The Big Picture
The National Apartment Association (NAA) hosted its annual Rental Housing Advocacy and Legal Summit (RHALS) in the music city of Nashville, Tennessee from August 4-6, 2026. Each year, RHALS convenes the industry’s leading legal and advocacy minds to discuss the legislative, regulatory and legal trends impacting rental housing across the country.
This year, RHALS kicked off with a focus on the implementation work ahead for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that was enacted earlier this summer. Ralph Perrey, Executive Director of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Housing Conference, grounded the nation’s housing affordability challenges—and the task ahead for this new landmark law—with concrete local data. His keynote address outlined the ways that state and local policymakers can work with industry partners to improve markets, supply and outcomes for households across the country. Now, the opportunities present in the new housing law, Perrey emphasized, must be followed with diligent advocacy from all stakeholders to ensure implementation is rapid and complete.
Day two of RHALS featured a second keynote address from David Koysza, Chief Legal Officer for Greystar, who described the ways to ensure legal compliance is an empowering, forward-looking component of any company or organization. Koysza challenged attendees to create legal and compliance teams that their business partners craved. He also challenged legal counsel in attendance to build compliance programs that go beyond generic compliance requirements and include company-specific operational compliance. Finally, Koysza emphasized the importance of creating a compliance flywheel, where insights from every lawsuit, article and complaint are captured and used to drive continuous improvement.
NAA thanks Sheppard and STATARA Solutions for their generosity for sponsoring this year’s event.
Legal, Advocacy and Shared Sessions
RHALS featured speakers from across the rental industry to share their expertise on a wide variety of relevant topics. Some of this year’s key sessions included:
-
Chiseled in Stone: Is Fee Transparency Here to Stay?
-
Walking the Line: PR for Crisis Management
-
The Race is On: AI Use, Fraud, and Potential Implications
-
The Past 18: HUD Policy Shifts & Enforcement Changes
-
Over & Over Again: The Perennial Fight Against Rent Control
Save the Date!
Mark your calendars and join us in Charlotte, North Carolina, July 28-30, 2027, for another exciting RHALS Conference. We look forward to seeing you there!
For more timely updates on the industry’s advocacy and legal news, register for NAA’s monthly Advocacy and Legal Webinar (ALW) series and tune in every third Wednesday of the month at 2 pm ET. This webinar is exclusively for NAA members and affiliate partners.