Karlapalem Steps Up on Housing Affordability - Parker Moore Sat in the Back Row and Said Nothing

From the Karlapalem campaign

June 24

“I spoke first at Monday’s Madison City Council meeting on housing affordability. Parker Moore was in the room. He sat in the back row against the wall and never said a word. That is not representation. That is not leadership. That is a back-row seat paid for by builder and real estate PAC money.” Karlapalem said.

MADISON, Alabama - Hanu Karlapalem, Democratic nominee for Alabama State House District 4, today called out Republican incumbent Rep. Parker Moore for sitting silently in the back row of the Madison City Council chamber Monday night while residents spoke up about their concerns of Short-Term Rentals (STR) and housing affordability. Karlapalem also challenged Moore’s record of taking $79,500 from 48 special interest contributors, including builder PACs and real estate interests, while delivering nothing for working families in Morgan, Limestone, and Madison counties facing housing affordability crisis.

Karlapalem was the first public commenter to speak at the Madison City Council’s hearing on the city’s proposed Short-Term Rental ordinance. Moore, who represents Madison in the Alabama State House, was present in the chamber but did not speak and took no position on an issue directly affecting his constituents.

“The problem is the outside investor - the corporations, the real estate fund, the absentee landlord - buying up family homes as commercial assets. They are never there. They care only about the nightly rental rate,” Karlapalem told the council. “Seventy-five percent of survey respondents were concerned about short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods. This council should listen to them. Say YES to individual owners - veterans, retirees, seniors. Say NO to corporate investors and special interests.”

“This is not a partisan issue. This is a public safety and affordability issue,” Karlapalem said. “Every parent, every child, every school, every neighborhood in Alabama deserves these protections. Alabama has no state law requiring STR platforms to protect our neighborhoods and families.”

Monday night was not an isolated moment. Moore has not responded to a single email from Karlapalem in seven months. When The Decatur Daily asked Moore about the unanswered correspondence, Moore suggested the emails may have gone to his spam filter - Karlapalem sent the identical email separately to both Moore and Sen. Arthur Orr. Orr replied by U.S. mail. Moore claimed it went to spam - yet the content of that email later appeared in a piece by opposition media targeting Karlapalem, proving it was received and shared. Moore has also refused to respond to Karlapalem’s three-county debate challenge - first issued at his April 4 campaign kickoff and reported by multiple outlets - now more than two months without an answer. When Moore does appear, it is for photo ops and ribbon cuttings - like the February groundbreaking of The Grove at South Jefferson affordable housing project in Athens, led by Governor Ivey’s administration and Secretary of Workforce Greg Reed. Moore’s name does not appear in a single news account of that event. Showing up for a ribbon cutting is not a housing record.

It is a campaign photo.

“Parker Moore will not answer emails. He will not debate. And when he shows up in person, he hides in the back row,” Karlapalem said. “Seven months of silence is not representation. The voters of Morgan, Limestone, and Madison counties deserve a representative who shows up - not one who watches from the wall.”

The Senate passed the 21st Century Road to Housing Act 85 - 5 on Monday, and the House followed Tuesday 358 - 32 – with an overwhelming bipartisan vote in recent congressional history. The bill bans corporate investors who already own 350 or more single-family homes from purchasing additional properties, streamlines regulations to boost housing supply, and ties federal dollars to local housing production. This morning, Trump announced he was canceling the signing ceremony unless Congress first passes the SAVE America Act holding housing relief hostage to a separate political stunt.

“Trump is blocking it. And Parker Moore, who took money from the Associated Builders and Contractors PAC, road builder PACs, and Alabama Realtors PAC, has not said a word - not at the city council, not in Montgomery, not anywhere. Silence is not representation. It is pay to play.”

The housing affordability crisis is not abstract in HD4. Alabama’s teachers received a 2% pay raise starting October 1 while inflation is running at 4.2% - a pay cut in real terms. Police and fire department employees in Madison start in the low $50,000s. Some city employees cannot afford to live in the city they serve. Research from Harvard Business Review shows that as short-term rental listings increase in a city, rents rise - pricing out renters, working families, young families who want to call Madison home, and the workforce that keeps our community growing.

“My campaign has not taken a single dollar from PACs or special interests - not one,” said Karlapalem.

“Every dollar came from individual donors: family, friends, neighbors, supporters. Parker Moore’s builders and real estate PACs are not going to write his housing policy. But they already have, by ensuring he stays silent.”

As State Representative, Karlapalem has committed to acting where Parker Moore has not:

1. Mandatory sex offender registry screening by all STR platforms operating in Alabama

2. Minimum safety standards statewide for short-term rentals

3. Local government authority to set stricter STR standards without state preemption - Madison, Decatur, Athens, Priceville, and every Alabama city and county should be able to decide what is right for their own communities

4. Full transparency from platforms on their guest and owner vetting practices

5. Legislation restricting corporate investors from buying up single-family homes in Alabama

6. Fight for teacher and public employee pay raises that actually beat inflation

7. Support enabling legislation for local affordable housing trust funds and require developers to include affordable units in new residential developments “House District 4 has waited long enough. When I go to Montgomery in January, that changes.”

Hanu Karlapalem is a Madison, Alabama resident of 26 years, small technology business owner, UAH M.S. graduate, and Life Member and former Second Vice President of the Limestone County NAACP.

He has been on the frontlines fighting against hate and bigotry, for voting rights and freedoms, and to protect our democracy and the Constitution. He has been married for 31 years and has deep roots in the North Alabama community through civic, professional, and community service. He is the Democratic nominee for Alabama State House District 4 in the November 3, 2026, general election.

For more information: https://www.hanu4alabama.com