The national interest in housing is at levels unseen since the passage of the Fair Housing Act. Despite years of warnings by the real estate industry of supply not keeping pace with demand, many communities find themselves in a housing deficit.
Faced with this reality, elected officials at all levels of government are looking for answers to address the housing needs affecting their constituents. Unfortunately, with supply as a long-term solution, many have opted for short-term regulations folded into larger social issues of access, equity and unequal outcomes.
Local governments are in a unique position to exert a tremendous amount of influence on the apartment industry. From taxation, planning and development to daily operations and management, local government can quickly enact laws that directly impact the vitality of the apartment industry. With more than 38,000 general-purpose government entities across the country, there is no shortage of fronts that the industry could potentially have to defend.
In an effort to meet these concerns, the National Apartment Association (NAA) has directly engaged with local government-oriented organizations by sponsoring information and education opportunities at the conferences of the National League of Cities, U.S. Conference of Mayors and partisan-leaning organizations such as the Democratic Municipal Officials and Republican-based Community Leaders of America.
To this end, NAA sponsored several events at the National League of Cities annual City Summit in San Antonio, Texas. The City Summit hosted over 4,000 municipal officials from across the United States to learn about the issues affecting local government and expand their professional network. Specific highlights included:
- NAA President and CEO Bob Pinnegar, delivered the welcoming remarks at the opening general session attended by all conference attendees and highlighted by NAA’s advocacy video.
- NAA sponsored the Solution Session, “Building Partnerships to Meet the Nation’s Apartment Demand.” This session included some of the nation’s leading industry professionals to demystify the apartment industry and provide examples to aid municipalities in their efforts to maintain and create housing opportunities for their constituents.
- NAA sponsored and provided remarks at the State Municipal League Dinner, attended by all 50-state municipal leadership directors from across the country.
At all the meetings throughout 2019, NAA carried a simple message: The need for local government to prioritize the development of apartment housing and the need to plan for the diversity needed to meet demand – and, most important, for local government to partner with the apartment associations nationwide in all housing issues to avoid the unintended consequences of bad policy.
Special thanks to the industry panelists including Councilmember Gregory Johnson, James Burwell of Belhaven Residential, Jesse Miller of Greystar, Lori Trainer of Pinnacle and Mark Hurley of Highland Commercial Properties.