Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive officer, California Building Industry Association

A recent opinion authored by Scott Littlehale, “The missing ingredient to solve California’s housing affordability crisis,” erroneously embraces the position that California’s housing crisis is primarily due to a shortage of construction labor.

Simply put, a shortage of labor isn’t the problem if new developments are not being approved to be built. Let’s not put the cart before the horse.

Rather, the roadblocks to making homes more affordable and more accessible are complex and demand bold, aspirational thinking.

Policymakers and elected officials must address the housing crisis through a dual lens:

  • Embrace multi-faceted solutions that help remove barriers and speed the addition of supply
  • Reject proposals that only exacerbate the shortage.

There is not a single policy solution that will solve the crisis, as there is not one simple cause of the crisis.

Mr. Littlehale does accurately stress the importance of refilling “the industry’s workforce supply pool,” which is why the California Building Industry Association supports the California Homebuilding Foundation which offers thousands of dollars in scholarships and awards each year to deserving students majoring in building, trades and programs such as construction management, urban planning and architecture.