Priority Issues Affecting Home Builders

We support the recommendations of the Indiana General Assembly’s Housing Task Force to improve housing affordability and boost Indiana’s housing supply.

● Indiana has enjoyed record-breaking years of job commitments and capital investment that benefit Hoosier businesses, employees, and families, yet housing is in short supply.

● The Housing Task Force’s comprehensive review of housing data, including inventory and government regulations that limit the supply of housing, yielded 16 recommendations.

● Recommendations with the greatest immediate impact to housing include:

◦State funding for housing infrastructure: Investing in housing infrastructure through grants and loans will pay off in private-sector investment and economic growth.

◦Residential TIF: Allow local units of government more flexibility to establish a residential housing development program and a tax increment allocation area for it to meet high demand for inventory.

◦Local zoning: Incentivize local units of government to consider voluntary revisions in local zoning to allow higher density development, construction of accessory dwelling units, manufactured or modular housing, adaptive reuse of commercial buildings for residential use, and waiver or elimination of design standards to bring lower cost housing to market.

◦Statewide building codes: Housing regulations should balance safety and cost and be the maximum standard that all agencies and local units of government can enforce.

We support workforce development initiatives that promote and advance careers in the construction industry.

● Construction workforce shortages result in more costly and time-consuming building and infrastructure projects and hinder Indiana’s economic growth.

● Allocating funding to programs that promote careers in construction and offering career and technical education are essential to address the skilled labor shortage.

● The Indiana Builders Association, in partnership with the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation, advocates for:

◦ Continuation of the Build Your Future Indiana program to increase awareness of the opportunities available in the skilled trades.

◦ Expansion of the program to include exhibition trailers equipped with virtual reality technology to give middle and high school students hands-on experience with skilled professions in the construction, manufacturing, transportation, and utility industries.