NAHB to Apply Full-Court Press on Presidential Candidates

On July 11, the NAHB will be staging a “Rally for Homeownership” in Tampa, Fla., one of seven such rallies the trade group will hold in markets that are considered critical to the election of the next President of the United States. These include Detroit (July 20); Kansas City, Mo. (Sept. 25); Milwaukee, Wis. (Oct. 2); Columbus, Ohio (Oct. 9); Richmond, Va. (Oct. 11); and Las Vegas (a date in October to be announced). The rallies are part of the association’s broader effort to keep housing issues front and center during the election campaign. Tampa-St. Petersburg is also where the Republican Party will hold its presidential nominating convention in August. The Democrats will hold their convention in Charlotte, N.C., the following month. NAHB plans to have a “major presence” at each shindig, says its CEO Jerry Howard, who spoke with Builder on Monday with Jim Tobin, NAHB’s chief lobbyist, about where housing ranks in the national conversation between the two parties and their candidates. Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney, the Republicans’ presumptive candidate, has issued formal statements about what his policies related to housing would be if elected. NAHB wants to hear specifics from each candidate about two areas: housing finance (the association favors some government backstop to loans, regardless of what happens to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), and tax reform. “It is folly to talk about limiting the government’s support of housing when the sector is still on its back,” says Howard.

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