Rental Housing Industry's Priorities to Ensure Greater Housing Options

The National Apartment Association's (NAA) advocacy mission is to ensure rental housing providers are in the room for federal, state, and local policy deliberations, and to positively impact those deliberations for the industry. 

NAA's Policy Outlook

Elevated demand and increased costs - for everything from insurance to taxes, to labor and materials - continue to place upward pressure on rents and strain the wallets of housing providers and our residents alike.

To help address affordability challenges for renters in the short term, and housing supply needs in the long term, the rental housing industry remains committed to responsible and sustainable policy responses to these challenges. The industry urges policymakers to resist politically expedient but flawed policies that undermine the creation of necessary housing and instead focus on solutions that balance the needs of renters and housing providers and increase access to quality, affordable housing. 

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Learn More About Our Top Legislative and Regulatory Priorities

2024 Legislative Priorities

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Eliminate the federal CARES Act pre-eviction notice requirement which continues to interfere with states’ eviction processes and increase financial risk for housing providers and renters alike by enacting the Respect State Housing Laws Act

2024 Advocate Priority 

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Ensure tax policy preserves and encourages investment in multifamily housing of all types and at all price points. 

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Better enable housing providers to navigate an expanding risk landscape through support of operational risk coverages related to natural disasters, cybersecurity and pandemics, while prioritizing the reauthorization and reform of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). 

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Leverage federal resources to incentivize better housing policy decision making at the state and local level by enacting the bipartisan Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) Act to reduce barriers to development and encourage federal investment in the preservation and production of affordable housing. 

2024 Advocate Priority 

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Preserve industry applications of artificial intelligence and algorithm-based technologies. Used responsibly, these tools drive optimization and modernization of historic practices forward and maximize operational efficiency—efficiencies that directly benefit residents and rental communities. They allow on-site staff to concentrate on the human touch, cultivating relationships and servicing applicants’ and residents’ unique needs. 

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Sustainably improve housing provider participation in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program and increase affordable housing options for renters and their families by enacting the bipartisan Choice in Affordable Housing Act. Source of income mandates are not the right policy solution to address the Program’s challenges. 

2024 Advocate Priority 

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Support a federal data privacy, security and breach notification standard that pre-empts the patchwork of state laws that leave consumers vulnerable and impose burdensome compliance obligations. 

2024 Regulatory Priorities

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Preserve federal fair housing policy that protects equal opportunity and accessibility in housing and supports housing providers’ ability to develop, own and operate their properties without undue risk and compliance uncertainty.

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Support incentives for innovative, cost-effective environmental performance and energy efficiency strategies, while ensuring policies do not hinder apartment constructability, operations and affordability. 

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Ensure access to capital to meet America’s housing needs. Rental housing providers rely on a variety of capital sources to ensure adequate capital financing in all markets and at all times. Policymakers should refrain from implementing needlessly complicated loan requirements that deter investment in rental housing and worsen housing affordability. 

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Accelerate broadband deployment and modernization and protect the partnership between broadband providers and property owners that expands digital infrastructure and improves affordability and accessibility for residents. 

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Oppose federal interference in the landlord-tenant relationship which interferes with robust regulation of the industry and renter protections mandated by state and local governments - including agency efforts through the White House Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights. Rental markets vary widely across the country, which is why local solutions tailored to individual markets are most appropriate. 

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Preserve resident screening tools, including technology and property management practices that enable housing providers to properly manage risk to their residents, employees and rental communities, while supporting resident-facing priorities like consumer credit-building. 

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Explore policy pathways to ease insurance burdens on housing providers, including exponential increases in coverage and reductions or outright denials of coverage, which threaten the supply of affordable rental housing across the country.