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The Home Builders Association of Metro Portland and representatives of the Oregon Building Officials Association from the Metro region held a third roundtable discussion on November 15th hosted by the city of Wilsonville. The meeting included land developers, builders, remodelers, other industry professionals, and local building officials. Building officials and building department staff from Clackamas County, Washington County, Tigard, Happy Valley, Hillsboro, Tualatin, and Wilsonville attended. The group held productive dialogues about improving the building process in the region. HBA members and Building officials both offered sentiments, suggestions and updates for the good of the order covering many technical issues. Throughout the meeting, conversations also emphasized the high costs of housing in the region as a priority. The discussion began with items identified for follow up from the previous roundtable agendas including: roll over inspections, site inspection preparedness and the 2017 Oregon Residential Structure Code roll out. The jurisdictions and HBA members shared their point of view on improvements in these areas as well as suggestions for continued improvements. New items for discussion included the Governor’s Energy Efficient Construction mandate, permitting processes and permitting fees and timelines, plan review and inspection fees, field issuance remodel programs, and the economic outlook for housing in our region. Participants shared concerns with the implementation of new building codes, and stressed the need for the HBA to remain engaged with local governments as they consider more code regulations to address the Energy Efficient mandate. Additionally, there were productive conversations regarding continued improvements to permitting and plan review processes, and how each side can help to contribute to an expedited process. The jurisdictions shared staffing and programmatic updates for their building division, highlighting improvements to their department’s workload and timeliness. Both groups agreed that in order to address the housing affordability crisis facing our region, all factors impacting housing must be addressed. Throughout the roundtable meeting, jurisdictions emphasized the need for Urban Growth Boundary expansions and HBA’s continued involvement in the Urban Growth Report process. The builders and developers present expressed the difficulties with providing an adequate housing inventory at an affordable price due to high costs of construction related fees such as system development charges and buildable land. The group all addressed the effect that newly implemented design standards have on housing. There was a consensus between both the builders and building officials on the challenges these standards add to residential construction, including adding to the cost and the time it takes to build housing. The roundtable symbolizes a strong partnership between those involved in all processes of home building. The HBA will continue to work with OBOA leaders to plan future in order to engage regional Building Officials, as well as roundtables including jurisdiction’s planning departments. Check the HBA’s event calendar and look out for email communications for information on the next roundtable event.