Forging Ahead

NAHRO Family,

Last week, the first major piece of housing legislation in years became law. Thanks to all whose advocacy helped pass the 21^st Century Road to Housing Act. Congratulations on a job well done.

The bill contains many NAHRO-supported provisions, including HOME program reforms, the expanded authority to use CDBG funds for affordable housing construction, and many other pieces that will help public housing agencies build and maintain homes more efficiently. It’s not perfect, and we’ll continue to work with both Congress and HUD to improve it.

I appreciate all who raised your voices and submitted record comments against the OMB proposed rule. In Nashville, the NAHRO Board of Governors spoke firmly and unanimously by passing a resolution affirming NAHRO’s opposition to this rule, noting that it would politicize funding streams, disrupt HUD funding, increase administrative requirements, strip civil right protections and harm millions of families receiving and waiting for federal rental assistance. We hope that our concerns, along with those amplified in hundreds of thousands of other comment letters, are reflected in any final rule.

Thank you to the 900+ folks who joined us in Nashville last week (118 for the first time!) to teach, learn, celebrate and connect at our 2026 Summer Symposium. It was such a pleasure engaging with so many of you in the hallways and crowded session rooms, to hear about your successes and your challenges alike, and to reaffirm our common dream of thriving communities with affordable homes for all.

Thank you to Mayor Freddie O’Connell who not only declared NAHRO Day, but an entire NAHRO week! We appreciate your warm hospitality and all you’ve done for housing in Nashville.

Thank you to keynote speaker Raj Chetty for sharing your research and thinking with us. For those of you who weren’t able to join us in Nashville, you can see some of the data at www.opportunityinsights.org.

Thank you to our hosts for your generosity and hospitality — our host region, SERC NAHRO; our host state organization, the Tennessee Housing and Redevelopment Association; and our local host the Metropolitan Development and Housing Authority, all welcomed us with open arms, deep housing knowledge, and fantastic food and music.

Thank you to our IRGE Award winners, Betsy Morris and Laurie Puscher (posthumously) for your international leadership — and a special thank you to Laurie’s brother Steve for accepting the award on behalf of Laurie’s family, and sharing a few stories about her. And of course, thank you to our sponsors and tabletop vendors — we appreciate your support and your partnership.

And finally, thank YOU, in advance, for taking action in this year’s August Advocacy campaign, which begins on August 3. This year, we’ll be focusing less on letter volume and more on building connections and relationships. So start scheduling meetings and site visits, and get your talking points ready. We can help! Our award-winning (more on this soon!) advocacy resources, including the 2026 Secure Homes, Strong Communities Report, the state data numbers, our economic impact calculator and our housing data dashboard are all updated and ready for your use.

Let’s lift our voices proudly and well. See you in Denver!