 2016 and 2017.
Officials with the Home Builders Association, which produced the report, say the state will likely have built seventeen thousand homes in 2017 once the final numbers come in. That’s compared to just over fifteen thousand in 2016.
Bob Filka is the CEO of the HBA. He said it’s good that housing starts are increasing but the construction industry has nearly reached capacity with the size of its workforce.
“We have a high demand for workers across the state and since we can’t fill all those jobs we’re limited in terms of how much production we can have across the industry.”
Filka said that’s a problem because even though the state is making more homes it’s still well below pre-housing crash highs.
Filka said the state also needs to focus on creating housing for mid and lower-income residents.
“We’ve been having a lot of dialogue with local economic development officials saying ‘hey as you look at attracting new jobs in your community if you want those people who work in your community to live in your community you need to look at your housing infrastructure and come up with ways to try and attract that investment.’”
Filka said contractors tend to build more expensive homes because they have a higher return.
He said without a concerted effort to build low and middle-income housing the state could be on the verge of a housing crisis.