OPINION: To help builders produce entry-level housing in local communities, state and local officials must overturn inefficient zoning rules, lower impact fees and other upfront taxes associated with housing construction.
As a Savannah-based home builder with more than 40 years of experience, I have seen that every year, entry-level housing is increasingly difficult to build.
While this has hit first-time home buyers particularly hard, it doesn’t tell the full story. The 25-year historic, pre-pandemic average price of lumber was $343 per thousand board feet. Lumber prices were $1,500 per thousand board feet last May and have been trading above the once unthinkable $1,000 mark for much of the past year.
On the tax side of the ledger, the 2017 tax law changed the mortgage interest deduction so that it now is a tax benefit primarily for wealthy homeowners. A better policy would be to scrap the MID in favor of a $15,000, refundable, first-time home buyer tax credit to make homeownership more accessible for working-class families.
Few would argue that safety standards for construction workers are unnecessary, but these high regulatory costs raise questions about how thoroughly government is considering the consequences. One academic study, for example, found it took an average of 788 days to prepare a submission and receive approval for an individual federal wetlands permit.
To help builders produce entry-level housing in local communities, state and local officials must overturn inefficient zoning rules, lower impact fees and other upfront taxes associated with housing construction, expedite approvals for affordable projects, ease density and growth restrictions, and allow a range of housing types, including multifamily.
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