REALTOR® Party Ramps Up for 2024

Hundreds of REALTORS^® kicked off December in St. Louis at the REALTOR^® Party Training Conference, preparing to advocate for property ownership on behalf of clients and communities in 2024.

Speakers included former Missouri Senators Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, and former HUD Deputy Secretary Pamela Patenaude, who all echoed the REALTOR^® Party’s focus on bipartisanship in putting the American Dream in reach for more people.

Mayor Jones’s address was particularly moving, as she relayed her own family’s story of putting down roots in St. Louis. She talked about the memories they made and the comfort they found in the home they affectionately called “The Big House.” But then, she shared how the neighborhood deteriorated through neglect and disinvestment. Eventually The Big House was destroyed by a fire after a lightning strike.

That experience galvanized her commitment to making homeownership more accessible.

“Every family deserves a place to live that survives generations,” said Mayor Jones, a former REALTOR^® herself. “Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, loving community like I did – and homeownership is critical to that vision. Homeownership helps us build strong, resilient families and communities, creating safer neighborhoods through powerful networks like I enjoyed as a child.”

During the conference, approximately 40 attendees participated in a bus tour highlighting St. Louis’s role in U.S. civil rights history, where they gained new insights into the Shelley vs. Kraemer Supreme Court case that struck down the area’s racial covenants. They visited a segregated neighborhood, devastated due to urban renewal, as well as a local project supported by REALTORS^® that offers housing and trauma-informed services for veterans. They also saw firsthand how the St. Louis REALTORS^® are working to honor the area’s civil rights history through Placemaking grants.

“We have the opportunity to right historic wrongs,” Mayor Jones said, “and I am thankful to the REALTORS^® association for sharing my commitment to setting more people on a path to homeownership and to build new cycles of generational wealth.”

Throughout the conference, attendees took deep dives into policy issues including rent control and affordable housing and supply. They learned about the RPAC disbursement process and discussed the 2024 election landscape. Advocacy committees met to set the stage for their work next year.

Most of all, attendees left empowered to help more NAR members make a commitment to Vote, Act, and Invest in 2024.

NAR Vice President of Advocacy Nate Johnson and REALTOR^® Party Director Brenda Small closed the conference with an image that brought the REALTOR^® Party to life – the Gateway Arch. Its unique design is supported by an intricate system of double-walled, steel equilateral triangles stacked on top of one another and welded together.

“Each one plays an important role,” Johnson said. “On its own, one triangle can’t support much weight. But when they fit together, they form something truly spectacular.”

“We have weighty policy issues to handle and big advocacy goals to achieve,” Small continued. “None of us can do it alone. Every member is a crucial piece of the REALTOR^® Party puzzle. When we all work together, at every level, it’s a perfect fit.”