NAA, NMHC Testify Before Congress on Housing Affordability Solutions

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Apartment Association (NAA) and National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) yesterday testified before the House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance for their hearing titled "Housing Affordability: Governmental Barriers and Market-based Solutions."

Arianna Royster, president of Borger Residential, testified on behalf of the 100,000 combined members of NAA and NMHC to support sustainable policy solutions that improve housing affordability and protect the nation's rental housing infrastructure for future generations of renters. At the same time, we should reject well-intended but misguided efforts to regulate rents that will increase the cost of rental housing and limit renter choice.

"NAA and NMHC are committed to working together with federal policymakers to support consumers by providing quality housing that American renters rely on," Royster said in her written testimony. "To sustainably address the nation's housing affordability challenge, policymakers should prioritize long-term solutions that will increase the supply of affordable rental housing. At the same, we must also ensure that there is adequate, effective rental assistance for struggling families in the short term."

Throughout the testimony, Royster outlined opportunities to revitalize the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Housing Choice Voucher Program in the short term and remove barriers to apartment development long-term. Both solutions have been long supported by NAA and NMHC, and bipartisan and bicameral legislation to accomplish both of these have already been introduced in Congress this term.

"Without a doubt, responsibly addressing the nation's housing affordability crisis is one of the most pressing policy challenges of our time," said NAA President and CEO Bob Pinnegar. "NAA is thankful for Arianna's testimony today and looks forward to continuing to lead the way on real, sustainable solutions that improve housing access for American renters and that strengthen our rental housing stock for the future."

"It is critical that policymakers in both parties and at all levels of government understand the costs associated with the nation's ongoing housing affordability challenges," said NMHC President Sharon Wilson Géno. "We must act with urgency to implement policy solutions that expand supply and broaden housing opportunity while at the same time, rejecting proposals, such as rent control, that have proven to hurt renters. It is clear that there is broad agreement between rental housing providers, renters and other housing stakeholders on what are effective solutions. Now we need to act."

For more than 26 years, the National Apartment Association (NAA) and the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) have partnered on behalf of America's apartment industry. Drawing on the knowledge and policy expertise of staff in Washington, D.C., as well as the advocacy power of 141 NAA state and local affiliated associations, NAA and NMHC provide a single voice for developers, owners and operators of multifamily rental housing. One-third of all Americans rent their housing, and 40 million of them live in an apartment home.

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SOURCE National Apartment Association