Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of Public Policy Issues and Headlines from around the Northern Virginia Region, the Commonwealth and on Capitol Hill.
1. NAR Response to PAVE Action Plan
On March 31, 2022, NAR sent a letter to the White House and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) providing comments to the Biden Administration’s Action Plan to Advance Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE Action Plan) created by the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE Task Force). NAR developed these comments under the guidance of a work group made up of members from NAR’s Real Property Valuation Committee and Fair Housing Policy Committee. Overall, NAR is supportive of many of the recommendations in the PAVE Action Plan including those related to increasing consumer education and awareness of appraisal bias, improving data collection and research on appraisal bias, and creating quality controls for the use of automated valuation methods (AVMS) in developing property values.
2. NAR to SCOTUS: Protect Consumers From Onerous Lawsuits
The National Association of Realtors® today filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to protect American consumers from a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The Court's ruling misrepresents federal law and would invalidate decades of legal precedent by allowing copyright infringement lawsuits to be filed against homeowners who make or display floor plans of their own homes. The brief was introduced alongside 18 groups representing consumers and professionals throughout the U.S. real estate industry, including the Redfin Corporation®, the Zillow Group, the American Property Owners Alliance and CoreLogic.
3. Coalition Of Chambers, Trade Groups, Government Agencies Says Gas Tax Holiday Would Hurt Virginia
A group of 60 chambers of commerce, construction trade groups, government agencies, and others have signed a letter saying that a gas tax holiday and an annual 2% cap on inflation on the tax would be bad for Virginia and its infrastructure. The letter from Virginians For Better Transportation was sent Friday in response to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposal for a three-month gas tax holiday from May to August and then a two-month gradual phase-in of the tax.
4. Metro releases 10-year strategic plan for development
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs Metrorail and Metrobus, released its first-ever strategic plan for joint development on Thursday, announcing an ambitious initiative to bring in 26,000 new housing units in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. The document says that 40 Metro stations — including six in Northern Virginia — have more than 500 available acres that could lead to 31 million square feet of new multiuse development and yield $340 million in new annual tax revenue.
5. Housing Symposium Snippet: Getting to Homeownership is Major Step in Building Wealth
In this session, a panel of public and private sector leaders took a deeper dive into the opportunities and roadblocks surrounding homeownership and the wealth gap. Participants reviewed the latest data on homeownership, several barriers to homeownership (including the county’s supply of affordable for-sale properties) and potential solutions for enhancing the possibility of homeownership through new development (tackling issues of density, conversion of commercial space), policy enhancements (tax incentives and zoning), and other community services.