The labor shortage in residential construction industry isn’t new, but it’s getting worse amid immigration enforcement by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents, officials for the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) suggest. Increased jobsite raids over the past two years are heightening worker fears and further straining the construction labor pool, they report, adding that the situation is exacerbating the current approximately 1.2-million-unit housing shortage. Per NAHB officials, United States’ “government data indicate that construction is short about 300,000 workers.” The association released a Home Builders Institute Study last year finding that the skilled labor shortage delays construction by at least two months, while driving up labor costs and raising home prices. A 19,000-home shortfall and costs builders and consumers $10 billion per year, officials report.
As part of the association’s political advocacy, NAHB leadership “has been in contact with senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to voice concerns about inconsistent and overly aggressive law enforcement tactics targeting residential construction workers.” On September 16, the association filed an Amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit immigration case Sosnova Rodriquez v. Ortega, arguing that “everyone in the United States deserves fair and consistent due process.” NAHB’s brief outlines the impact of the government’s new mandatory detention policy, arguing that it has removed workers from the labor force, forced project cancellations, reduced revenue and eliminated jobs for U.S.-born workers, all of which sharply decreased the number of homes available for sale.
Association leadership is supporting legislative acts that are in front of Congress supporting immigrant labor and, separately, preparing young adults for construction-related careers. In the meantime, the association’s legal team created a business owner’s guide for best practices during an ICE raid at a worksite.