Builders: Immigration policies delay Harvey repairs

Group: Severe construction worker shortage has been made worse by limit on H-2B visas

AUSTIN — Rebuilding Houston and the rest of Texas after Hurricane Harvey will take longer and cost more because of a construction labor shortage that has worsened under the nation’s broken immigration policies, a Texas Senate committee was told Wednesday.

The Texas Association of Builders said the industry was already facing a severe worker shortage prior to Hurricane Harvey that was delaying completions of homes by an extra month or two.

But now the number of jobs needing to be filled could double because of the rebuilding needs after Hurricane Harvey, said Scott Norman, TAB executive director.

And while there are a number of steps that need to be taken to deal with the shortage, one piece is clearly immigration policy, he said.

“We need comprehensive immigration reform,” Norman told the Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce. “We need a guest worker program that works.”

Currently Congress has set a cap of just 66,000 for temporary worker visas — known has H-2B visas — for the types of temporary workers that the construction industry needs. But, only a fraction of those visas go to construction trades.

Norman said the number of work visas issues for the construction trades nationwide is not enough to handle the home building demand in Houston alone — an area that is producing 30,000 new homes a year.

State Sen. John Whitmire, DHouston, said it’s clear the nation has to have a “grown-up” discussion of immigration reform that just is not happening.

“We’re suffering because we don’t have a federal policy,” Whitmire said.

Builders were short more than 200,000 workers statewide before Harvey, Norman said. He said it’s only going to get worse now. Federal officials have estimated nearly 300,000 homes in Texas were damaged or destroyed by Harvey. He said even in places not hit by Harvey, workers could depart for all the jobs that have emerged from Rockport to Houston.

Norman said first and foremost they want to make sure Texans fill those jobs. But after that, the nation needs a better, more robust guest worker program that brings in more labor.

“The currently supply of workers is not meeting the need,” Norman said.

But labor groups have fought attempts to expand the number of H-2B visas. The North America’s Building Trades Unions has consistently fought increasing the number of those visas for the construction industry arguing some employers use the program to avoid hiring Americans at higher wages for the same type of work.