Local Realtors Advocate for Federal Policies to Promote Housing Availability
Meetings took place during the 2025 Realtors Legislative Meetings
Chattanooga, TN, June 11, 2025 – During the 2025 National Association of Realtors Legislative Meetings, Twelve members of the Greater Chattanooga Realtors (GCR) met with members of Congress in Washington, D.C., to advocate for policies that will increase the housing supply and improve access to homeownership.
Members and staff of the GCR met with Senator Marsha Blackburn, Senator Bill Hagerty, and Congressman Chuck Fleishmann discussed:
• Private property rights;
• Building housing supply and opportunity for all;
• Support for self-employed professionals;
• How NAR research products show the impact of real estate on the economy and the vital role it plays for consumers;
• The importance of property ownership in building safe, resilient communities.
“Real estate represents nearly one-fifth of the United States’ GDP. The meetings on Capitol Hill were an opportunity for GCR to talk directly with lawmakers about the positive impact Realtors have in local communities and for the broader economy,” said GCR President Ellis Gardner.
NAR and GCR support policies that will address the estimated 4.7 million home shortage in America. Increasing the supply of housing, easing market constraints, and making it easier for Americans to find homes they can afford will stabilize prices, revitalize communities, and support the American Dream of homeownership.
“Homeownership builds generational wealth, but a 4.7 million home shortage threatens middle-class prosperity. The members of Congress we met with were receptive to our ideas and appreciated that Realtors are hard-working entrepreneurs who make the American Dream of homeownership possible,” added Gardner.
NAR, and state and local associations organized the meetings on Capitol Hill as a part of their advocacy efforts on behalf of the real estate industry.
Founded in 1912, Greater Chattanooga REALTORS® is the voice for real estate in Greater Chattanooga. A regional organization with more than 2,700 members, Greater Chattanooga REALTORS® serves Hamilton and Sequatchie counties in southeast Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade, and Walker counties in northwest Georgia. The Association is one of approximately 1,100 local associations/board of REALTORS® nationwide that comprise the National Association of REALTORS®. Greater Chattanooga REALTORS® owns and operates a Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is one of approximately 600 MLSs in the country and services more than 3,000 MLS users. Local Association membership is comprised of REALTORS® servicing the Greater Chattanooga area and specializing in a variety of disciplines – appraisal, commercial, industrial, land, multi-family, property management and residential. Working alongside REALTORS® are our Affiliate members, who represent related industries in sympathy with the objectives of the Association. Our Affiliate members include mortgage lenders, home inspectors, title and closing services, pest inspection and control and insurance.