The Colorado Home Building Academy isn’t just teaching about housing starts: It’s giving its students a chance for a new start in life. Whatever their reason for seeking change, those at the academy are learning the skills needed to build a new career. And after years of underbuilding, the industry desperately needs them, according to experts from NAHB. The students at the academy today are expected to be integral parts of the housing recovery, which will ultimately help restart the overall national economy.
Billy Liptrot is making the transition from prison to life on the outside just as one of the nation’s hottest economic streaks has imploded in the face of a global pandemic. But the 38-year-old husband and father is optimistic as he undertakes training for what he hopes will lead to a career as a carpenter in the home-building industry.
Although the unemployment rate keeps shooting up across the state and country, home builders say the longtime shortage of skilled workers coupled with years of “under building” means that people such as Liptrot have reason to be hopeful.
“The industry as a whole is prepared to undertake much more aggressive recruitment efforts,” Robert Dietz, the chief economist with the National Association of Home Builders, said in a recent webinar.
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