NMHC’s Jim Lapides, who heads strategic communications, shows members a copy of the Vision 2030 report, whose research provides the basis for an NMHC/NAA advertising and public relations campaign aimed at educating policymakers about the growing apartment demand and the barriers in place to producing enough units to meet that demand.
Research commissioned by NMHC and NAA showed that the nation needs 4.6 million new apartments by 2030 to keep up with demand. While the country grapples with an affordable housing crisis, policymakers often forget the principle driver behind the problem: supply and demand. This is the core message of a new advertising campaign targeting policymakers this fall as part of the NMHC/NAA joint PR Campaign.
The campaign is the second phase of a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort to educate policymakers on practical solutions to address the need for more apartments. The basis of this initiative is “Our Vision for 2030,” an in-depth report that covers why the country faces an affordability crisis and what policymakers can do.
Advertising this fall-the largest media buy in the history of our initiative-will focus on Washington, D.C. “inside the beltway” media in an effort to target key policymakers. Components include a high-impact ad that will actually wrap the Washington Post newspapers delivered to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, a home page takeover of Politico.com, targeted digital ads in washingtonpost.com and foxnews.com, radio ads and other media placements targeting policymakers.
In addition, the digital hub of the campaign, www.weareapartments.org, packages all of this demand and economic impact information at the national, state, metro and congressional district level.
The full report on apartment demand can be downloaded here. Recommendations on the federal side include ensuring sufficient funding of housing programs, enacting a pro-housing tax policy and reforming regulations that unnecessarily increase housing costs.
State and local governments also have a toolbox of approaches they can take to address the apartment shortage and help reduce the cost of housing. They can:
- Adopt local public policies and programs that harness the power of the private sector to make housing affordability more feasible.
- Increase public-private partnerships.
- Leverage the state-level authority to overcome obstacles to apartment construction.
- Collaborate with business and community leaders to promote apartments.
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