from the top We need the Whole Industry

BY DAVE NIELSEN HBA CEO

HBA has been working on getting back to the “new normal” for the last year or so. That means more in-person events to help facilitate business relationships, more learning and information programs, and more customized benefits and services for niche areas of our membership.

Most importantly, though, we are working to grow and strengthen our advocacy, regulatory, and policy work. HBA has done a lot already over the last few years to support our industry and needed housing. From all the pandemic-related work we did to current work on supporting UGB expansions, reducing inspection and permit backlogs/ timeframes, addressing utility equipment and service issues, fighting jurisdictions who create arbitrary challenges for development, and a host of other local issues on our plate. Plus all the work we support at the State and Federal level through our affiliated organizations.

The challenge is we only have about 25% of those actively building and remodeling, or companies that support building and remodeling, as members in our organization. We are grateful that all of the largest builders and developers in our market are members. They account for about 2/3 of housing production in our region. There are hundreds of builders, trade contractors, suppliers and others connected to the industry, however, who aren’t members.

Without the support of these companies, and without being able to rely on big consumer shows to cover gaps in funding, we can’t provide the staffing levels, candidate funding and professional consultant and legal support needed. We cover six counties, over forty jurisdictions, plus Metro. While the political tone has shifted positively over the last couple of years as it relates to the need for housing, we still live in an area where differing values compete with that need. And with elected or other leaders who make claims that undermine or incorrectly frame the real challenges.

The whole industry benefits from our work – the work you as members help support. The analogy is similar to infrastructure development – if just a few people are charged for it, the cost has to be really high per unit. But if the cost is spread over everyone who benefits from it, the cost to each person is much more reasonable.

This is critical. We should be at over 1,000 members, which would give us another $200,000 or more to invest in our government affairs, candidate support, advocacy and policy areas. We could add a second full-time Government Affairs staff person that we desperately need to stay on top of all the policy and advocacy work in jurisdictions around our region. We could fund needed studies and research to review the accuracy of the cost and housing supply assumptions developed by local jurisdictions.

Many who I talk to who aren’t members seem happy to let others pay the freight. Some complain that HBA isn’t successful all the time. I believe we’ve been very successful, and we can point to many areas each year where our work speeds up timeframes, keeps regulations in check, changes what otherwise would be one-sided outcomes, and can save members thousands to tens of thousands or more on housing costs. Certainly not all our results are ones we hope for or initially work towards, but we live in a very different business climate than Boise or Phoenix or Dallas.

Some mention not having time to get involved. While we love having active members, that is a bonus. The bare minimum for a company working in this industry should be to at least join and allow us to do what they or anyone else in the industry can’t do on their own.

Some mention the cost. The reality is, what we charge for the amount of work we do and the impact on each member – just in our advocacy and policy work alone – is a bargain. Most members pay less than $1,000 a year. This not only gives access to all of the benefits, services and programs we offer, but most importantly includes the political, advocacy and government affairs support provided locally and at the State and Federal levels. Larger members who have greater business volumes pay more, but the amount divided into gross sales or any other metric is still fractions of pennies on the dollar.

We have a membership drive running at the end of October. Please look at who you do business with and ask if they are a member.

If only 25% of our industry currently pays into the hard work that the entire industry benefits from, imagine what we could all accomplish together.

If you’ve read this far, please make a commitment to helping with this. I know life is busy, but this is too important to the growth of our industry for inaction. Please help us by making membership something that everyone does to support each other and the industry.