ICE raids strain homebuilder labor, cycle times, and bank lines

[Editor’s note: This is Part 3 of a three-part series exploring disruptions, potential solutions and homebuilding’s business impacts of recent immigration enforcement initiatives. Part 1 is here, and part 2 is here.]U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests surged to record levels in June and July, with substantial enforcement activity continuing into August. The sudden escalation shocked homebuilding executives instantly and simultaneously on two fronts: one, it halted work-in-progress on job sites at a moment when cycle times are a business-critical urgency; two, the raids moved an indefinite-future horizon of uncertainty and unpredictability into homebuilders’ operational and strategic guts – their workflows.Both undocumented workers and those legally authorized to work in the U.S. were swept up in ICE raids. As a result, many legally authorized workers in the United States stayed away from job sites for fear of being stopped or detained, further shrinking an already strained construction labor pool. “It has become a hell of an issue,” said one major private builder CEO we spoke with and granted anonymity because of business blowback that could come from attributed ...