August Advocacy: Show Officials Housing at Work

August Advocacy is one of NAHRO’s most important annual grassroots campaigns, and this year we are expanding how members can participate.

This year’s campaign will run from August 3 through September 4 building on NAHRO’s record of strong grassroots advocacy by encouraging members to send letters, set up site visits, plan in-district meetings with decisionmakers from Congress to City Council, and engage local media to amplify the local impact of federal programs and the work housers do everyday.

Why August Advocacy Matters

August is a critical advocacy window because Members of Congress are back home in their districts and states. That gives NAHRO members a timely opportunity to connect federal housing and community development priorities to local impact.

But August Advocacy is not limited to Congress. Affordable housing and community development are shaped by decisions at every level of government. Federal funding matters, but so do state policy decisions, local approvals, redevelopment priorities, service partnerships, and community investment. This is why we’ve expanded the campaign beyond Congress and want to be inclusive of decisionmakers and stakeholders at all levels.

A meeting, site visit, resident roundtable, property tour, media story, or community event can help officials understand what NAHRO members do every day: preserve homes, administer vouchers, strengthen neighborhoods, support residents, and respond to local housing needs.

2026 August Advocacy Schedule

Each week of the campaign will focus on a key housing and community development priority:

Week 1: August 3–7
Preserve and Protect Vouchers Week

Week 2: August 10–14
Affordable Housing Preservation Week
Public Housing and Project-Based Rental Assistance

Week 3: August 17–21
Housing & Community Development Programs Week

Week 4: August 24–28
Bring Housing Home Week
In-District and Virtual Advocacy Meetings

Week 5: August 31–September 4
Homelessness Week

Four Ways to Engage

1. Message Congress Directly

Housers are still encouraged to participate through NAHRO’s Action Alert Center to send customizable letters to Congress on key housing and community development priorities. Members should personalize letters whenever possible; even a short local example can help congressional offices understand how federal decisions affect residents and communities back home.

Take action: Visit the Action Alert Center

2. Request a Meeting

Use Congress’ August Recess to request meetings with Members of Congress, congressional staff, state legislators, mayors, councilmembers, county officials, agency leaders, and other local decisionmakers. Meetings and gatherings convening decisionmakers from different levels, are highly encouraged!

A meeting request is the front door to stronger advocacy. It can lead to a site visit, property tour, roundtable, local office meeting, and long term partnership.

Use the tool: Visit the August Advocacy Hub

3. Host Lawmakers and Staff

NAHRO members can do something many advocates cannot: show officials the work directly.

A site visit can help decisionmakers see how housing programs operate, meet staff and residents, understand local challenges, and connect policy decisions to real outcomes. Site visits can include property tours, redevelopment projects, preservation walkthroughs, resident conversations, ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings, or community events. This is another great opportunity to host decisionmakers at multiple levels at your property.

4. Amplify Local Impact

August is also a good time to make housing part of the local conversation. Members can use local media, newsletters, podcasts, radio, public access television, social media, and community events to tell their housing story.

Leverage  media engagements to reinforce what officials are hearing through meetings, letters, and site visits and show the local impact HUD programs are having in your community.

Toolkits Coming Soon

NAHRO is developing a set of practical August Advocacy toolkits to help members take the next step. These resources will include guidance on how to request meetings, host site visits, engage local media, share local stories, and report advocacy activity back to NAHRO.

Members should watch for these tools as the campaign launches and begin identifying local stories, possible sites to highlight, officials to invite, and staff or partners who can help participate.

Report Your Advocacy

Reporting helps NAHRO turn local action into national advocacy intelligence.

Members should report meetings, site visits, phone calls, testimony, local media appearances, ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings, community events, and other advocacy engagements. These reports help NAHRO understand where officials are hearing from housing leaders and where additional outreach may be needed.

Report your work: Submit an Advocacy Engagement Report

NAHRO Votes

August Advocacy is the main campaign, but 2026 is also an election year. Members can also use NAHRO Votes as a nonpartisan civic engagement resource to connect residents, staff, and community partners with official voting information. NAHRO Votes is designed to help PHAs and housing leaders share official, neutral voting information while maintaining political neutrality.

Use and share this resource: Visit NAHRO Votes

Start Now

This August, every NAHRO member can take at least one step: send an Action Alert, request a meeting, host a visit, share a story, engage local media, or report an advocacy engagement.

The more members participate, the stronger NAHRO’s national advocacy voice becomes.