NMHC's Fulton expects housing bills to be introduced in January

Democrats won majorities in both the House and Senate in the Nov. 3 midterms, CNBC reported, and Bernard Fulton expects housing bills to be introduced in January.

Fulton, the National Multifamily Housing Council's senior vice president of legislative and political affairs, told Multifamily Dive he expects tariff and tax legislation and more congressional oversight of the regulators that influence interest rates.

For allocators underwriting apartment portfolios, the calendar is the thing to watch. Fulton's complaint is that national politicians focus on homeownership and pay less attention to rental housing, so the bills drafted in January will show whether apartments sit inside or outside the next housing package.

Greg Brown, the National Apartment Association's senior vice president of government affairs, told Multifamily Dive that both parties care deeply about housing and that "the affordability challenge is not going away." Brown pointed to this summer's passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which he described as the most consequential federal housing legislation in decades. Conversations with members of Congress from both sides about what comes next have already begun, he said, and it will be "interesting to see how [that process] plays out, given the new division of control."

Andy Winkler, managing director for housing and infrastructure at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Multifamily Dive that congressional committee members worked across the aisle to pass the ROAD act, and that the approach could offer a model for further housing legislation. Part of the reason it passed, he said, was that Congress had done little on housing while housing costs climbed, which left members feeling "the pressure to respond." New members will need time to staff up, he said, "which creates this real need for stakeholders and others to engage and educate members and staff about housing and their priorities."

Fulton said both parties recognize more housing action is needed, but that doesn't settle what form it takes. "Just because they think this is something that has to be addressed doesn't necessarily mean they have the right path forward," he said. "And that's [the multifamily industry's] opportunity." Fulton also said the results of the last two major national elections leave him thinking elected officials have far more urgency to cut a deal.