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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 75 CROSSING OVER In addition to the larger housing-related issues at stake in the midterms, two particular races involved familiar faces from within the industry itself. In Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, the founder of Gateway Mortgage, won the gubernatorial race against Democrat Drew Edmondson. While at Gateway, Stitt was a member of the National Mortgage Servicing Association (NMSA), a Five Star trade association representing 90 percent of the mortgage market. During the primaries, Stitt gained the support of Republican politicians such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who won re-election against Representative Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas). "I congratulate the voters of Oklahoma for electing Kevin as their next Governor," said Ed Delgado, President and CEO of e Five Star Institute (DS News' parent organization). "ey have voted for someone whose strong business acumen helped propel a business he founded in 2000 into a nationwide mortgage company and will also help to strengthen Oklahoma's economy." Meanwhile, Richard Cordray, the former Director of the BCFP, lost out to Republican Mike DeWine in his bid for the governorship of Ohio. Cordray has a long history in Ohio. Before his stint as head of the BCFP, Cordray served as an Attorney General, Treasurer, and Solicitor General for the Buckeye State. Another development to keep an eye out for—former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro told Rolling Stone earlier this year that he would be making a decision after the midterm election as to whether he would launch a presidential bid for the 2020 election. While he didn't outright confirm those plans, he did say it was "likely" and that he would "make a final decision after November." While Secretary of HUD, Castro focused his efforts on stabilizing the post-Recession market; helping homeowners who lost their properties in Hurricane Sandy, floods, and other natural disasters; and giving public- housing residents access to high-speed internet through the ConnectHome program. During Castro's tenure, HUD also worked with the Department of Justice and 49 state attorneys general to protect homeowners from mortgage fraud during the financial crisis. e result was a $25 billion agreement in 2012 with the country's five largest lenders, providing relief to millions of homeowners across the country. THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY Voters in key states cast their ballots on housing-related legislation that focused on everything from increasing home construction to introducing new rent regulations to protect tenants. While Georgia passed a ballot referendum to help nonprofits in the state provide housing for those living with mental illness, California voted on three separate affordable-housing ballot measures. Affordable housing has become a hot- button nationwide issue in 2018. According to the National Association of Home Builders/ Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, only 56.4 percent of homes sold in Q3 2018 were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $71,900. at's down from 57.1 percent in Q3 2018, and represented the lowest percentage since mid-2008. California has become a prime example of the affordability challenges in recent years, home to consistently unaffordable metros such as Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Diego. e Veterans and Affordable Housing Act will allow the state to sell $4 billion in general bonds to fund existing affordable-housing programs for low-income people, veterans, and farmworkers. Most of the funds will go toward existing affordable-housing programs while $1 billion will go toward veteran housing programs. Proposition 10—or the Local Rent Control Initiative Act—was one of the most hotly debated pieces of legislation in the Golden State, as well as one of the costliest legislation campaigns this election. According to a CNBC report, proponents of this legislation spent around $26.2 million on the campaign, while those opposed spent $76 million. At the heart of the battle over this proposition was a state law that restricts the scope of rent-control policies that cities and other local jurisdictions may impose on residential property. If the proposition had been enacted, that law would have been repealed, resulting in a potential net reduction in state and local revenues of tens of millions of dollars per year in the long term. According to the Official Voter Information Guide on California's General Election, those supporting the proposition had said that enacting this legislation would restore authority to establish rent control in local communities while putting annual limits on the amount landlords can raise in terms of rent. Proponents argued that this would keep tenants in their homes rather than potentially pushing them into homelessness. Opponents of the initiative included real estate agents and residential real estate investors, among others, who argued that the legislation would only exacerbate California's housing crisis. ey reasoned that the initiative would have hurt both renters and homeowners as it allowed for the regulation of single-family homes and put "bureaucrats in charge of housing by letting them add fees on top of rent." e voters of California sided with the opposition and voted no on this legislation. at means, for now, the 1995 state law remains in place. THE ROAD TO 2020 While speculation abounds regarding what the next few years will look like, history suggests there will be more than a few surprises along the way, and the industry faces no shortage of challenges regardless of who controls which aspects of the federal government. Natural disasters are taking an increasing toll—according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were 31 U.S. weather and climate disasters that caused losses exceeding $1 billion in 2016 and 2017 alone. Earlier this year, a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists estimated that as many as 311,000 coastal homes will be at risk of chronic flooding within the next 30 years. As of this writing, the National Flood Insurance Program is weeks away from expiring unless Congress votes to extend it once again. While 2018's twin challenges of home affordability and insufficient housing inventory are beginning to see relief in some markets, many still speculate on when and how the next economic downturn will occur, and how it will impact the housing market when it does. According to a Bloomberg report, "two-thirds of business economists in the U.S. expect a recession to begin by the end of 2020." Whatever the future holds, it will be imperative that the industry works diligently to adapt to and anticipate the challenges ahead, whether Washington, D.C., enters a new era of bipartisan cooperation or becomes immobilized—once again—in gridlock.

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