IRVINE, CA—Regulations, affordability, NIMBYism and lack of labor are among the bugaboos the building-industry sector continues to tackle, but the Building Industry Association of Southern California's Steven LaMotte tells GlobeSt.com he's hopeful about the impact of new federal policies. LaMotte, who was recently appointed executive officer for the BIA's Orange County Chapter, was previously director of government affairs for the organization and has more than eight years of experience in political and government affairs, serving as senior staff to several members of the California State Assembly prior to joining the BIA/OC. We spoke with him about his new role with the organization and the major issues facing the building industry in 2017.

GlobeSt.com: What are you looking forward to accomplishing in your new role with BIA/OC?

LaMotte: Phil Bodem of Taylor Morrison is coming in as president, and I see my role partially as furthering his platform. His program focuses on teaching high school students trades, and with the labor shortage we're facing now in terms of construction jobs, getting them involved at the high-school and college levels perhaps is important and will help further his policies. He is also focusing on veterans transitioning into the workforce. Those are the two main things for the president.

For me personally, I am a Millennial, and it's been an interesting year-and-a-half for me at BIA, focusing on policy now within Orange County. Last year, we got a couple of support resolutions passed for the housing future initiative, which is basic in terms of what it's asking. In 2014, we wrote it up with then- president Donna Kelly of Lennar. Orange County is showing a decrease in workforce age. Looking at home prices, there are no entry-level homes under $500,000 here, so we need more flexible development standards and more styles of housing. Orange County is limited because it's more expensive to build and land to build on is expensive and rare. But the larger sizes of homes selling for $950,000 are just not feasible for the Millennial generation. Even in older homes, the median price $650,000.

If we look at cities and really try to educate them on this issue and maybe different development standards, we may make some headway. L.A. did this with its small-lot ordinance, but Costa Mesa is the only city in Orange County that has a true small lot. Shrinking the lot size—some have a 5,000-square-foot minimum—for a single-family home where you own the land, trying to get those to come down a bit and maybe increase the height requirement so the density doesn't go up too much can appease both sides. This way, you're not really firing up the crowds, and it really helps the affordability issue in terms of supply and demand. We're trying to get a tangible policy done.

GlobeSt.com: What do you see as the major issues facing the building industry in 2017?

LaMotte: Being government affairs director, I spent one or two nights a week at city-council meetings. It's a very on-the-ground position, and it's either the unfriendly councils or NIIMBY uprisings of large crowds showing up to block new homes. As soon as the economy does well—and we're not building at the rates we did in the '80s—you get an uprising against new homes. The county is adding 400,000 people within the next 10 years, and we're building homes, but the population increases are coming from within. Stopping the development of new houses increases prices and decreases affordability. The no-growth initiatives pushed by the crowds, such as Costa Mesa's Measure Y ballot-box measure, which recently passed—those types of measures will only decrease affordability and increase costs.

GlobeSt.com: How will these issues play out in the Orange County market?

LaMotte: I think it comes down to educating the public and the city council. There are probably four or five different referendums here in Orange County, and we hope we don't see more of those going forward, but that's where we're seeing that going.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about the building industry as we head into the new year?

LaMotte: Like everyone else, we're waiting to see what's going to happen on the national and state level with the most recent election. We're optimistic, and we hope we see a lot of good policies coming out at the federal level. We hope for regulation reform out of Sacramento. On the positive side, Prop 51 passed, which is positive to our industry and helps older facilities whose owners don't have money for repairs and upgrades. We're looking forward to positive outcome from the election.

GlobeSt.com: What are you looking forward to accomplishing in your new role with BIA/OC?

GlobeSt.com: What do you see as the major issues facing the building industry in 2017?

GlobeSt.com: How will these issues play out in the Orange County market?

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about the building industry as we head into the new year?

Instant Insights /

Issues Affecting the Building Industry in 2017

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