Congress has taken an important step toward addressing one of America’s greatest challenges, the housing shortage, with the passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
The legislation recognizes what families, builders, and communities across the country have known for years: America simply is not building enough homes.
That recognition is welcome.
But as we celebrate this important milestone, we must also ask a fundamental question:
Who is going to build these homes?
At the National Hispanic Construction Alliance (NHCA), we believe the answer begins with recognizing and investing in the people who already form the backbone of America’s construction workforce.
Today, Hispanic workers account for nearly one-third of the nation’s construction labor force. They frame homes, pour foundations, install electrical and plumbing systems, finish interiors, and operate thousands of construction businesses in communities across the United States. Every new subdivision, apartment community, and affordable housing project depends upon the skill, dedication, and craftsmanship of these workers and entrepreneurs.
The ROAD to Housing Act seeks to create the conditions necessary to increase housing production by encouraging development, reducing barriers, and expanding opportunities to bring more homes to market. If successful, the legislation could generate significant new opportunities for contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, manufacturers, and developers across the country.
For Hispanic-owned construction businesses, this represents more than increased demand. It represents an opportunity to grow companies, create jobs, build wealth, and help shape the future of America’s communities.
That is encouraging.
However, it is equally important to recognize that legislation alone will not solve America’s housing shortage overnight.
Even under the most optimistic scenarios, meaningful implementation of the ROAD to Housing Act will take years. Federal agencies must develop regulations and guidance. States and local governments must adopt or modify policies. Developers must identify land, secure financing, obtain approvals, and navigate permitting processes. Once those hurdles are cleared, homes still take months, or often years, to design and construct before families can move in.
In other words, this legislation creates the opportunity for more housing. It does not immediately produce more housing.
That reality makes today’s workforce decisions even more important.
At the same time our nation is encouraging increased housing production, many communities are experiencing heightened immigration enforcement activities that are creating uncertainty throughout the construction industry. Regardless of where one stands on immigration policy, it is difficult to ignore the practical implications for an industry that already faces a significant shortage of skilled workers.
This is not simply an immigration debate.
It is a workforce challenge.
For years, builders have warned that labor shortages remain one of the greatest obstacles to increasing housing production. Industry organizations across the housing and construction sectors have consistently identified workforce availability, not demand, as one of the primary constraints on building more homes.
America can, and should, uphold the rule of law while also ensuring that its workforce policies support its economic priorities. These objectives are not mutually exclusive.
If one set of public policies encourages the construction of millions of additional homes while another reduces the availability of the workforce needed to build them, the result will almost certainly be higher labor costs, longer construction timelines, and fewer homes reaching the market. That is not a political observation, it is an economic one.
The solution is not found in choosing between secure borders and economic growth. The solution lies in pursuing policies that recognize the importance of both.
A comprehensive workforce strategy should include expanded apprenticeship programs, investment in career and technical education, support for small and minority-owned contractors, sensible immigration reforms, and legal pathways that allow skilled workers to contribute to the industries that depend upon them.
The National Hispanic Construction Alliance was founded on the belief that strengthening America’s construction workforce strengthens America itself.
Through our chapter network, the NHCA Academy, Build the Builder, workforce development initiatives, and strategic partnerships with industry leaders, we are preparing contractors not only to meet today’s demand but to lead tomorrow’s housing economy.
The ROAD to Housing Act provides an important framework for increasing housing production. The challenge before us now is ensuring that we have the skilled workforce capable of turning that vision into reality.
America’s housing crisis will not be solved by legislation alone.
It will be solved by skilled workers, responsible contractors, innovative developers, and partnerships between government, industry, educational institutions, and community organizations.
As our nation charts its course forward, one truth should guide every conversation about housing:
You cannot build millions of new homes while simultaneously shrinking the workforce responsible for building them. Housing policy, workforce policy, and immigration policy must move in the same direction if we are to solve America’s housing crisis.
At NHCA, we remain committed to ensuring that Hispanic construction workers and contractors are not simply participants in America’s housing future, they are indispensable partners in building it.