The Apartment Industry's Policy Priorities

Preparing for your Congressional Meetings

As you prepare to meet with your members of Congress, it is imperative you take the time to familarize yourself with the National Apartment Association's legislative priorities for 2021. While some of these talking points are reminiscent of those produced by the Florida Apartment Association, such as COVID-19 liability protections and housing affordability, many of these issues are unique to the national legislature. Below you will find a series of brief talking points produced by the National Apartment Association that may prove beneficial during your legislative meetings. If you have any questions in regard to this content, please contact me at james@faahq.org or 863-944-6057.

COVID-19 Pandemic
The economic displacement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic puts in peril both the homes of millions of American renters
and the financial viability of tens of thousands of firms who own and operate those homes. As Congress looks to stabilize thehousing market, we urge you to focus on ensuring that renters have the financial support to meet their obligations and in turn ensure housing providers can pay their own bills, like mortgages, taxes, salaries and more. We urge Congress to:

• Appropriate additional, robust financial assistance, including dedicated emergency rental assistance, for renters to
relieve past due rent, stabilize their housing going forward and ensure the survival of housing providers.
• End the use of federal eviction moratoriums which does nothing to address the underlying financial distress of
renters and could have long-term implications for the stability of the housing industry.
• Enact targeted COVID-19 liability protections for housing providers who, despite doing their best to follow
applicable public health guidelines, could face an onslaught of frivolous lawsuits and additional financial stress.

Industry Health and Competitiveness

Beyond meeting the immediate needs created by the pandemic, NAA and NMHC also prioritize several objectives that are
key to ensuring the health and competitiveness of the rental housing for the long-term. We urge Congress to:

• Support credible and proven policies to address the housing affordability crisis while opposing approaches that
undermine the effective operation and financial health of rental housing.
• Revitalize Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers to enable greater participation by private housing providers
and expand affordable options for low and moderate-income Americans.
• Establish federal incentives for local governments to remove barriers to housing development and rehabilitation and
support funding for unmet infrastructure needs that directly impact housing.
• Reauthorize and reform the National Flood Insurance Programand support more effective coverage for the industry.
Ensure attainable coverage options for other operational risks such as cyber, liability and pandemics.
• Ensure federal fair housing policy protects nondiscrimination in housing while supporting housing providers’ ability to
develop, own and operate their properties and ensure safe and decent housing for residents.
• 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.
• Accelerate broadband deployment and bridge the digital divide by expanding current facilities-based partnership models that
encourages digital infrastructure expansion and enables strong consumer access to connectivity.
• Ensure the continued ability by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration to provide adequate
capital financing to the apartment industry at all times and in all circumstances.
• Preserve necessary resident screening tools and ensure that consumer reporting reforms do not make screening
impracticable or hinder apartment providers from properly managing risk.
• Maintain and expand tax policy that preserves and encourages investment in multifamily housing.
• Restore federal immigration policy that ensures an adequate supply of skilled construction labor.
• Pursue a national energy strategy that includes innovative and cost-effective strategies to improve building energy
efficiency, increases community resiliency, provides incentives to assist in transition to revised standards and preserves
housing affordability.