Top Congressional and
key housing industry leaders from across the country gathered in Dallas on
November 18 for a National Housing Forum sponsored by the J. Ronald Terwilliger
Foundation for Housing America’s Families. As a 
host of the Forum, NMHC led several
discussions. President Doug Bibby moderated a wide-ranging CEO roundtable
discussion with NMHC members Sue Ansel of Gables Residential, Toby Bozzuto of
The Bozzuto Group, and Ken Valach of Trammell Crow Residential. Egbert Perry of
Integral and Ann Thorn of Bank of America were also participants on the panel.
In his opening remarks, Doug noted that for many families, housing costs are their single largest expenditure each month, yet there was very little if any discussion during the presidential campaign related to housing, underscoring the point of the Forum, which was to raise the profile of housing in the political arena.
Kimble Ratliff, NMHC’s Senior Director for Government Affairs, also participated in a panel, Millennials: Where will the largest generation live in America? During the discussion Kimble and his panelists shared their personal experiences as millennials contrasted with common misconceptions of the generation and the factors that housing leaders should consider as they seek to attract millennial renters.
Keynote speaker House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), identified his priorities for the upcoming Congress, including his plans to reform the Dodd-Frank law and to help advance tax reform and an infrastructure package.
The Forum is just one of many ways that NMHC is seeking to highlight how the private apartment market, through public-private partnerships, can help solve the nation’s affordable housing shortage. Much of the day’s discussion mirrored the topics we presented to Congress last March in testimony that explained why the nation is facing an affordability crisis and documented solutions at each level of government that would enable the public and private sectors to work together to create the housing our country needs.
NMHC’s Workforce Housing Task Force will meet at the upcoming NMHC Annual Meeting to continue their work in identifying legislative, capital market and other solutions to expand the supply of housing that is affordable to working families.