BOARD PERSPECTIVE
BY ROCKY SUNDLING , NAA REGION VIII VICE PRESIDENT
We are apartments , they need to hear us
We hear the cry all the time – “ Take the politics out of sports !” Take the politics out of education , out of movies , out of everything !” And I confess , I agree . I don ’ t want to know what my favorite athlete or actors ’ politics are . I don ’ t care whether they agree with me politically or not . I want to watch the game or the movie to escape politics , not to be force-fed others political beliefs . Even if I agree with those beliefs . I just don ’ t care and don ’ t want to know .
However , the above rant does not apply to my job in the multifamily industry . I care deeply about politics and how they influence the legislative and regulatory processes that impact our industry every day .
Don ’ t misunderstand , this is not a left / right or Republican / Democrat conversation . Because of that , I also don ’ t want to know whether you agree with me or not on issues that don ’ t directly affect our industry . If you want to have a beer and engage in a robust debate about the issues of the day , I ’ ll buy . But I don ’ t care to discuss those issues that are irrelevant to protecting and promoting our industry when we are on the clock . If it is an issue that will hurt – or help – our collective industry rice bowl , I am all-in and ready to drop the gloves and fight through the bell . And you better knock me out if you want to win the argument .
AAMD is responsible to promote and protect the multifamily and rental housing industry . Legislative advocacy is absolutely critical to that responsibility . And I am proud to be a part of that fight for the industry . As part of that advocacy , we deal with politicians , political processes , legislative sausage making and regulatory nightmares . It ’ s an unfortunate side effect of promoting and protecting the industry .
Unlike a Sunday afternoon game or the latest Netflix stream , I welcome the politics of this protection and promotion . I wish the current political environment was much kinder to our industry , but that doesn ’ t diminish the desire to fight these harmful policies . Precisely the opposite .
The current assaults on the multifamily world are coming from all levels of government – federal , state , local and are all kinds of legal structures - legislative , regulatory , and ballot initiatives . Make no mistake , these are assaults . Unprecedented attacks are launched every day on how we can or can not contract with our residents , how much we charge , how we can build , who we can rent to .
If there is an upside to COVID , it is this – we learned how to be more empathetic to our residents and re-imagined what our responsibilities to our residents should look like . The most recent legislative and executive actions threaten our ability to keep that relationship positive and empathetic . These actions hurt the very people they were designed to help . Too many of our current advocacy efforts are simple self-defense . We can rope-a-dope for a while , but at some point we have to land a few punches of our own .
Please consider lacing up the gloves and join me and the rest of our AAMD family in fighting off the legislative and regulatory tsunami hammering our industry . Here ’ s my call to action , hopefully you can do at least one or more of the following :
• Contribute to the AAMD Alliance , our Advocacy funding platform
• Donate to the NAA PAC
• Be willing to write your State and Federal legislator
• Prepare to testify against bad legislation ( they need to hear your story )
With Drew Hamrick on staff , we have one of the premier legal minds who can help us all with the technical side of legislation , but he and the team at AAMD – need us to tell the story ! The time to engage is n . o . w .
You are a critical part of this great industry ! And we need you to help tell your story ! We collectively need to remind lawmakers about the $ 40,000,000,000 in economic impact from multifamily . Remind them of the $ 4.4 billion of taxes we pay in the Denver metro every year ! Remind them of the most important and sacred statistic of all – our 500,000 + residents we serve 24 / 7 . We provide shelter , we provide homes .
We Are Apartments , they need to hear us loud and clear !
Rocky Sundling is the Senior Director of Real Estate at Greystar Real Estate Partners , the NAA Region VIII Vice President and a past president of AAMD and CAA .
6 | TRENDS MAY 2021 www . aamdhq . org