Bipartisan Property Conversion Incentive Legislation Introduced
Originally published on July 17, 2024 by Aquiles Suarez for NAIOP.
Just prior to leaving for this week’s congressional recess, and before the tragic events of this weekend which unfortunately served to highlight our current political polarization, Republicans and Democrats in Congress worked together to introduce bipartisan legislation furthering one of NAIOP’s top legislative priorities. The Revitalizing Downtowns and Main Streets Act (H.R. 9002) was introduced last Thursday with 12 original cosponsors: six Republicans and six Democrats, all members of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.
H.R. 9002 would incentivize the conversion of underutilized commercial properties to residential use, helping to address the historically high office vacancy levels resulting from hybrid work patterns that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic and which have become a persistent feature of our labor markets. At the same time, the adaptive reuse of these structures would help alleviate the lack of housing supply, including of affordable housing, in many localities. The welcome show of bipartisanship underscores the importance of the issue, which NAIOP has made a priority since last year.