Lawmakers, builders urge more trade training and housing to ease workforce shortages

Members of the House Small Business Committee and local industry leaders told a Kansas City roundtable that a chronic shortage of skilled trades is slowing housing production and putting pressure on local employers.

Will Reuter of the Home Builders Association said the region is roughly 400,000 skilled trades workers short nationally for the built environment, and that long‑term solutions include expanding career and technical education and reframing postsecondary options as alternatives to four‑year degrees. “It is the long term emphasis our society has placed on a 4 year degree … that prevents … a young person that wants to work with his hands,” Reuter said.

Panelists described local responses: partnerships with 12 school districts and 30 career‑and‑technical education programs, the Northland Career Center training facility and increased GI Bill portability for veterans seeking apprenticeships. Committee members said they are considering proposals to require clearer cost comparisons between state universities and trade schools so students can make informed choices.

Speakers also linked workforce shortages to housing: homebuilders said capital constraints and a lack of buildable labor combine to reduce starts, so creating incentives to help small builders and preserve long‑term neighborhood ownership of business properties could strengthen local supply chains.

No formal legislative action was taken at the meeting; members asked attendees for concrete examples and training program metrics to inform possible policy work in Washington.