As we predicted last year, advocacy in 2023 is defined as much by regulatory action as it is by legislative activity. With a divided Congress and a rocky path to passing legislation he favors, President Biden is investing heavily in federal regulation to achieve his housing policy goals. He wasted no time, releasing the White House “Blueprint for a Renters’ Bill of Rights” in January 2023, establishing a “whole of government” approach to examining myriad ways to increase tenant protections in rental housing.
The Blueprint directs 11 federal agencies to examine more than 20 separate areas of tenant protection. Thus far, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) opened a Request for Information on resident screening while the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a Request for Input on an array of resident protections for properties backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including source of income protection, increased notice requirements, just cause eviction and even rent control. We hope you have seen our calls to action for comments on both of these items, and expect similar efforts from HUD, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense and other agencies.
Separate from the Blueprint, the Administration is also taking aim at so-called “junk fees” paid by consumers across several industries. In fact, just a few weeks ago, President Biden hosted an event on the topic of fees in rental housing. Meanwhile, over at HUD, the Office of Policy Development and Research released a report that recommends several actions that HUD believes governments and housing providers can take “to increase transparency or limit rental fees.” NAA responded to this activity on “junk” fees.
We continue to educate members of the Administration about rental housing operations and, perhaps more importantly, Congress. There is an oversight role for Committees on Capitol Hill to play here and we are in constant contact, via your PAC dollars, with the relevant players in the House and Senate. When these agencies start issuing rules or guidance, it will be time for Congress to act.
Speaking of Congress, there is good news to report. Of NAA’s top three legislative priorities, two have bicameral, bipartisan bills introduced and are in play. The Choice in Affordable Housing Act (H.R. 4606, S. 32) would reform the Section 8 program to be friendlier to private-sector housing providers in the hopes of increasing participation in the program. The Yes In My Backyard Act (H.R. 3507, S. 1688) requires Community Development Block Grant recipients (see state and local governments) to report to HUD on their efforts to lower barriers to development.
NAAPAC was instrumental in getting these bills pulled together and introduced and your support of the PAC helps us continue to educate Congress on their benefits.
NAA’s third major priority is repealing the CARES Act 30-day notice-to-vacate requirement. While that faces a much steeper climb to victory, we are pulling out all of the stops to find a legislative path that will get us there. The Respect State Housing Laws Act (H.R. 802) is also a bipartisan bill but does not yet have a Senate companion. This very simple bill strikes the notice requirement from the CARES Act, effectively ending the requirement. With the national COVID emergency officially ending in May of this year, we think it is well past time to correct a legislative drafting error and return control of evictions to state and local governments where it belongs.
As always, we welcome your input and insight on these issues. If you have questions do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].