In this edition of News You Can Use you will find:

• Thank you, SAHBA Members for making SACCD a HUGE Success!
• SAHBA Member Urban Infill Project Wins City Competition
• SAHBA Advocates for Job Corps Training Program
• SAHBA Supports SACA Event with Rep. Diaz
• Tucson Launches Permit Dashboard
• A Message from RTA Executive Director Farhad Moghimi: RTA Next
• Member Event: Cornhole Tourament
• Member Event: Members Connect & Holiday Open House
• Federal Employee Benefits Education Workshop hosted by Greenberg Financial Group
• Upcoming Council & Committees
• Industry News

SAHBA would like to thank all our members who contributed their time and efforts to making the 2023 Southern Arizona Construction Career Days (SACCD) a resounding success with a staggering turnout of 4,200 students in attendance from 90 Tucson and surrounding area schools. The two-day event allowed students the opportunity to get hands-on experience with over 60 construction-related companies in design, building construction, civil and mining, and utilities. 

A special thank you goes out to Kimberly York with KB Home for her leadership in coordinating the Building Construction Quadrant. The Building area had over 25 participating companies with many fun interactive activities, including the building of a tiny home. The tiny home was designed by Urban Infill Project and built through a partnership with KB Home, AMH Homes, En Fuego Framing, Haskins Electric, RiteWay Heating/Cooling and Plumbing, Avanti Windows, Montero Drywall, Gale Insulation, and America Roofing. The tiny home was dissembled after the event and will be donated to a local construction school program. 

Thank you, again, to all the sponsoring companies, volunteers, and SACCD board members for their hard work and dedication to introducing students to careers in construction! 

Thank you, SAHBA Custom Builders Andrew Hayes with Hayes Construction, Tim Staring with TRS Custom Builders, Jim Kinzer with Miramonte, Mike Vasquez with Vasquez Custom Construction, Dave Glinski with Sunset Custom Homes, Luke Bednar with TJ Bednar & Company who represented the SAHBA Booth!

Students were able to compete in hammering races and practice their drill skills. The SAHBA Team was also promoting the inspiring story "The House that She Built" to all young women who attended.

Thank you, SAHBA members:

Action Imaging Group | Alta Arizona | AMH Homes | America Roofing | Avanti Window & Doors | BBSI | Beasley, Mitchell & Co., LLP | Borderland | Bowman Consulting Group | Daltile | Desert Valley Landscaping | DR Horton Homes | En Fuego Construction | EPS Group, Inc. | Escalante Concrete Construction, Inc. | Gale Insulation | Gannon Utility Consulting, Inc. | Hayes Construction, Inc. | Hunter Contracting | Haskins Electric | KB Home | KE&G Construction | Landmark Title Assurance Agency of Arizona, LLC | Lennar | Mattamy | MF Custom Works | Miramonte | Montero Drywall | Mourelatos Tile Pro | Presidio Engineering | Rick Engineering Company | Rite Way Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing | Rummel Construction, Inc. | SAHBA Custom Builder Council | Santa Rita Landscaping | Southwest Gas | Sunset Custom Homes | TDR Concepts | The Patch Boy of Greater Tucson | TJ Bednar & Company | Trench Shore Rentals | Trench-Ade | TRS Custom Builders | Tucson Asphalt | Tucson Electric Power | Ultimate Impression | United Rentals | Urban Infill Project | Vasquez Custom Construction | Westlake Royal Building Products | WestLand Resources

SAHBA Member Urban Infill Project Wins City Competition

In June, the City of Tucson was awarded a grant by AARP to launch a Casita Model Plan Design competition. The goal is to build a library of casita designs to be available to the public. The City’s new Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance makes it easy for residents to use this type of home on their existing lot. The community cast more than 1,400 votes for the 63 different model designs. Using the voting results, along with set scoring guidelines, a jury of local architects, designers, and builders met last week to choose the top 10 designs.

Congratulations to Urban Infill Project who was selected as one of the competition winners!

