Share
As Congress voted to avert a government shutdown last week, the National Association of REALTORS® was behind the scenes, educating lawmakers about the potential turmoil such a closure could cause in the housing, mortgage and insurance markets.
A partial government shutdown could have jeopardized vital programs homeowners depend on, such as the National Flood Insurance Program. A lapse in extending the NFIP, which is the only source of flood insurance in some areas of the country, would have hamstrung thousands of real estate transactions.
NAR President Kevin Sears pressed for a compromise in a letter to House and Senate leadership, writing: “The risk of an unnecessary NFIP lapse puts American lives, families, properties and businesses at untenable risk and must be avoided.”
While lawmakers on Capitol Hill have continually engaged in eleventh-hour negotiations over government spending bills in recent years, NAR has been there every time to lend urgency and help them see the end goal. Last September, when Congress was scrambling to head off another shutdown, NAR activated a nationwide call for action on a Friday evening, urging its 1.5 million members to contact Congress to extend the NFIP. At the time, NAR said a lapse in funding could have threatened 1,300 real estate transactions per day.
Members heeded the call: Tens of thousands of phone calls, texts and emails poured into Capitol Hill within 24 hours.
“We were hearing from members on the Hill saying, ‘Okay, we got it, we got it. We know it will be in this piece of legislation that’s passing later today,’” NAR Chief Advocacy Officer Shannon McGahn said in a recent episode of the “Advocacy Scoop” podcast.
Thanks to NAR’s efforts, the NFIP bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both congressional chambers—“a rare combination,” McGahn said.
New Avenues for Advocacy
Not all of NAR’s advocacy wins earn quite as much attention. Progress can be incremental, which was the case in NAR’s successful efforts to preserve 1031 like-kind exchanges.
In 2021, the Biden administration’s original Build Back Better plan included 11 changes—nicknamed by NAR Director of Tax Policy Evan Liddiard, the “Ugly 11”—that would have taxed unrealized gains and investment income, limited the qualified business income deduction and more. Had these proposals passed, it would have crippled commercial real estate.
“Those changes would have had massive implications for every business in America—especially in the real estate sector, which makes up nearly one-fifth of the entire U.S. economy,” McGahn says.
That’s why NAR swiftly launched a campaign to take proposed changes to the 1031 tax-deferral for real property and other proposals off the table.
“Our views on issues like taxes carry weight because we have volumes of data and original research to back up our positions and relationships on Capitol Hill with key policymakers and committees that are decades in the making,” she says.
Some advocacy wins have been historic, such as the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the federal government’s pandemic-era eviction moratorium in 2021. The Georgia and Alabama state REALTOR® associations sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alleging a federal eviction moratorium was unconstitutional and violated statutory law.
NAR financially supported the lawsuit and doubled its efforts to get federal rental assistance into the hands of struggling Americans. The Supreme Court voted 6-3 in favor of housing providers.
McGahn says one of the objectives of NAR’s advocacy team is to see “how we can help advance policy through litigation rather than just legislation or the regulatory process.” And NAR continues to build on that momentum. This year, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of property owners in two cases that NAR supported through amicus briefs.
“These efforts have not only resulted in new legal precedents that further NAR policy goals, but they have also helped us build coalition partners,” McGahn says.
Supporting Local, State Initiatives
While NAR focuses on national housing policy, the association supports state and local advocacy efforts through its REALTOR® Party programs, grants and resources. Oregon REALTORS® recently relied on Issues Mobilization grants to help revive a key affordable housing bill in the state legislature that had previously failed by a single vote.
NAR-funded polling gave the state association concrete data lawmakers couldn’t ignore: 84% of Oregonians said housing affordability was a “very” or “fairly” big problem and 76% believed there wasn’t enough housing for those with moderate income.
Armed with this data, Oregon REALTORS® launched a multiple-round call for action, mobilizing the membership to contact their elected leaders. That sealed the deal.
“We were about to launch the text messaging portion of the campaign when we learned the vote was in the bag,” said Jeremy Rogers, general counsel and director of government affairs for Oregon REALTORS®.
An Issue Both Parties Believe In
While the 2024 general election plays out, housing has emerged as a rare bipartisan issue—and a major concern for voters. NAR is working to keep housing affordability a central theme in the election, supporting state and local candidates who champion real estate priorities. NAR’s political action arm, RPAC, helps to fund candidates on both sides of the aisle.
“We say we’re the ‘purple party,’” says Sara Lipnitz, PMN, SFR, with the Agency Hall & Hunter in Birmingham, Mich., chair of NAR’s RPAC Trustees Federal Disbursement Committee, which makes decisions on political disbursements.
Lipnitz calls it a “team process,” with local and state associations vetting and educating candidates on real estate priorities. A candidate must prove he or she is a bona fide real estate champion by going through a rigorous screening process.
“By the time it gets to the disbursement trustees at the national level, we’re taking those recommendations and we’re cross-checking them against the candidate’s voting history and can make confident endorsements accordingly,” Lipnitz says.
Electing leaders who understand and connect with the NAR mission helped make the newly minted Bipartisan Congressional Real Estate Caucus a reality. The caucus, which was announced in May, was founded by two Democrats and two Republicans. Three of the four are former real estate professionals.
“I know that housing is a key issue for all Americans, and especially for my constituents,” said Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.). “Before being elected to Congress, I owned a small real estate business, so I know firsthand the regulatory challenges that [real estate professionals] face every day.”
The caucus has expanded to nearly 50 members of Congress.
Additionally, NAR reaches each congressional member through its Federal Political Coordinator Program, a grassroots volunteer network of 535 REALTORS® who foster personal connections with lawmakers and become recognizable faces of real estate.
“We’re the envy of the lobbying world,” says Socar Chatmon-Thomas, ABR, AHWD, C2EX, with Elegant Estates Realty in Austin, Texas, who’s served as a federal political coordinator for the last 14 years. “We are individual constituents in the district who are going to Washington to talk about things that will benefit the constituency as a whole.”
These are the kinds of results a world-class advocacy operation like NAR’s can expect, Lipnitz says. “Advocacy is one of the crown jewels of what NAR offers its members. Our initiatives and support are profoundly effective at moving the ball forward and turning the volume up on our issues. At the local, state and national levels, people know who we are, and the dollars that we invest in candidates make sure doors stay open for further dialogue.”
