From the National Association of REALTORS^® to the WRA to Wisconsin’s 17 local boards, informing the public about the needs of the real estate industry is paramount to ensuring that good public policy comes first in the minds of our elected officials. Direct lobbying and engagement with local elected officials have their place, and these methods do have a major impact in educating our representatives on the national, state and local levels. However, sometimes our best asset is to engage directly with members of the public to become involved in issues of importance to the industry and highlight to them how the issues directly impact their daily lives.

The Wisconsin Homeowners Alliance (WHA), which is closely partnered with the WRA, focuses on property rights and issues of importance to property owners. Together, the WRA and the WHA have conducted several successful campaigns in recent years that shed light on issues ranging from pier placement to chasing sales. In each instance, local engagement with constituents drew the attention of decision makers and helped create public policy to benefit current and future property owners throughout Wisconsin. These efforts have been supported by investments in advocacy and grants from NAR.

These policy wins have been evident at the local level as well, with the resounding success of the Transportation Overlay District campaign directed at educating members of the Madison Common Council from the REALTORS^® Association of South-Central Wisconsin being the most recent. The mail and digital program targeted engaged voters throughout Madison and showcased the need for this type of development to be approved and championed by Madison’s government. The results showed that the program worked by an overwhelming majority of the Common Council voting to proceed with Transportation Overlay Districts where necessary in Madison.

Currently, the REALTORS^® Association of Northeast Wisconsin is working on a coalition-building effort that is educating the public on Wisconsin’s housing crisis, in particular the long-term ramifications of the ongoing housing shortage on low- and moderate-income families. The HOUSING NOW Coalition, made up of local stakeholders throughout the region, launched the “Say Yes to Housing!” campaign focused primarily on digital contact with residents of northeast Wisconsin. The program started off with a bang; and with a relatively small budget and some smart yet aggressive targeting, the coalition has been able to make more than 100,000 impressions with locals in the targeted area. These digital impressions are the number of times a piece of advertising, be it a video or standard ad, is seen by those scrolling through their phone or on their computer. What is especially impressive is the fact that the campaign is not only getting people to focus on the issue of housing in their community, but they are taking the extra step to click on the ads and learn more about the need for policy changes at the local level that will help alleviate a statewide issue of low inventory, burdensome regulation and skyrocketing prices for starter homes.

A common thread between these two advocacy campaigns was the use of all available NAR and WRA resources to educate the public and elected officials on the issues that drive our industry. Both campaigns utilized NAR grants as well as funding and support from the WRA. As a three-tiered partnership from the local to the national level, it is truly an asset to find issues at the local level and be able to use advocacy tools from the national and state levels to bring about understanding on any policy issue that needs light shed upon it.

A benefit of a robust advocacy program is the ability to find new and innovative ways to engage with the public at large. The NAR grant process paired with WRA resources and an engaged local board makes this a reality in terms of ensuring that your opinions and the issues that help your business grow are heard and taken seriously by local elected officials. 

With a renewed strategic emphasis on local advocacy at the state level by the WRA’s strategic planning, and the new year just around the corner, if you have interest in any local issue that you believe needs a strong and vocal advocate behind it, we strongly urge you to reach out to your local board and the WRA with these specific local issues so that we can help ensure that your voice is heard. By working together at all three levels of membership, our advocacy efforts cannot just be seen as ideas — but we can bring them together as wins at the end of the day.