THE HOME BUILDER
June 2023
Page Two
The HomeFront Government Affairs News and Info
David Lehde Director of Government Affairs
The Battle to Protect Reasonably Priced Housing The battle to protect reason-
move quickly and get the word out that it was accepting hard copies for the interim as their team worked to restore online services. Dallas’ DEV team is also engaged in the important process of selecting a new Deputy Building Official. Dal - las BA has participated on a panel of stakeholders that has been given the opportunity to weigh in on what quali- ties should be brought to the table. The City of Dallas has a very active group of trade organizations that represent the real estate and de- velopment and construction industries. This includes the Dallas Builders Association. The stakeholders also include the Dallas Independent School District as it looks to address facilities needed to educate a growing student population. It will be important that the deputy building official continue the predecessor’s efforts to engage and keep stakeholders apprised of policy changes, as well as evaluate our needed input. Dallas BA has continued to sup- port our industry’s agenda at the State Legislature. On May 16, yours truly was in Austin to testify on TAB and Dallas BA priority legislation before the Senate Committee on Local Gov- ernment. HB 3492, by Representative Lynn Stucky, provides property owners with significant relief from a hidden tax that arises in the form of overcharges on development inspection fees. Specifi - cally, these over charges occur when a municipality assesses the fees based on how expensive the infrastructure is that they are evaluating as opposed to how much it actually costs to provide the inspection and service that you are paying for. The parameters that limit the fees to the cost of service actually come
ably priced housing in the Dallas BA service area means outreach across the region, in Austin, and even Wash- ington, D.C. Spring brought with it the excite- ment of municipal elections in the Dallas BA service area. Through interviewing of can- didates, as well as engagement from the political action committee of the Association, HOMEPAC of Greater Dallas, our industry has the opportu- nity to gauge those running for city council seats and get an idea of their philosophy, and even history, relating to the regulation of the housing sector. The majority of service area builder supported city council can- didates, in the key races where HOMEPAC of Greater Dallas en- gaged, won on May 6, with one advancing to a runoff. Races that involved the action committee’s rec- ommended candidates include Dallas City Council races, where every dis- trict seat was up for vote, as well as Denton, Frisco, McKinney, and others. 84.6% of the supported candi- dates had a favorable outcome on election day. Now, for all stakeholders, the real work begins. Dallas BA will continue to focus on being a resource for all of the area’s decision makers as they evaluate ordinances and fees that impact residential development and construction. During May, some unwelcome challenges were faced by the City of Dallas after the city’s network faced a ransomware attack. The city quickly began the work to restore its online capabilities. Unfortunately, in the wake of the attack, Dallas’ Develop- ment Services Department’s (DEV) ability to receive permit applications was also impacted. DEV staff had to
Dallas BA's David Lehde and TAB's Scott Norman testify before the Senate Committee on Local Government.
from the state’s constitution. Anything that goes beyond what is related to the time and administrative procedures required by a municipality to inspect the infrastructure can constitute an illegal occupations tax. The Legislature, in 2019, passed similar legislation in House Bill 852, related to building inspection fees. It confirmed that the inspection fees for the construction of a residential building should not be based upon the project’s value or cost of construction. Unfortunately, this same practice has persisted on the development side. The overcharges are adding up. As construction costs have increased in the past two years the inspection fees, because of being inappropriately based on a percentage of valuation, increased as well. And the fees have varied, even though the time to inspect items should be the same. The inappropriate practice of bas- ing fees on the percentage of project valuation is further increasing home prices. The Association’s testimony in May is in addition to previous testimony and support letters on this and other legislation. The industry’s legislative agenda, guided by TAB’s government relations staff, has been a big one. The effort to provide reasonably priced housing continues to face chal- lenges at the federal level. The U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have proposed increasing the stringency of energy codes for newly constructed homes to qualify for HUD – insured and USDA – insured housing. NAHB is following this issue closely. This comes on the heels of an NAHB victory earlier this year when the federation advocated having the repeal of section 50131 (from last year’s IRA) included in H.R. 1. Section 50131 of the IRA makes use of grants to pressure state and local govern- ments to adopt costly and restrictive energy codes. The program not only has a negative impact on housing af- fordability, as well as the impact on an adopting city’s local economy, but it also undermines the local energy code adoption process by limiting amend- ments to the code that accommodate local conditions. New homes being built are al- ready more energy efficient. It does not make sense to make the process so restrictive that it prices American families out of the new home market and prevents them from taking advan- tage of those existing energy savings. It would be more productive to consider available incentives. Direct questions on advocacy items to the Director of Government Affairs .
The Home Builder is published monthly by the Dallas Builders Association at 5816 W. Plano Pkwy., Plano, Texas 75093. Telephone 972-931-4840. BARCIE VILCHES, Editor
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