NAR CEO talks housing with top lawmakers 

The National Association of Realtors built connections on Capitol Hill last week as CEO Nykia Wright and Chief Advocacy Officer Shannon McGahn met with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and other top lawmakers.

"Homeownership is the foundation of the American dream and one of Washington's truly bipartisan issues," McGahn told Realtor magazine. "NAR members work and live in every congressional district in the country. We can serve Congress like no other organization, bringing solutions and research to policymakers who share our priority of making housing more affordable and available."

Speaking of which, the NAR advocacy team also hosted a reception for the Congressional Real Estate Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers working to address the nation's housing inventory gap, which is contributing to rising costs, experts say. 

NAR Deputy Chief Economist Jessica Lautz addressed more than a dozen members of Congress and about 60 staffers at the reception, saying existing-home inventory is lagging below pre-Covid levels and failing to keep up with job growth in 121 U.S. metropolitan areas.

Meanwhile, "home prices have appreciated by nearly 50% nationwide" since the pandemic, and would-be buyers also face elevated mortgage rates.

In addition to the meeting with top House leaders, the advocacy team spoke with the 72 new members of Congress as part of its efforts to advocate for housing legislation. Topics included the "More Homes on the Market Act," which would increase capital gains exclusions for homesellers, and the Yes In My Backyard Act, which would encourage state and local governments to remove barriers to affordable housing development.

Affordable housing program in limbo: While NAR continues to push for affordable housing initiatives, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has put the brakes on $60 million in funding aimed at community development nonprofits, the Associated Press reported. HUD said it was canceling the contracts of two of the three nonprofits chosen by Congress to distribute the money, adding the program — called Section 4 — to the list of those affected by the Trump administration's aggressive cuts. 

"Many of those organizations have already committed funds to pay workers, such as HVAC technicians, local contractors, homeownership counselors," said Shawn Donovan, former HUD secretary in the Obama era and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, one of the affected groups. "They will have to stop that work immediately."

A HUD spokesperson, meanwhile, said the program is not being cut, but some grants are getting consolidated.

Is HUD getting closer to cryptocurrency? In a move some fear is a step toward embracing cryptocurrency, HUD has been talking about potentially monitoring grants with blockchain, which is a foundational element of crypto transactions.

"It's just introducing another unregulated security into the housing market as though 2008, 2009 didn't happen," one HUD staffer told ProPublica, referring to the subprime mortgage crisis. "I don't see any way this will help anything. I see a lot of ways this could hurt," said the official, who, like others interviewed for the article, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.