ADVOCACY

SAHBA Advocates for Job Corps Training Program

The Fred G. Acosta Job Corps - which is helping build the next generation of skilled tradespeople here in Tucson - would cease to exist if Congress doesn’t restore funding in action that’s urgently needed. This week SAHBA learned NAHB is working to get an amendment passed that would fully fund the Job Corps program the nation’s largest residential career training and education program. NAHB’s workforce training affiliate, the Home Builders Institute is the largest Job Corps national trades training contractor. Thanks to those members who took action to reach out to their Members of Congress. If you haven’t done so already, we urge you to tell Congress to restore funding and keep Job Corps open for business.

SAHBA Supports SACA Event with Rep. Diaz

This week, the Southeastern Arizona Contractors Association held their monthly Speakers Series Luncheon featuring Arizona State Representative Lupe Diaz. SAHBA was the lunch sponsor of the event. David Godlewski attended on behalf of SAHBA. The meeting was a great opportunity to connect with a partner organization in Cochise County and a pro-housing legislator. Topics of the discussion included: water, affordable housing, private property rights and the upcoming legislative session.

Tucson Launches Permit Dashboard

This week, Tucson’s Planning & Development Services Department's new “Permit Dashboard” went live. Users will be able to find information on review times, application volume, issued permits, and permits by type. You can also learn about the percentage of reviews completed on time, average review times, and filter permits by type of permits and "lane.” An overview of the dashboard will be presented at Tuesday’s SAHBA Technical Committee meeting.

A Message from RTA Executive Director Farhad Moghimi: RTA Next

The Regional Transportation Authority, a regional taxing district within Pima County, is developing a new regional transportation plan for public review and feedback in 2024. RTA Next would provide a new slate of transportation improvements to the region funded through an extension of the RTA’s half-cent sales tax. This half-cent sales tax will provide more than $100 million per year to deliver new plan improvements to surface transportation corridors, multimodal networks, regional transit services, safety measures, environmental connections, and more.

As the RTA Next plan development progresses, here are some of the upcoming milestones to watch for:

• Dec. 6 – Deadline for RTA Next draft plan
• Dec. 7 – RTA Board initial review of recommended draft plan
• January-June 2024 – RTA public outreach regionwide for review of and feedback on draft plan
• Summer/Fall 2024 – RTA Board reviews public feedback and finalizes plan
• Fall 2024/Winter 2025 – RTA Board requests plan and sales tax initiatives be placed on countywide ballot and RTA continues public education of plan contents
• May 2025 – RTA election (tentative)

Click here to read the full message from RTA Executive Director Farhad Moghimi where he dives into the benefits of the implemented system.

MEETINGS & EVENTS

Holiday Member's Connect and Open House

Attention members! Discover the incredible benefits of your SAHBA membership at our exclusive Holiday Member's Connect event. Take a sneak peek into our exciting 2024 events and connect with other members. But wait, there's more!

Afterward, join us for an unforgettable SAHBA Holiday Open House. Members are more than welcome to attend both events, but please register with both links.

Members Connect

Friday, December 15, 2023

SAHBA Boardroom

2840 N. Country Club Rd.

10:00 am - 10:45 am

Holiday Open House

Friday, December 15, 2023

SAHBA Parking Lot

10:30 am - 1:30 pm

Upcoming Councils & Committees - Mark Your Calendars!

Tech Committee - Tuesday, November 21st at 3:30 pm (SAHBA)

Membership Committee - Tuesday, November 28th at 3:30 pm (SAHBA)

Business Referral Exchange (BRE) - Tuesday, December 5th at 7:30 am (SAHBA)

Remodelers Council - Wednesday, December 6th at noon (SAHBA)

Sales & Marketing Council - Tuesday, November 14th at noon (Hybrid)

Federal Employee Benefits Education Workshop hosted by Greenberg Financial Group

Topics that will be covered include pension, TSP savings, life insurance, health insurance, and more!

Wednesday December 13th

8am - 4pm MST

Tucson Association of Realtors

To register, call 520-544-4909 or scan the QR Code on the Flyer.

• Overall housing starts increased 1.9% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.37 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. Continue reading here for a deeper analysis of the current data from NAHB Chairman Alicia Huey and Chief Economist Robert Dietz.

• Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes in November fell six points to 34 in November, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released on Nov. 16th. This is the fourth consecutive monthly drop in builder confidence, as sentiment levels have declined 22 points since July and are at their lowest level since December 2022. Also of note, nearly the entire HMI data for November was collected before the latest Consumer Price Index was released and showed that inflation is moderating. Click here to continue reading.