Why Are Dallas Builders Pushing Trump for Immigration Reform? Your Home Price Depends on It

For years, North Texas’ builders have lamented a dire construction labor shortage, blaming it for project delays and adding to already surging home prices.Industry leaders have tried lots of fixes. They’ve worked to convince more school kids that they can make a good living by learning a construction trade instead of heading to a four-year university. Wages have gone up too, by a lot.None of that seems likely to pay off any time soon, though, which leaves people like Phil Crone in the unenviable position of asking the Trump administration to tackle immigration reform.“I’m here trying to make our congressional delegation aware of it,” Crone, executive officer of the Dallas Builders Association, said during a recent visit to Washington, D.C. “I have no illusions that any of the solutions are going to come.”Still, industry leaders — who say they are at least 20,000 workers short — haven’t given up hope that smaller changes to guest worker programs are within reach.  Continue reading...