Bipartisan Housing Commission Formed 

The Bipartisan Policy Center announced in October the creation of a
bipartisan housing commission that will examine issues affecting the struggling housing sector, including the multifamily housing industry.

The commission will be co-chaired by former-Sen. and former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), former-Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), former-Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros.

“There is no question that the American housing system is broken,” Bond, citing high foreclosure rates, said at a press conference announcing the commission.
The purpose of the commission is to identify and understand the nation’s ever-changing housing needs. The group will meet several times over the course of a year to create a “package of realistic and actionable policy recommendations that consider the near-term and address the long-term challenges in the sector,” according to a release. The full commission will be announced in December and comprise housing experts, business leaders, former elected officials and academics.

“As we begin our work in the coming months, I will urge our commission to take a broad look at the economics of housing, not only in terms of the appropriate federal role, but also how housing is connected to other important sectors of the economy—such as energy, transportation and health care—all of which play a vital role in our nation’s economic recovery,” Martinez said in a release.

The commission’s findings and recommendations are scheduled to be announced in early 2013.

–NAA’s Ali McSherry

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