Prefer video content? Watch the July Minute Advocate.
Greetings, apartment industry advocates!
Back by, I hope, popular demand is a monthly missive from yours truly with updates, intrigue and pithy commentary on the state of play in Washington, DC and NAA’s advocacy efforts on your behalf.
We are halfway through the second session of the 117th Congress and the governing party continues to struggle to find those things that the entire Democratic caucus will support. The successes of the second COVID relief bill and the bipartisan infrastructure package might as well be 100 years ago. President Biden’s approval rating is in free fall and Democrats are facing a wipeout in the midterm elections if they do not notch some victories. They have always been more challenged in unifying their many factions, but in the last two years the disfunction has taken on a sharper edge as moderates like Senators Manchin (D-WV) and Sinema (D-AZ) continue to pump the brakes on high-profile progressive priorities. They, and their moderate House colleagues, are on the receiving end of an avalanche of progressive advertising and grassroots mobilization and even targeted for primary challenges by other members of the caucus.
Republicans, some in the House at least, are busy measuring the drapes for when they likely take control in 2023 and sharpening their oversight knives on a long list of investigations into Hunter Biden, the January 6th Committee, the Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, among others. On the Senate side, the interior decorators have been sent home for the moment as the odds of a takeover by Republicans narrow in the face of a number of “exotic” candidates who might be attractive to primary voters but are out of sync with general election voters in their respective states.
As you know, NAA’s top three legislative priorities are (1) improving the experience of private owners with the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program (Choice in Affordable Housing Act), (2) requiring local governments to document how they are lowering barriers to housing development (Yes In My Back Yard Act), and (3) eliminating the CARES Act 30-day “notice-to-vacate” requirement. Our focus on the first two bills is to get them marked up and passed out of the House Financial Services Committee. Notice-to-vacate is more difficult because of the prevalent negative narrative around eviction There are sympathetic parties in both Houses of Congress, but fewer willing partners to stand publicly for eliminating the 30-day requirement. We slowly are chipping away at that opposition and watching for opportunities to secure passage of a fix.
NAA’s leadership put down an aggressive goal for the PAC this year – to raise $1,000,000. I’m happy to report that we are on track to reach that goal having raised almost $600,000 to date. This is due to incredible volunteer leadership and the support of many of you. Now, all we need is every NAA member to do his or her part. If you have given to the PAC, talk to your fellow members and urge them to join our cause.
Individual advocacy has never been more important, and NAA’s members and affiliate network have answered the call. Our key contacts have grown 41% this year while the number of Congressional offices represented by at least one key contact has grown by 32%. Our “influencers” have grown by 134% through which we have already reached 1.4 million individuals via 4.4 million impressions on social media. Finally, our “At Home” program is showing tremendous success as well with over 50 in-district meetings with federal lawmakers held in 2022 so far and a lot more coming during the August recess. We are on pace to exceed 2021’s number of meetings.
There are several resources launching soon to have on your radar. Our updated Emotional Support Animal Toolkit helps with fair housing obligations around assistance animal requests and navigating fraudulent requests. The new Accessible Design and Construction Toolkit explains how housing providers keep their physical properties accessible to disabled persons in line with fair housing responsibilities. Look for more information on these important resources very soon.
Finally, updated rental housing demand research from NAA and NMHC was recently released. This research was conducted by Hoyt Advisory Services and Eigen10 Advisors and provides critical context as we look to housing affordability solutions. The research indicates that the U.S. needs to build 4.3 million apartments by 2035 to meet future demand and address the current apartment deficit (600,000 units short). There is a lot more in this research, however, the bottom line is straightforward - there is a current shortage of housing and we are not building enough to meet future demand. This information not only supports our federal advocacy efforts but your state and local advocacy as well. I encourage you to learn more about the research and the data by going to www.weareapartments.org.
Thanks for reading. Talk to you next month.
- Greg