As midterm elections are upon us, industry leaders are closely watching to see who the next advocates for multifamily will be. At the 2022 Multifamily Executive Conference at the end of September, Kevin Donnelly, vice president of government affairs, technology, and strategic initiatives at the National Multifamily Housing Council, shared the need for grant opportunities and regulations toward affordability.
Donnelly said, “Government at all levels must reduce barriers to rental housing development and leverage the private-sector product to preserve apartments.” He warned that the industry must be careful as to what regulations are pressed because it “could ultimately harm our goal of improving affordability across the board,” especially in regard to inclusionary zoning and rent control.
In the 2022 NAHB/NMHC Cost of Regulations Report, 49 multifamily developers were surveyed nationwide and found, on average, that regulations imposed by all levels of government account for 40.6% of total multifamily apartment development costs, which proves the certainty of future regulations costing developers even more. Donnelly said, “If we want to see the promise of 4.3 million units delivered by 2035, then we need to get this regulation out of the way.”
While looking ahead to future tasks, it’s also important to acknowledge the industry’s four major victories this year, according to Donnelly. So far, the industry has:
- Ensured detrimental real estate tax provisions were left out of the reconciliation package;
- Rejected price controls and refocused efforts away from eviction moratoriums;
- Secured changes to administering the $50 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance; and
- Secured passage of 5-year reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
On the horizon, Donnelly noted to keep an eye on capital markets, ESG, fair housing, resident protections, Davis-Bacon, resident screening, privacy and data security, and broadband deployment.
