A DYNAMIC MARKET REQUIRES DYNAMIC ADVOCACY By Paul Cauduro, AAA Director of Government Relations
T Our goal is to actively advocate in order to protect the free-market housing system and private property rights and keep our industry free from unnecessary taxes, regulations, and fees.
he apartment industry touches on nearly every facet of the economy, and onsite community operations impact nearly every facet of the daily life of a resident. Because of this, the issues confronting the industry are seemingly endless. There are development-related issues that impact the size, height, income restrictions, parking, and unit mix of the community. There are issues that impact onsite operations such as trash hauling, required city fees, towing, swimming pools, package deliveries, landscaping and code inspection. Of course, there are also issues that impact the tenant/ landlord relationship such as the lease contract, notice requirements, tenant organizing, and the process used to regain possession of a unit. All this adds up to a dynamic industry in a very dynamic housing market. Tracking these issues is a challenge and, admittingly, many issues surface that are difficult to effectively address. Still, our goal is to actively advocate in order to protect the free-market housing system and private property rights and keep our industry free from unnecessary taxes, regulations, and fees. As highlighted in this issue of WINDOW,
advocacy doesn’t always mean reacting to an issue, but rather proactively engaging elected officials in conversations about rental housing and serving as a resource for information and ideas in response to those conversations.
Local The AAA’s structural organization that controls our advocacy efforts begin with the AAA’s Advocacy Committee. This standing committee is appointed each year and is comprised of apartment owners and managers and products & services members. The meetings are typically held monthly. The committee is chartered to monitor all branches of government in the 11
Read about AAA’s current advocacy issues at www.austinaptassoc.com/news/advocacy-in-action
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State The Texas Apartment Association and its Legislative Committee work in much the same way. Through regular in-person and conference call meetings this appointed body tackles the prickly statewide issues affecting apartment ownership, management, lease contracts, and more. Although the Texas Legislature only meets every odd numberedyear, the work of the TAA never wanes. Currently, the TAA Legislative Committee is actively monitoring and participating in statewide meetings being held on topics that include county development, city fees, and
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Industry UPDATE
county AAA service area to identify issues and policy actions that impact the rental housing community. Federal and state issues and topics are also monitored by the AAA Advocacy Committee to ensure that AAA viewpoints are represented to the State and National Legislative Committees via AAA-appointed members to those bodies as well as appearing before them to communicate directly. In addition, within the Advocacy Committee is the Apartment PAC (Political Action Committee) subcommittee. AAA’s PAC was created many years ago and it allows the AAA to fully participate in the political process by supporting candidates and incumbents that understand our issues. AAA members are welcome to attend the Advocacy Committee meeting and participate in the discussion. The issues discussed this year have ranged from Austin Code to Vertical Mixed Use (VMU) zoning. Most recently the committee has had to address resident notice requirements, and possible changes to the City of Austin’s Repeat Offender Program (ROP) and examine city budgets in the region to flag exorbitant city fee increases.
