The apartment industry provides homes for 38.9 million Americans from every walk of life, including seniors, teachers, firefighters, healthcare workers, families with children and many others who enrich our communities.
The multifamily housing sector also supports 17.5 million jobs and generates over $3.4 trillion in economic activity. Commensurate with the role our industry plays in delivering and maintaining our nation’s housing, the policy and economic challenges we face are immense.
Developing the apartment homes needed to house our nation requires public/private partnership. Decades of underbuilding brought on by housing policy inaction at all levels of government, has resulted in affordable housing shortages for renters across the income spectrum, which has led to more than 35% of households being classified as "cost-burdened.”
That means millions of Americans are being priced out of the communities in which they have historically lived or would like to move to because there is not enough housing to go around.
Rental housing providers stand ready to help meet the needs of our nation’s renters.
However, we cannot do it alone.
From finance and capital markets to construction and new development, the various challenges have impacted our ability to deliver and maintain the housing this country so desperately needs.
As the federal advocates for rental housing providers, NMHC and NAA focus on preserving efficient property operations and promoting more effective housing development.
This enables the industry to attract the capital investment needed to increase and improve the nation’s housing stock for the long-term.
Download Apartment Industry Policy Priorities
The industry's priorities reflect the critical need to build more apartments to ensure there is enough housing to go around and ease affordability issues that have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These priorities also address the broader need to maintain the health of the apartment industry so it can generate the private investment required to meet the booming demand for rental housing of all types and at all price points. To support our work in promoting housing affordability, stability and opportunity for the long-term we urge Congress and the Administration to:
Housing Affordability and Stability
Support credible and proven policies to address housing affordability and stability by providing flexible resources that that can be used in public/ private partnerships to build and preserve housing that is affordable to renters at all price points. To be successful, policy makers should resist politically expedient, but flawed policies – such as rent control – that undermine the creation of necessary housing. Such policies will only exacerbate current affordability challenge by scaring away investment and unduly interfering with housing providers’ relationship with their residents.
Tax Policy
Maintain and expand tax policy that preserves and encourages investment in multifamily housing of all types and at all price points to help address the housing affordability challenges we face.
Reduce Barriers to New Construction and Rehabilitation
Promote strategies that reduce barriers to new construction and rehabilitation to address housing supply shortages by leveraging federal resources to incentivize better housing policy decision making and planning at the state and local level.
Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program
Provide much-needed, increased investments in vouchers and program administration of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program while making critical reforms that would enable greater housing provider participation and expand affordable housing options for low- and moderate-income Americans.
Infrastructure
Support funding for unmet community development and infrastructure needs that directly impact housing and support future housing opportunity.
Risk Coverage & Flood Insurance
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).
Fair Housing
Ensure federal fair housing policy protects equal opportunity in housing while supporting housing providers’ ability to develop, own and operate their properties without undue risk and compliance uncertainty.
Data Privacy
Enact 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.
Broadband Deployment
Accelerate broadband deployment and modernization in multifamily communities across the country, while protecting the current partnership model between broadband providers and property owners that encourages digital infrastructure expansion and improves affordability and accessibility for residents.
Capital Financing
Ensure the continued ability by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration to provide adequate capital financing to the apartment industry in all markets and at all times and avoid requiring needlessly complicated federal loan requirements that will deter investment in multifamily housing and worsen housing affordability.
Resident Screening
Preserve necessary resident screening tools and promote advancements in tested and appropriate technology such as AI and property management practices that ensure apartment providers can properly manage risk and public safety, while supporting resident-facing priorities like consumer credit-building.
Labor and Immigration policy
Advance labor and immigration policy that ensures an adequate workforce supply for all areas of the multifamily industry—from construction to maintenance and other property operations.
Environmental Performance and Energy Efficiency
Support incentives for innovative, cost-effective environmental performance and energy efficiency strategies, while ensuring policies do not hinder apartment constructability, operations and affordability.
