Local One

Me and KSHE….. are the same age.  KSHE is our beloved, much-celebrated, local, classic-rock radio station in the Lou.  As in Saint LOU-isssss.  The Lou.  KSHE 95, “Real Rock Radio,” stated in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, is the longest-running rock station in the world. The virtual soundtrack to our lives for over 50 years,  the radio station is as much a part of the STL as the red brick that the streets,  homes and commercial buildings are built from.  Mississippi red clay.  From the Mississippi River. St. Louis, Missouri is a red brick river city. Miles and miles of river. Miles and miles of brick.   

For those of you outside of the Midwest who are unsure of where St. Louis is. Let me tell you where it isn't. EAST St. Louis….. not there.  Despite how logical the correlations may seem, East STL is not even in our state.  It is across the Mississippi River in the state I was born in – Illinois. The next state over.  Over there.

For contrast. Or complement. Depending upon how you look at it – parts of Kansas City are in Kansas – and parts of Kansas City are in Missouri.  Over here. No one from St. Louis gets too excited about either.  After all, Kansas is as far away as Chicago. A five-hour drive.  And no one really cares about either.  Because neither care about us.

We are in the middle.  Of two large cities.  That share our territory.  Of two coasts.  That share our territory.  Of two minds and two hearts.  That share our psyche.  We are the middle of the middle. In the middle of a Fentanyl and porn addiction crisis.  

"WE are THE Bricklayer’s Union." Local 1 advertises on KSHE95.   THE.   Say it again.  THEEEEEEEEEEE Bricklayers Union.  Local 1  is the first and oldest labor union west of the Mississippi.  First,  Oldest.  Hence,  the number 1.  One.   The first 1. They are proud. As am I. 

They are ashamed. As am I. Over the highways, byways and and airwaves on my morning commute….a legacy union bricklayer - reduced to begging……. begging…. working age man-children in my city to "stop playing video games all day in Mommy's basement and learn a trade."

I am incensed!  The City is a crumbling mass of miles of bricks.   Our nation's precious housing stock.  In need of repair.  In need of care.  

What this proud, humble local St. LOUISAN, from the oldest bricklayers  Union West of the Mississippi is too polite to say on the oldest rock station in the world - is that local St. LOUISANS need to CLEAN UP.  All the way up.  Lay off the dope and porn.   Get back to work.  These are real problems in the middle of the country.  They are problems our partners in construction and labor know well.  

In 2018, Missouri was the state with the largest absolute and percentage increase in opioid-related overdose fatality rates per capita over the previous year (18.3% and 3.1/100,000). This increase occurred despite an overall decrease in U.S. opioid-related death rates in the same period. This report identifies illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF) (and analogues) as the drug most responsible for this rise in opioid deaths in Missouri, with stimulant overdoses (primarily from methamphetamine) in second place.

The same study points out that while production of everything else was slowing during COVID lockdowns - the Chinese produced Fentanyl - produced by Labs in and around Wuhan - did not.  

Guess what else didn’t slow during COVID:  The utilization rates of sexual content websites like Only Fans and Pornhub. The age range of the highest utilizers? Well, let’s just say that it’s not Grandpa. It turns out that Fentanyl addiction and sex addiction go hand in hand.  Makes sense.  

My Uncle Tom was a union carpenter here in St. Louis all his life.  He is now retired.  With a union pension.  Tom's best friend was a bricklayer.   He was what my Dad always referred to as “a big dude” with bear-paw hands and a good looking wife named Bobby Jo. From the looks of it, bricklaying was providing a very comfortable life outside of all the hard work.   Pornography back then, was somewhat informally regulated by its relative scarcity compared to today's accessibility.   Fentanyl?  Not yet in existence.  

We can’t solve every problem in Mortgage Finance.  But if you talk about the future of housing and fail to include this critical threat to labor – and housing production (and quality) in strategic conversations around projections or sustainability - you are failing to see the larger global human capital issues that are a threat to us all.

It’s simple math.  Refinances are gone – at least for the foreseeable future.  Affordability and supply are down.  Prices and rates are up.  Rates will eventually ease.  The market will see a small rally of recycled volume – and without new supply - will quickly die.

Historically this has been easy enough to solve!  We’ll simply order more supply from our friends in labor and construction.  Supply and affordability will increase. Pricing and costs will decrease. Life will be good once again.  

Only there’s a problem.  Much of the EXPERIENCED AND SKILLED LABOR of the country's age-eligible workforce is swinging something other than a hammer all day long.  So, what’s the answer?  I don’t know.

But I suggest we, collectively as an Industry, begin asking the men and women of Local 1 what we can do to help.  Afterall, we are all a “local One” - somewhere.  

We can’t finance what doesn’t exist. 

What doesn’t exist - can’t - unless we finance it.

Neither of those two things can happen without committed, dedicated labor to develop, build and support it. 

Perhaps we should meet somewhere in the middle.  And begin to rebuild this nation's housing. 

Brick. By. Brick.