Dallas May 2022 Key Take Aways
Kimber Davison with Griffith Davison shared that her law firm, Griffith Davison, will be opening a Fort Worth office, hopefully late Summer/early Fall and Grant Jordan, joined the law firm last June, will be working in the Fort Worth office once it’s open. Grant’s responsibilities at Griffith Davison centers on the drafting and negotiation of construction contracts, claim analysis and preparation, and lien and bond claims, all with an emphasis on risk avoidance strategy. He has focused on related construction work since 2004.
Laila Assanie with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas shared the following information:
- The April 2022 employment data shows that Texas “is strong, especially in the Dallas/Fort Worth “DFW” area, which is up nearly 13% and state-wide it’s up 5.7%”.
- So far in 2022 “the January employment data is exceptionally strong”. Also, so far in 2022 the DFW area has “a slight edge over Austin which has by far been the fastest growing metroplex in 2021 and has been in the lead for a very long time”.
- With regards to the housing market, Laila feels that with the interest rates rising the impact on the housing market is slowly on the decline. Inflation is also having an impact on consumers regarding the market slowing down.
Guest Speaker, Ryan Combs with JPi Shared the following:
- There is a misconception of how “affordable housing” is defined. These days “it is not the same as the term government housing and people need to be re-educated regarding this label”.
- The need for affordable housing is getting larger and will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.
- President Reagan did away with “government housing” during his Presidency and he created “incentive programs” for developers that continue to this day.
- The growing housing burden is resulting in a workforce issue for many large and small businesses. The need for employees is increasing but the opportunity for certain employees to be able to afford housing in certain cities is ot obtainable on their budgets.
- Some of the largest property taxpayers are not finding their workforce in close proximity to jobs which continues to be an issue for many local areas.
- Current solutions or “tools” for affordable housing are:
- HUD Funding
- Housing tax credits
- Sales tax exemptions on construction materials
- Increased density for affordable components in multifamily
- Public private partnerships
- Future Tools for affordable housing are:
- Substantial increase in housing tax credits
- Possible creation of middle-income housing tax credit
- Fannie Mae considering purchasing loans for construction of multifamily. Currently, Fannie Mae generally buys mortgages for homes already built and certified for occupancy.
- Leveraging the American Rescue Plan for investments in affordable housing through local and state governments.
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