Last week NAIOP and 21 other national real estate organizations joined in a coalition letter to Congress advocating for measures to help address the nation’s housing affordability crisis. NAIOP has been part of a broad housing coalition that has been working with Congress to identify bipartisan policy initiatives that would increase housing supply. Included in the recommendations is the creation of incentives for the conversion of underutilized commercial properties into residential uses, a NAIOP 2024 legislative priority. As stated in the industry letter, not only would such repurposing help address the nation’s housing supply challenge, but it would also create jobs and boost local property tax revenues.

NAIOP has been working with Representatives Mike Carey (R-OH) and Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), and with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), to develop bipartisan legislation that establishes a federal tax credit of 20% of eligible conversion costs in the repurposing of an underutilized commercial property into residential. An adaptive reuse incentive would be an additional tool in a comprehensive housing policy response for which NAIOP and its allies have been advocating at the federal level.