Construction starts have increased in Q3: see the chart below with stats on the The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

Housing Starts
Privately‐owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,643,000.  This is 6.3 percent (±11.5 percent)* above the revised May estimate of 1,546,000 and is 29.1 percent (±11.2 percent) above the June 2020 rate of 1,273,000.  Single‐family housing starts in June were at a rate of 1,160,000; this is 6.3 percent (±11.7 percent)* above the revised May figure of 1,091,000. The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 474,000. For a link to the full report, CLICK HERE

However, workforce shortages are continuing to wreak havoc on many local businesses and companies in the region. At the August 2nd CATT Board of Directors meeting, there was discussion around the state of and accuracy around material shortages. Grady Jones, Bobby Jones Concrete shared his concerns over having enough concrete to complete foundation pours by end of season and the domino effect this would have on construction productivity over the winter months. According to Grady, this interruption is due more to movement in maintaining a continuous flow of materials due to labor shortages in producing, moving and delivering. California’s construction employment levels have, overall, declined slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This combined with a high demand is creating a longer wait time along with other materials including roofing, electrical, pipes, etc. Our members are dealing with many other challenges including the complete shutdown of the Town of Truckee Building Department 2 weeks ago due to a cyber hack creating more permit processing delays. In addition, here in Truckee we are preparing for summer power outages during times of extreme wildfire danger. PSOM stands for Public Safety Outage Management, a program by NV Energy to protect high-risk communities during extreme weather events.

Although CATT is unable to control some of these factors, advocacy is a critical CATT benefit our member companies benefit from in dealing with issues where the construction/housing industry needs a strong voice and representation. We now have 2 Government Affairs Managers working in Truckee North Tahoe and South Lake Tahoe. In September, our Local Government Affairs Committees are heading into a September strategic planning session to create strategies to improve overall advocacy effectiveness. Areas to be discussed include improved consistency and unification, growing the CATT Issues Action Fund, discussing policy objectives and increasing communications. Please contact me directly if you want to be involved in this important planning session.

Times are changing. In July, our longtime Membership Manager Peg Friesen retired after 8 years of tremendous dedication to our membership and events program growth. South Lake Tahoe staff Natalie Yanish is replacing Peg as Membership Manager in addition to communications and government affairs. Welcome to new staff Tamara Broadway as Events & Office Manager. Tamara is excited to join the CATT team and work for a local nonprofit with a community driven mission statement. We look forward to seeing you at our 8/13 Sporting Clays Tournament at the Capital City Gun Club.

Stay safe.

Kellie Cutler, Executive Director
kellie@ca-tt.com

My best,

Kellie Cutler

Executive Director
Contractors Association of Truckee Tahoe
12313 Soaring Way Suite 1A
Truckee, Ca 96161
P: 530.550.9999 F: 530.550.9998

E: kellie@ca-tt.com W: www.ca-tt.com