Shortage of workers weighs on rebuilding
It could take years before many repairs in Texas, Florida are done
Contractors told Mindy Gronauer that repairs on her four- bedroom Houston house — whose main floor was destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Harvey — should be completed in about four months.
“That’s not going to happen,” the 64- year- old retiree says. She figures it will take more like a year, noting that all 159 homes in her neighborhood sustained similar damage, and worker crews are scarce.
A construction worker shortage in Texas and Florida is slowing rebuilding efforts, which got underway a few weeks ago after many houses dried out and many claims for insurance and government assistance were filed. Builders and their trade groups say it likely will be several years before all the repairs are done.
“There was a significant labor shortage in the construction sector before the hurricanes,” says Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders ( NAHB). The storms, he adds, compounded the crunch.
The Labor Department recently said the construction industry added just 11,000 jobs in October, below its average monthly pace of 14,700 so far this year. The limited hiring partly reflects worker shortages, NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz says.
Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in late August and Irma lashed Florida in early September.
About 135,000 homes out of about 2.4 million in the Houston area were damaged or destroyed, according to the Greater Houston Builders Association and the Texas Association of Builders.
In regions that were affected across the state of Texas, asmany as1 million houses out of 2.8 million suffered at least some damage.