In this series, Make Yourself At Home, we are hearing from members of the commercial real estate industry about how they are managing this new reality and gaining insight into their day-to-day approaches. You can subscribe on iTunes and Spotify.

This week, we’re speaking with Jeff DeBoer, the CEO of Real Estate Roundtable, a D.C.-based organization that represents over 100 real estate companies across the country.

DeBoer, who is testifying before the Senate Banking Committee next week, is one of the industry’s most influential lobbyists. He spoke on the podcast about how he will approach pushing the real estate agenda after Labor Day, considering Congress will be in session for just one month before the election, and an agreement on government funding needs to be reached before Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown.

He said his organization will continue to push for rental assistance over eviction moratoriums, tax breaks for making changes to buildings to keep them safe and guidelines around what liabilities businesses could face in the pandemic. 

“In this situation, people do not really know what is a reasonable thing to do and what isn’t a reasonable thing to do,” he said. “Everyone needs to know … if we know what is expected of us we will do it, and we don’t expect to be sued.”