APARTMENT ADVOCATE
NATIONAL APARTMENT ASSOCIATION
NAA Reaches All 535 Congressional Offices With Strong Message
T
Members of the National Apartment
Association (NAA) and nearly 170 affiliated associations this week turned out
for their largest ever advocacy campaign,
both on Capitol Hill and in congressional districts
from coast to coast. Telling lawmakers that apartments work, industry members emphasized that
lawmakers must enact public policies that promote
rather than obstruct the industry’s ability to provide
housing and jobs.
er grows each year as more and more apartment
owners, managers and other industry members
come together as advocates to educate their members of Congress about the value apartments bring
to communities across the country.”
“The apartment industry provides homes to 38
million Americans, contributes $1.3 trillion annually to the economy and supports 12.3 million
jobs. As compelling as these facts are in building
our case with Congress, the real stories come from
the people who work in the industry, who are
impacted daily, whether positively or negatively,
by decisions made on Capitol Hill,” said Gregory S. Brown, NAA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs. “That’s why our advocacy pow-
NAA members advocated for three key issues
impacting their businesses:
34 | TRENDS • APRIL 2016
NAA members connected with their congressional offices either on March 9 on Capitol Hill
during NAA’s Lobby Day or in their home communities during the House of Representatives
in-district work period this week.
»» The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
and Fair Housing Accessibility: Support legislation that provides a business owner with the
opportunity to cure an alleged ADA deficiency
prior to the initiation of a lawsuit.
»» National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and
Reauthorization: Support legislation reforming
the NFIP and providing for long-term reauthorization of the program before it expires in
September 2017.
»» Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program:
Support legislation reforming the Section 8
program, including the contract term, property
inspections, tenant screening and funding stream.
The House has already approved this bill.
“These issues are among our most important
priorities for this Congress,” said Cindy Chetti,
Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for
the National Multifamily Housing Council, which
partners with NAA for the apartment industry’s
federal legislative and regulatory priorities. “Enacting them would help ease burdens unfairly
placed on apartment owners and managers. Only
through collaboration between government and
the private sector can we reach our shared goal
of providing a variety of quality housing options
for all Americans.”
www.aamdhq.org