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Date ArticleType
5/5/2021 Member News

HBA is Bringing Housing Home: Lumber Prices Top the Agenda for NAHB’s Annual Advocacy Event


As part of the Bringing Housing Home initiative, NAHB lead delegate and member Justin Wood, Fish Construction, and a group of members from our HBA and others across the state, met earlier this week with members from the Oregon congressional delegation to petition for lumber price relief and other 2021 NAHB legislative priorities.

Your local and state HBA delegates informed the legislators of the real impacts of increased timber prices on home affordability and possible long-term consequences of not finding a solution quickly, including continuing escalation of homes prices, and upward price pressure affecting those at the lowest tiers of the real estate ladder exacerbating our current housing crisis.

Two important points were discussed. First, the product price increase is not due to a shortage of logs, nor increases at the wholesale and retail supplier level, but almost exclusively at the mill. This may be due to the fact that many mills shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, only bringing one shift back online fearing the market would soften, which is the opposite of what happened. Second, with 30% of lumber previously coming from Canada, the tariffs currently in place are detrimental to the housing industry. The group suggested that congress encourage the Biden administration to negotiate a fair softwood agreement with Canada as soon as possible and convene an industry summit to highlight the lumber pricing issue and seek solutions.

HBA representatives also highlighted issues related to identifying a lasting flood insurance solution, the need for legislation and policy that supports workforce development in the construction industry, and abandoning the plan to include the department of energy in final code update decisions. For more information on HBA’s work with NAHB and at the national level, contact Ryan Makinster at ryanm@hbapdx.org.