Labor Secretary Acosta Discusses Workforce Challenges, Opportunities with Dallas BA
U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta met with Dallas Builders Association members on a recent tour to meet with the area’s job creators. Dallas BA President Alan Hoffmann and Fred Balda, President of Hillwood Communities joined representatives from Plantation Homes and Highland Homes to discuss the area’s workforce challenges and opportunities during a tour of Union Park in Little Elm.
Union Park is the location of the Association’s sixth project with Operation FINALLY HOME, the Dallas BA’s preferred charity that builds mortgage free homes for combat wounded veterans and their families. U.S. Army SPC Daniel Dumas, his wife Melissa and their young son also met with the Secretary at the site of their future home.
‘We’ve been honored with visits by two senior Administration members in a matter of a few months,’ said Alan Hoffmann (EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt met with the Dallas BA in August). ‘This was a great opportunity to visit with Secretary Acosta to express our optimism on the economic impact of the tax cuts and also to convey our concerns regarding the ongoing labor shortage and its impact on housing affordability.’
The Dallas area is currently about 20,000 construction workers short of the 100,000 needed to keep up with current demand. The Dallas BA estimates that, on average, the labor shortage is adding about $5,000 and 2 months to the construction of every new home in the area, which is contributing to loss of housing affordability. President Hoffmann provided Secretary Acosta with an overview of builders association efforts in the Dallas area and statewide to reach the next generation of the construction industry in vocational trade programs.
Left to right in photo: Chris Terhune, Plantation Homes; Fred Balda, Hillwood Communities; Secretary Alexander Acosta, U.S. Department of Labor; Melissa and Daniel Dumas and son; Congressman Michael Burgess; and Alan Hoffmann, Hoffmann Homes; stand at the location of the Dumas family’s future mortgage free home from Operation FINALLY HOME.