AHBA Weekly: June 26-30

AHBA Weekly

June 26, 2017

CALENDAR

Week of June 26-30

LUNCH & LEARN: Update on Anchorage Market
Speaker: Connie Yoshimura, Dwell Realty
Tuesday, June 27 at 12pm
AHBA office

BUILDING SAFETY
Thursday, June 29
AHBA office

GMM: Update on 2017 Legislative Session
Speaker: John Bitney, ASHBA Lobbyist
Thursday, June 29 at 12pm
BP Energy Center

LEARN MORE

In This Issue

Calendar: June 26-30

ASHBA Members on Capitol Hill

Hear from John Bitney, ASHBA Lobbyist

Reserve your AHBA golf team

Codes Panel

Win a Spinell house!

Did You Know?

NAHB Member Discounts

Industry Links

NAHB Members Fan Out on Capitol Hill

ASHBA members met with Senator Murkowski

More than 800 builders, remodelers and their trade partners from across the nation are heading to Capitol Hill this morning for the annual NAHB Legislative Conference.

In a day full of meetings with elected officials and their staff, our members will call on Congress to make housing and homeownership a national priority and to support policies that will keep the housing recovery moving forward.

"Today, builders from coast-to-coast are sending a loud and cle ar message to members of Congress that a strong housing market is critical to spur job growth and create a vibrant, dynamic economy," said NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald.

In more than 250 individual meetings with their representatives and senators, our members are asking for progress on several key housing issues, including:

Regulatory reform. "We need a common-sense approach to regulations that kill small businesses. We need to be at the table. We need to keep pressing," said Tom Ashley, co-owner of the remodeling company Expand Inc. in Baton Rouge, La.

"We're very excited to go up on the Hill today and speak with Sen. (Marco) Rubio. Addressing the labor shortage is definitely our No. 1 priority. But we also need to get a handle on regulations. Many of my clients are getting killed by excessive regulations and it's getting harder and harder for them to turn a profit. Our hope is that [Congress will] apply more common sense to the regulations that impact home building," said Kimberly Mackey, president and founder of New Home Solutions in Tampa, Fla.

A predictable, affordable national flood insurance program. "Losing the national flood insurance program would make it hard to even build - let alone sell," said Darrick Guthmiller, chief business officer of Kochmann Brothers Homes Inc. in Fargo, North Dakota.

Housing finance reform. "We need to talk about the future of housing finance. That is the key, critical issue here in Tulsa," said HBA of Greater Tulsa director of association issues Stacey Bayles.

Members also planned to discuss tax reform, including protecting incentives for homeownership; promoting cost-effective energy codes; securing a supply of softwood lumber sufficient to meet demand; and improving the Low Income Housing Tax credit to help meet the nation's acute need for affordable rental homes.

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, spoke to builders before they met with their lawmakers and said that this year there is "a real opportunity to do something about tax reform."

House Republicans are working on a tax reform blueprint that would generate economic growth, simplify the tax code, stop erosion of the U.S. tax base so that it is no longer more attractive for U.S. corporations to go overseas, and provide permanency to the tax code to deliver certainty to the business community, Roskam said.

It's the first year since 2013 that NAHB has held its annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. During the past three years, as part of a nationwide effort to "bring housing home," builders across the country met with their federal lawmakers in their home districts.

The conference is held in conjunction with the NAHB Midyear Meeting. "The big benefit of the board meeting for me is coming and meeting with other builders," said Brian Esposito, owner of Esposito Construction Inc ., in Hilton Head Island, S.C. "The learning and education I get from them is a big reason why I come."

June GMM

Thursday, June 29

BP Energy Center
12pm

Topic: John Bitney, ASHBA Lobbyist, will give an update on the 2017 Legislative Session.

$25 in advance / $30 at the door

RSVP required to 522-3605

Reserve your golf team today!
Call the AHBA office at 522-3605 or click here.

RSVP today!
Call the AHBA office at 522-3605

Grand Prize: New Spinell Homes townhouse, valued at $299,000
3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2-car garage located in Lauren Glenn

Tickets $100 each, 5,000 available
Winner will be determined by random drawing at the 2017 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, September 30th, Delaney Park Strip, 9th Ave and N St
Winner: Need not be present to win
Additional $3.50 service fee for credit card purchases
Must be 18 or older to purchase
Checks payable to: Anchorage Home Builders Association
Any and all applicable fees and taxes associated with winning this prize are solely the winner's responsibility
98% of raffle proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society of Alaska for patient services, providing lodging and transportation support to Alaskans facing cancer (see flyer below). 2% of proceeds will be retained by Anchorage Home Builders Association.

Call 522-3605 to purchase your raffle ticket!

Did You Know?

Softwood lumber prices have increased 14% since January of this year and 24% since January 2016. Over the same time periods, OSB prices have risen by 14% and 34%, respectively. Read about building materials, the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber trade dispute, and more on NAHB's Eye on Housing blog.