We are your go-to source for national, state and local legislative information affecting the multifamily industry.
Know Your Audience. Prior to contacting a legislator, perform some research about them. Find out what their experience is with multifamily housing, and how they have voted on issues that have directly impacted our industry in the past.
Plan Your Meeting. Define your message in two to three points that get to the heart of your position. Share any personal experiences you have with the issue or the experience of others you know to illustrate your point. Touch on both the mind and heart of the matter you are speaking to.
Meet the Legislator. The most effective meetings occur in the home district. They are less hurried than meetings at the legislative offices, and they provide home-field advantage. Consider inviting public officials to meet in your professional setting. Unless you are a personal friend of the legislator, it is not necessary to speak directly with them. You can leave a message about your concerns with the individual who answers the phone, or better yet, speak to the public official’s staff member who handles housing issues.
Be Concise in Your Introduction. Be clear about why are you speaking with the public official, why they should be interested, and what you want them to do.
Create Dialogue. Building a conversation between the public official and yourself makes it easier to educate them on multifamily housing issues and your issue in particular. Listen to what they say and invite them to ask questions of you. Focus on alternatives and solutions that work without regulation.
Have a Leave Behind. Create and provide a brief one-page summary of the issue and your ask to encourage the public official to have further reflection on your issue. Include your contact information with your one-pager so they may contact you in the future. If you call, offer to forward a one-pager to them.
Follow-up. After an in-person meeting with a public official, send a thank you note. The note should thank them for their time, and provide any additional information that was promised, when and how they may expect to receive it, and reiterate the commitment you are seeking from them.
During each State Legislative session, we produce frequent updates to proposed legislative policies affecting multifamily operations and development. We also provide year-end summaries to our members recapping our legislative accomplishments.
Apartment Advocate highlights key developments and viewpoints in industry public policy at all levels of government and helps you explore advocacy pathways. Whether it's to learn more about an issue, take action, or get involved in new, different or more committed ways, we've got you covered.