With more than 650 members, the Greater Lansing Home Builders Association (GLHBA) is probably best known for its annual Parade of Homes. But GLHBA also provides educational and networking opportunities for its builder and supplier members, and keeps tabs on local regulatory issues, which, according to CEO Douglas Carr, is one of the most important aspects affecting home ownership opportunities today.

What trends do you see in the home building industry?

There are some things I see coming that, as a community, we are going to have to begin talking about together….There are people who would like to create what are called urban growth boundaries, and all [new] buildings have to stay within that area. If you want to do that, you’re going to change the whole dynamics of the community. You’re going to have to figure out how to deal with more traffic and increased density in that area….We can’t just stop building, because people will continue to have children, people will continue to want to build their own homes, and then you have affordability issues that come into place.

What role is government playing in this?

In the last year or so, [the U.S. Department of] Housing and Urban Development said publicly that the average person doesn’t know what the government is costing them.…All they know is that lots are very expensive.…The houses keep getting bigger, and we can’t afford them. But the governments don’t want more density, so they’re going to zone for one-acre lots, so builders are forced to build bigger and bigger houses for larger and larger lots.

The government puts more and more requirements on the developers, and the price of the lot goes up. It used to take about six months to get a site plan approved. Now it takes two and a half to three years. If local governments continue to require additional green space in the community, and the developer has to take three lots out, the [cost] of the three lots is now going to get spread across all the lots….So what was a $40,000 lot at the beginning of the process ends up being $100,000 three years later. Developers get blamed for just being greedy, when your local government is strapping all these additional requirements onto the developer, so now the price goes up….We need to determine how much we are willing to pay…how much density can we handle, because people won’t be able to afford homes any longer. People need to recognize builders will build wherever government allows them to and where people want to live.

How is the economy affecting new housing locally?

In general, I would say, where the whole U.S. is up about four percent on new homes, the Midwest is down around five percent. The state of Michigan is down about 11 percent, and Lansing is down about five percent, so we’re better off than the state of Michigan, and we’re comparable to the whole Midwest.

[The National Association of Home Builders] ranks the Lansing area as the number five most affordable place to live, and 76 percent of our builders plan to build as many or more homes as last year, so 76 percent are optimistic about the future.

What is the local economic impact of construction?

The total construction market here in Lansing is about $414 million. Residential makes up about $277 million of that number.

How much of that is remodeling?

Remodeling is like eight to $10 million [of the $277 million].

What is the Remodelors Council?

We have approximately 120 members in the Remodelors Council….[which] is an opportunity for all remodelors to get together and have their own meetings…at a different supplier’s location each month to learn about remodeling techniques and about new products….[There is also] a Remodelors Council at the national level that has meetings they can attend.

How does the Parade of Homes impact the community?

Our builder members can participate with us in the Parade of Homes that we sponsor each year. This year we [had] 80 homes in the parade and nearly 60 builders participating….We have been doing the Parade of Homes for about 47 years. It’s a very long-standing tradition in the community, and it’s taken on different appearances as trends have come and gone. But as far as the impact it has, it’s pretty widely promoted each spring, going into summer. We probably see in the area of 8,000 to 10,000 people that come through the 80-some homes that we have on display. It’s $10 for a ticket, and all the money that we bring in from the ticket sales goes to support local charities. We have 35 to 37 charities that work with us to sit out at the homes and administer the ticket sales process, and then we give that money back to them, in exchange for helping us. We round up the builders, print a guidebook, and promote and advertise the parade to draw attention to it, so the builders have the opportunity to put their homes on display for the public and generate prospects or leads out of that to sell homes to.

Does GLHBA have any other public activities?

We also put on a spring home show each year. The last few years, it’s been out at The Summit [in Dimondale], and there are opportunities for the public to come in and meet a builder member and our associate members.

How do you foresee resolving the issue of whether or not to grow the community?

It needs to be managed and planned, and we need to figure it out together….The tough part is when we all come to the table, we all feel passionately about our own issues, but by the same token, we need to be able to have the conversation and work things out cooperatively. Otherwise, you won’t be able to offer options in housing, so builders can serve different market segments. The lower end is going away, and we don’t have enough entry-level housing in the $150,000 to $200,000 range.