Real Estate Roundtable members and policymakers met this week to discuss pressing issues affecting CRE, including return-to-work trends, the looming refinance wave, the debt ceiling, and affordable housing challenges. The Roundtable 2023 Spring Meeting also focused on tax, climate, and regulatory proposals. (The Roundtable’ Policy Priorities and Executive Summary, April 24)

Speakers & Policy Issues

• Roundtable Chair John Fish (Chairman & CEO, SUFFOLK), below left, and Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer, right, led policy issue discussions featuring the following guests:

• Gina Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce

  Secretary Raimondo, center, discussed how the Commerce Department is investing billions in federal funds in infrastructure, manufacturing, and other industries to generate jobs and economic growth. The former governor of Rhode Island also focused on her recent “Million Women in Construction Initiative” during a National Public Radio Marketplace interview later the same day.

• Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)

  As a member of the Senate Budget and Foreign Relations Committees, Sen. Kaine offered his insights on negotiations surrounding the debt ceiling, global trade, and efforts to revise federal remote work policies aimed at getting government employees back to their offices. (The Roundtable’s workplace return efforts, Commercial Observer, April 14)

• Rep. French Hill (R-AR)

  Serving as Vice-Chair of the influential House Financial Services Committee and Chairman of its new Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, Rep. Hill addressed economic issues and CRE, debt ceiling negotiations, the banking system, and monetary policy. Yesterday, the Financial Services Committee approved two bills sponsored by Rep. Hill to expand capital formation.

• Phillip Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget Office

  The government’s fiscal trajectory; the impact of high interest rates on federal revenue and spending; and long-term trends in social security, immigration, and the national debt were among the topics discussed by CBO Director Swagel. (The Fiscal Times, April 25)

• Sharon Wilson Géno, President, National Multifamily Housing Council

  A Roundtable member exchange on policy issues included an update on affordable housing challenges facing the industry by NMHC’s President Géno. Capital concerns affecting multifamily and commercial markets were also a topic in a recent Walker Webcast featuring Géno and The Roundtable’s DeBoer, hosted by Roundtable Member Willy Walker (Chairman & CEO, Walker & Dunlop).

• Kevin Warsh, Former Member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors
  Mr. Warsh, right, a member of the Fed from 2006-2011, discussed the central bank’s potential actions affecting commercial real estate markets, the wave of CRE debt maturities, and the future of the office sector, with Roundtable Treasurer Thomas Flexner, left, Vice Chairman and Global Head of Real Estate, Citigroup.

Next on The Roundtable's meeting calendar is the all-member Annual Meeting on June 13-14 in Washington, DC. 

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