The 2017 NMHC Fall Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Meeting offered an opportunity for several of NMHC’s working groups to get together and discuss key trends, share perspectives and help set strategic direction on a number of important business areas. These committees help promote member engagement and provide critical input on policy and advocacy, research and event programming. Here’s a round-up of the hot topics of discussion.
Diversity and Inclusion. NMHC’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee completed an in-depth after-action review of the first NMHC Leadership Forum, which focused on diversity and inclusion as critical drivers of continued business success. The half-day event, which was held in advance of the kick off to the Fall Board Meeting and attracted roughly 160 executives, included programming on the hidden brain, gender and politics, changing apartment resident demographics, D&I best practices and included interactive exercises to challenge people’s inherent biases.
Emerging Leaders. NMHC’s Emerging Leaders Committee meeting was largely focused on planning for the remaining Speaker Series events for 2017 and regional networking events in 2018. Event leads provided program updates for the Speakers Series events planned for San Francisco on October 12 and Atlanta on November 9. The group also discussed its programming contribution for January’s 2018 NMHC Annual Meeting in Orlando and announced that the committee would be welcoming new leadership in the New Year, with UDR’s Chris Spendley taking over as committee chair and PGIM Real Estate’s Chris Lackett and Equity Residential’s Brett Richards as vice chairs.
Finance Committee. NMHC’s Finance Committee kicked off with presentations on tax reform, EB-5 and High Volatility Commercial Real Estate (HVCRE) loans from Matthew Berger, Kimble Ratliff and Dave Borsos. However, most of the session was dedicated to a Q&A on GSE reform with Compass Point’s Senior Vice President for Policy, Isaac Boltansky. He discussed a range of issues with NMHC members with a focus on the chances for GSE reform under the Trump administration, whether the GSEs will need to conduct a draw down and what variables will go into the choice of the next FHFA director.
NMHC PAC Committee. This past week NMHC PAC Chair Sue Ansel started the PAC Committee discussion with updates for the Committee. NMHC PAC has raised $1,040,000 of its $1,250,000 2017 goal and 97 NMHC members have contributed at the maximum $5,000 level. Sue and NMHC staff highlighted that NMHC PAC continues to be among one of the top real estate PAC leaders in both funds collected and disbursed. Finally, NMHC President Doug Bibby reiterated the importance of a strong and active PAC and highlighted his goal of increasing NMHC member participation. Doug made the point that involvement in the PAC is an investment in the industry’s future and he stressed that all member levels need to be engaged. More on member level PAC participation can be found here.
Supplier Partner Alliance. The SPA Committee was thanked for their support of the 2017 NMHC Student Housing Conference and OPTECH exhibit halls. Both shows sold out in record time and have waiting lists. In addition, Shelters to Shutters gave an update on their work providing jobs for the homeless within our industry and also thanked the committee for their support of Commerce Corner and the Annual Meeting walk/run. Last year, NMHC members helped raise 10 percent of its budget. Finally, Al Campbell, executive vice president and CFO of MAA, gave the committee an update on MAA and the results of its merger with Colonial Properties.
Tax Committee. NMHC’s Tax Committee engaged in in-depth discussion on the likelihood of Congressional action on a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s tax code or a simpler and more politically feasible rate cut and the potential impact for the apartment industry. The wide-ranging discussion was led by the Committee Chairman Tom Moran and NMHC’s Vice President of Tax Matthew Berger. Joining them were tax policy experts, Rick Grafmeyer and Jacob Triolo of Capitol Tax Partners who walked the group through intricacies of the code and laid out several scenarios for how they thought tax reform may play out.
Work Force Housing Committee. NMHC’s Work Force Housing Committee was a jam-packed session with updates on topics such as tax reform, GSE reform and NMHC’s Vision 2030 and accompanying public relations campaign. A key area of discussion was how NMHC members, especially those on the West Coast, are being forced to deal with policies and regulations which are hindering development and deepening the country’s housing affordability crisis