Last week, NAIOP members from chapters across North America came to Washington, DC, to participate in the 2026 Chapter Leadership & Legislative Retreat. The event concluded Wednesday with NAIOP’s Capitol Hill Day, during which NAIOP members and local chapter leaders met with members of the Senate and House of Representatives and their staff.
Getting to know your elected officials is an essential element in advancing public policies that make commercial real estate successful. As former Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas Phillip “Tip” O’Neill Jr. famously said, “All politics is local,” and the purpose of these meetings was not only to educate policymakers on NAIOP’s national priority federal issues, but also to introduce NAIOP members and inform members of Congress about the contributions they make to the economies of their states.
Lobbying Congress is a right guaranteed to you under the First Amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.”
Lobbying is essentially developing a professional relationship with your elected officials, and through these relationships you educate them on how laws and regulations influence your business decisions and influence economic activity.
NAIOP’s Capitol Hill Day should serve as the beginning of your efforts to meet with your Senators and Representatives, and your NAIOP chapter offers you many opportunities to continue developing those relationships. Inviting your elected officials to attend your chapter events is a great way to connect them with the broader NAIOP membership. Your senators and representatives should also be invited to tour projects and learn how your buildings create jobs and housing opportunities for the people they represent. The work NAIOP members do improves the quality of life in your community, and you need to keep telling that story.
This year, NAIOP members are focusing on three priority issues:
Adaptive incentives for reuse and affordability of housing. NAIOP members likely recognize this as a topic we have been discussing with Congress in recent years as office vacancies continue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated increase in work-from-home patterns. While many companies are implementing return-to-office policies, the impact on many Class B and C buildings in terms of reduced occupancy levels remains, with demand largely shifting to Class A trophy buildings. At the same time, the availability of affordable rental housing has deteriorated in recent years.
To help remedy this situation, NAIOP has worked with Reps. Mike Carey (R-OH) and Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) to promote the Revitalizing Downtowns and Main Streets Act (HR 2410). This legislation would encourage the adaptive reuse of vacant and underutilized commercial buildings for residential purposes. The bill creates a tax incentive to offset 20% of eligible conversion costs resulting from the conversion of an underutilized commercial building (office, industrial, or retail) to residential, a portion of which would be devoted to affordable housing. Implementing a conversion tax credit would give municipalities an additional tool to increase the supply of affordable rental housing while reducing the likelihood that many outdated or uncompetitive commercial structures will become stranded assets. During their Hill meetings, NAIOP members provided officials and their staff with a’Adaptive reuse and housing affordability’, one page.
Meeting the increased demand for electricity. Throughout 2025, NAIOP’s advocacy team met with federal officials to highlight our concerns about the future availability of electricity to enable both the growth of artificial intelligence use and the necessary commercial real estate development. Consumers are already facing rising energy prices and the expected growth in energy demand, driven by the electrification of buildings, data centers and consumer consumption over the next decade, will push policymakers to take action.
NAIOP encourages Congress to pursue a comprehensive energy policy designed to meet electricity demand across the U.S. economy. These measures will require more investment in expanding and modernizing the electricity grid, and enabling reforms for energy production and transmission projects. During their visits to the Hill, NAIOP members shared with officials and their staff a One page “Electrification and energy policy”.
Financing transport and infrastructure. Modern and efficient transportation systems are essential to our states and localities and are a key ingredient for vibrant commercial real estate markets. The current five-year authorization for federal surface transportation programs expires on September 30, 2026. NAIOP supports the approval of a multi-year transportation reauthorization before the September deadline to ensure local governments have the funding security necessary to undertake the planning and development of major projects. Realistic funding levels that reflect the impact of inflation, the increased number of electric vehicles and other relevant factors should be taken into account to ensure a forward-looking reauthorization of surface transportation. During their visits to the Hill, NAIOP members provided officials and their staff with a “Transport and Infrastructure” one-pager.
NAIOP’s federal advocacy efforts are most effective when we work with our members to educate federal lawmakers and their staff about how policies emanating from Washington affect economic activity at home. The November midterm elections provide NAIOP chapters with the opportunity to sponsor candidate forums and/or invite elected officials and candidates to speak at chapter events. NAIOP members are the business leaders of their communities and the projects they build contribute to their local economies. During my time as a congressional staffer, we were regularly looking for opportunities to meet constituents and NAIOP members were exactly the kind of people we wanted to meet.
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