Leading the Way Forward

Happy Pride Month, everyone! In addition to renewing our commitment to fair housing for LGBTQ+ community members, we also celebrate their history and support their struggles for equality.

Led by Jake Joseph, the LGBTQ+ Subcommittee of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee has provided some informational resources about the housing challenges faced by LGBTQ+ people, which we’ve been sharing on our communications channels throughout the month. 

This month, I’m highlighting some of the many ways that NAHRO has been providing members and partners with the advocacy, training and other resources we all need to build and maintain thriving communities with affordable homes for all. 

Advocacy 

I’m so proud of the way you all showed up on Capitol Hill during the Washington Conference in April. Check out these stats! 

While these are great numbers, we cannot and will not rest on our laurels. Advocacy is a process, and doesn’t stop with a visit or even a follow-up email. Our Policy and Legislative Affairs team is already working on ways to build on the momentum of those April visits. We’ve debuted a new advocacy platform – check it out at www.nahro.org/advocate – and are putting the finishing touches on this year’s August Advocacy campaign, which we’ll be debuting during the July 11-12 Summer Symposium in Chicago.

We’re also making sure to represent all our public housing agency members (and non-members) well on Capitol Hill! Last month, Georgi Banna, NAHRO General Counsel and Director of Strategic Initiatives, testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance during a hearing on Public Housing Authority (PHA) oversight. During his hearing, Georgi highlighted that the overwhelming majority of PHAs are doing excellent work with limited resources, and that chronic underfunding by Congress directly harms residents. You can check out his testimony and our hearing summary on the NAHRO website. NAHRO is also happy to support and lift up your own Congressional and HUD visits – like this tour of the Oklahoma Housing Authority’s (OHA) John H. Johnson affordable assisted living community and Will Rogers Courts family housing development.  Last year, I was able to visit John H. Johnson with OHA’s CEO Mark Gillette to see for myself how much the residents appreciate their homes.  We are pleased that PDAS Richard Monocchio and his team had the same opportunity.

It’s not too early to start planning your August Advocacy site visits! Check out the advocacy section of our website for tips, and watch out for more August Advocacy info in the summer.

Have a great June and see you in Chicago next month!