NLIHC 2019 Housing Policy Forum to Explore Disaster Housing Recovery

NLIHC’s 2019 Housing Policy Forum: Seizing the Moment for Bold Solutions taking place in Washington, DC, March 27-29, 2019 will explore the federal response to the major disasters in 2017 and 2018 that caused immense damage, exacerbated the housing crisis in impacted communities, and left low-income households with even fewer options for safe, sanitary, and affordable housing. The current response and recovery systems often fail to address the housing needs of the lowest income people, and with the frequency of disasters increasing, the federal government needs to make adjustments. Advocacy experts from impacted areas will discuss the current recovery issues they are facing and the federal solutions needed to ensure equitable rebuilding.  The session will feature Adi Martinez from Fundación Fondo de Acceso a la Justicia in Puerto Rico, Ilene Jacobs from California Rural Legal Assistance, Trey Reffett from the Office of Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Chrishelle Palay from the Houston HOME Coalition and formerly of, Texas Housers.  Register to attend the forum today at: http://www.nlihcforum.org/

Other sessions at the 2019 Policy Forum will explore bold solutions to homelessness and housing poverty in America. Awareness about the affordable housing crisis in America is growing, and federal policymakers on both sides of the aisle are responding with major new policy proposals. The Forum will provide an array of opportunities to engage with some of these elected officials and with affordable housing advocates, thought-leaders, policy experts, researchers, housing providers, low-income residents, and congressional staff on seizing this unique moment in America to advance real solutions.

Invited and confirmed Forum speakers include Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Todd Young (R-IN), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Matthew Desmond, author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.

Forum topics include: 

• The state of affordable housing in 2019, recent successes and challenges, and emerging opportunities
• The state of play related to affordable housing on Capitol Hill following the 2018 mid-terms
• Achieving greater racial equity in housing
• The growing Opportunity Starts at Home multi-sector affordable housing movement
• The U.S. eviction epidemic and its solutions
• New opportunities for achieving significant new investments in the national Housing Trust Fund
• Best practices in non-partisan voter engagement and ways to get candidates for public office to make affordable housing a priority in their campaigns
• Working with and making housing an issue with the media
• The future of public housing
• Achieving development without displacement
• The keys to state, local, and resident-led organizing
• Ensuring equitable housing recovery in the wake of recent and future disasters
• Tribal and rural affordable housing needs and solutions
• The latest trends in affordable housing research
• Low-income resident leadership
• And more

A limited number of shared-lodging hotel scholarships will be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis to low-income residents who are NLIHC members and who pay their own Forum registration fee. Scholarships will be awarded to ensure a broad geographic distribution. A special session for low-income residents will be held on the morning of March 19. Apply for a scholarship online at: http://www.nlihcforum.org/venue or download a fillable PDF at: https://bit.ly/2pZvn1i

Learn more about the Forum and register today at: http://www.nlihcforum.org/