Expert in homebuilding has several tips on how to make housing affordable

Veteran homebuilder Tracy Doriot shares his perspective on why regulations, taxes, labor shortages, and permitting delays are driving housing costs higher in Clark County and across Washington. — Tracy Doriot of Doriot Construction has 50 years of experience in homebuilding. He also has some ideas on how to make housing affordable. Photo by Paul Valencia

Tracy Doriot of Doriot Construction says it is time for the government to get out of the way and let builders build in an effort to make housing affordable in Clark County

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

Now in his 50th year of building homes, Tracy Doriot knows a thing or two about the economy.

He can meticulously explain how a geopolitical event in Europe can change the price of a product in Clark County.

He has seen how labor shortages drive up costs.

There are so many factors, he said, in what has become what many experts describe as a housing crisis. Affordable housing is out of reach for so many people.

There are no easy, quick-fixes, he added.

Still, Doriot does see one way to get things headed in the right direction.

“The solution revolves around the phrase: Let builders build,” Doriot said. “The government needs to get the hell out of the way. They need to start with a culture of ‘Yes’ as opposed to a culture of ‘No.’”

Tracy Doriot of Doriot Construction says he got his registration in the “formerly great state of Washington” in the 1970s. His passion is homebuilding.

Lately, though, it has been a struggle. And his home state is not so great for his industry.
“So many things have taken the fun out of homebuilding. It’s not so much an art or science anymore as it is a battle, particularly in the state of Washington … and Clark County,” he said. “No one makes it easy.”

A couple months ago, Doriot impressed a crowd of conservative leaders at the kickoff event for Future 42 Clark County. He was the keynote speaker on the subject of affordable housing. These are some of the highlights of his address.

Speech highlights

From Tracy Doriot’s December address on affordable housing

Tonight, the message is simple: if Washington wants homes that people can actually afford, Washington must stop acting as if new neighbors are the problem. Housing is not a luxury item — it is essential infrastructure for a healthy, thriving community.

…

This isn’t the invisible hand of the market; it’s the visible consequence of decades of public policy choices — policies that limit how and where we can build while layering on costs and endless delays that make affordability nearly impossible.

Doriot wears a lot of hats in the region and the state. He is the past president of the Building Industry Association of Clark County, as well as BIA Washington. He serves with the BIA’s political action group, plus he is the chair of BIA’s Washington Affordable Housing Council. He also is the state’s representative for the National Association of Homebuilders.

He is a subject-matter expert.

This week, Doriot sat down with Clark County Today to discuss his speech from December, and to provide more insight.

He once described himself as a genie. Why? Because what he does — and all quality homebuilders do — is grant wishes.

What’s your dream? How do we make this a reality?

Those are questions for potential clients, he said.

“It’s getting tougher and tougher,” he added.

This is not just a problem for the higher-end clients. The conditions affect first-time buyers and those who are hoping to one day, years from now, be able to afford a home.
Regulations. Codes. Permitting. Delays. It all adds up to price out a potential buyer and/or take away the incentive for a homebuilder to take on a project.
“I would build anything for anyone anywhere that’s economically viable,” Doriot said. “If the numbers are not doable, we won’t do it. … I hear that from all of my contemporaries all around the state.”

Speech highlights

From Tracy Doriot’s December address on affordable housing

Today, the statewide median home price is $595,271. Let that number sink in for a moment. More than a half million dollars for the median priced home in Washington! The median household income is $94,605, yet a family now needs to earn $175,835 just to qualify for a median-priced home.

…

Peak inventory this year was lower than pre-pandemic levels, meaning there’s been no price relief through new listings.

It’s not hard to see why: 60% of existing homeowners have mortgage rates below 4%. They’re not selling. They can’t afford to trade a 3% loan for one twice as expensive, even if they’d like to move. Turnover per 1,000 homes today is lower than during the Great Recession years of 2008–2011.

And the next generation of housing isn’t coming to the rescue. Building permits are flat to declining for four straight years, and total housing production — including multifamily projects — has fallen since 2021. In other words, the pipeline is shrinking just as demand keeps growing.

The Growth Management Act, Doriot said, might have some good intentions, but there are some costly consequences, as well. It is limiting the amount of land for homebuilders.

Many cities are hoping to build vertically. Doriot said some planners would prefer to take away existing homes and build a three-, four-, or five-story unit.

That might be good for some, but he believes that would mostly benefit a national build-to-rent operation.

Home ownership is key to generational wealth, Doriot said. While renting has its pros, it should not be encouraged for the long term, he said.

Then there is regulation. Some might say overregulation. Doriot said he has to add up to $30,000 to a home just for energy code mandates. The state is also pushing builders to go solar, which is not cheap.

Then there is the stereotypical lack of efficiency from government agencies.

“Permit timelines are problematic. Most large jurisdictions have extremely slow permit cycle times,” Doriot said. “The city of Vancouver is terrible. Clark County is better than it was.”

Delays cost more money.

Speech highlights

From Tracy Doriot’s December address on affordable housing

The Growth Management Act was created to preserve farmland and forests — and those values matter. But the law’s rigid boundaries have led to skyrocketing land prices and a chronic shortage of buildable space. Zoning rules alone add an average of $72,000 to the cost of every new home site.

Even when land is available, regulation loads cost onto every home. Across Washington, 29.5% of a new home’s price — about $203,976 — comes directly from government regulation. That’s roughly 6% higher than the national average.

These costs turn affordable projects into infeasible ones. Small builders — the ones most likely to produce the missing-middle homes—simply can’t shoulder the uncertainty.

Doriot also pointed out that his generation of builders is aging out, and that includes skilled laborers. There is a shortage of skilled labor all across the country, and that drives up the costs.
There has been a push in Southwest Washington in recent years to encourage young people to open their minds to the possibility of skilled labor — an industry that is financially rewarding.

The Washington legislature last year passed more taxes, and there is talk of an income tax on the wealthy that could be coming to Washington, as well.

“We’re just being taxed to death,” Doriot said.

As a business owner, though, he has a not-so-secret secret regarding taxes.

“I have never paid a tax or fee in my life. My clients pay it. Everything trickles downhill,” Doriot said.

That is true for all businesses, he said.

“You have to pass the cost of any product or service. There is a pain threshold in all things,” Doriot said. “When the pain gets too severe, people just stop.”

The taxes, codes, regulations, the permit process, and the labor shortage make up a perfect storm for this housing crisis.

“Everything that can really go wrong with housing is going on right now,” he said.

Speech highlights

From Tracy Doriot’s December address on affordable housing

We can reform the Growth Management Act so that protecting open space does not mean forbidding growth.

If we want affordability, we must make it legal — and practical — to build affordable homes again.

…

Homes are more than buildings. They are the foundation of stable families, safe neighborhoods, generational wealth, and lasting opportunity.

Let’s start rewriting the rules by finding and electing pro-housing, pro-business candidates — so every Washingtonian has a fair chance to live, work, and own a home right here. It’s up to us. Let’s make Washington a place where the American Dream of homeownership is alive and well.

This is why Doriot is talking to lawmakers and policy wonks, hoping to persuade them that what Washington is doing right now is not working, and listening to homebuilders would help housing to become more affordable.

“It just makes good sense,” he said. “I am not an economics major, but I understand a few things about it.”

That would be 50 years of experience for Tracy Doriot.