NAHREP President, Sara Rodriguez, Repping at the U.S. Capitol!

Celebrating NAHREP familia, cultura, politics, and grassroots action

October 21, 2021

Qué onda mi gente?!

With only a little over two weeks since the end of our conference, there’s already so much going on. This is especially true when it comes to our advocacy. First things first, our President Sara Rodriguez represented NAHREP yesterday at the U.S. Capitol alongside U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (OH), Chairman of the Senate Banking and Finance Committee; and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-43), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee. NAHREP was at the forefront of this fight.

Industry groups and consumer groups stood in solidarity

The press conference was a unique show of solidarity between industry groups and consumer groups (trust me, this rarely happens), making the case that stripping the budget reconciliation package of any support for housing is a mistake we can’t afford. NAHREP President Sara Rodriguez was joined by CEO of the National Association of REALTORS® Bob Goldberg, Chairman of the National Association of Home Builders Chuck Fowke, President and CEO of the National Housing Conference David Dworkin, Vice President of Government Relations and Advocacy at Habitat for Humanity Chris Vincent, and Vice President of Public Policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition Sara Saadia. The lineup was impressive, and NAHREP was right in the middle of it. If you missed the press conference, watch it here.

Background

Passing major legislation in support of housing supply and homeownership included in the 2021 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report has been a top priority for NAHREP all year.

Many of the bills NAHREP has been advocating for were included in the Budget Reconciliation bill, including:

• Housing Supply and Affordability Act to authorize a grant program for the development and implementation of housing supply and affordability plans.
• Neighborhood Homes Investment Act to allow federal tax credits for neighborhood revitalization and allow existing homeowners to stay in their homes.
• Downpayment Toward Equity Act of 2021: $10 billion-dollar investment toward down payment assistance (DPA) program geared toward first-generation, first-time homebuyers.

Additionally, we were excited to hear about the Administration’s commitment to addressing our housing supply crisis, including:

• Programs to ensure homes go to individuals and families as opposed to large investors
• Upzoning opportunities

But…all housing provisions have been stripped from the reconciliation bill

In order to make the bill more politically feasible, housing was gutted from the reconciliation bill. To sound the alarm and show the intense solidarity between housing organizations, we stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to make a statement that housing is a bipartisan issue, we currently have a housing supply crisis, housing is critical to racial and ethnic equity, housing is good for our economy, and not investing in housing today sets us on a dangerous path as a country.

WHY NAHREP IS DOING THIS CAMPAIGN:

• A reconciliation bill passing is inevitable. With or without our advocacy, a reconciliation bill will pass that will have tax implications on many business owners and high-wealth individuals.
• Not including housing is a huge miss. If the nation is about to make this big of an investment using our taxpayers’ dollars, it MUST include housing and homeownership, particularly because homeownership is the number one gateway toward wealth creation and addressing our housing supply crisis cannot wait.
• Housing organizations stand united on this issue. NAHREP stands united with the National Association of REALTORS®, the National Association of Home Builders, and the Mortgage Bankers Association on these efforts.

CALL TO ACTION

• Stand with our President Sara Rodriguez and tell your representative that investing in housing today is not only good for our economy, it is the single most stabilizing thing we can do for families in the middle of so much uncertainty.

The time to solve our housing crisis is now! Take action with NAHREP by emailing and calling your Senator today.

Our NAHREP President is Amazing

And finally, I want to end by saying how grateful I am for Sara’s leadership. Not only is she an inspiring and successful Latina business owner, but she just gets it. Sara is passionate, has an amazing heart, thinks outside the box, and has been a true visionary for our organization. We are better because of her leadership. Sara has been committed to growing our policy efforts from day one. So proud to see Sara representing us at the U.S. Capitol yesterday, as a mujer, as a NAHREP leader. So proud to call Sara mi amiga.

Un abrazo enorme familia. Let’s keep the momentum built at NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE going.