What the Respect State Housing Laws Act Means for Real Estate Insurance Underwriting

The Respect State Housing Laws Act (H.R. 1078 in the House, S. 470 in the Senate) is primarily discussed as an eviction process reform. It is that, but for multifamily operators and their insurers, it is also something more specific: a potential correction to one of the upstream drivers of the affordable housing insurance crisis.

This post explains the legislation and traces its insurance underwriting implications in a way that the policy coverage typically does not.

What the legislation does

The Respect State Housing Laws Act strikes the temporary, federal notice language from the CARES Act: the ambiguous statutory text in 15 U.S. Code Section 9058(c) that some courts continue to enforce as a 30-day pre-eviction notice requirement despite its intended expiration in 2020. The legislation eliminates the ambiguity by removing the language entirely, returning eviction notice periods to the state and local laws that govern all other evictions in each jurisdiction.

The result: the average pre-eviction notice period for CARES Act-covered properties would drop from 30 days (where currently enforced) to the state average of 6 days. Tenant protections established by state law remain in full force, the legislation only removes the federal overlay that creates inconsistency between judges and jurisdictions.

The insurance underwriting connection

For insurance underwriters, the most consequential aspect of the CARES Act notice extension is not the notice period itself, it is what the extended timeline does to the risk profile of covered properties.

Extended claims exposure windows

Every day a disruptive or non-paying resident remains in a unit beyond what state law would allow is a day of additional insured exposure. For a property insurer evaluating a CARES Act-covered portfolio, this extended exposure window is factored into the actuarial model. Even when the operator's management quality and historical loss ratio are strong.

Elimination of the CARES Act notice requirement does not eliminate tenant protections, but it does reduce the asymmetric risk that currently penalizes covered properties in underwriting models.

Crime score methodology recalibration

Insurance carriers use crime score algorithms that pull from public incident data associated with property addresses. Properties in markets with active CARES Act enforcement accumulate incident data that reflects the elevated risk created by extended occupancy of at-risk residents, not necessarily the underlying management quality of the operator.

When the CARES Act notice is eliminated and eviction timelines normalize, the incident data that feeds crime score algorithms for covered properties should gradually improve. Better crime scores mean lower premium surcharges, wider carrier availability, and improved coverage terms.

Affordable housing market stabilization

The NAA has documented that investors are less willing to access federally-backed capital and rehabilitate communities that accept housing subsidies because of the financial risk created by CARES Act notice-related concerns. This capital avoidance reduces the supply of well-maintained affordable housing, concentrating risk in the properties that remain in the market.

For insurers, a more stable affordable housing market (with more participants, better-maintained properties, and normalized eviction processes) is a more insurable market. The Respect State Housing Laws Act is a market stabilization measure with direct insurance availability implications.

The legislative status and ask

As of 2026, H.R. 1078 and S. 470 are in their respective chambers with active support from the National Apartment Association and affiliated state and local apartment associations.

• House ask: cosponsor H.R. 1078 (introduced by Representatives Barry Loudermilk R-GA and Vincente Gonzalez D-TX) and vote in favor when it comes to the floor

• Senate ask: cosponsor S. 470 (introduced by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith R-MS) and urge Banking Committee leadership to mark up the legislation

What operators should communicate to their legislative representatives

The insurance argument is one of the most concrete and bipartisan cases for the legislation. For Republican offices: the CARES Act notice represents prolonged federal intrusion into a process that has always been managed at the state level, and its continuation is driving capital out of affordable housing markets that desperately need investment. For Democratic offices: the extended notice period is trapping residents in a prolonged cycle of accumulating debt that damages their credit and reduces their future housing opportunities, it is not protecting them.

Both arguments are genuine, accurate, and directly relevant to the insurance market consequences of the legislation's absence.

Adding the insurance layer to this conversation (that the CARES Act notice is a documented upstream driver of the insurance cost escalation making affordable housing unviable) gives legislative advocates a concrete economic argument that extends beyond the eviction process debate.