August Advocacy Starts Monday!

July 30, 2026 — August Advocacy is one of NAHRO’s most important annual grassroots campaigns, this year we are expanding how members can participate.

From August 3 through September 4 NAHRO will continue to build on it’s record-breaking and award-winning grassroots advocacy by encouraging members to send letters, set up site visits, plan in-district meetings with decision-makers from Congress to City Council, and engage local media to amplify the local impact of federal programs and the work housers do in their communities everyday.

Why August Advocacy Matters

Members of Congress are back home in their districts and states during their annual August Recess. This period often can have some overlap with a key window for advocacy around the government’s annual fiscal year budget discussions. That gives NAHRO members a key 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 decision-makers and stakeholders at all levels.

A meeting, site visit, resident roundtable, property tour, media story, or community event can help officials understand how NAHRO members drive local impact by: preserving homes, administering vouchers, strengthening neighborhoods, supporting residents, and responding to local housing needs.

We’ll also have letters up during the entire month that support responsible funding for housing and community development in FY 2027 funding and oppose the OMB Proposed Rule on Federal Financial Assistance.

Finally, each week will also have an additional letter on a more specific topic. These include Emergency Housing Vouchers, Build America, Buy America requirements, Restore-Rebuild, and Support for Self-Sufficiency programs.

2026 August Advocacy Schedule

Each week of the campaign will focus on a key housing and community development priority, in addition to our letter and video advocacy tools, housers are encouraged to schedule and host site visits and engage with local media throughout the month.

Week 1 • August 3-7
Preserve and Protect Vouchers Week

Week 2 • August 10-14
Affordable Housing Preservation Week

Week 3 • August 17-21
Housing & Community Development Programs Week

Week 4 • August 24-28
Bring Housing Home Week • In-District/Virtual Advocacy Meetings

Week 5 • August 31 – September 4
Reduce Homelessness Week

Four Ways to Engage

1. Message Congress Directly

Housers are still encouraged to visit NAHRO’s Action Alert Center and 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.

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 decision-makers. Meetings and gatherings that convene 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. Visit the August Advocacy Hub to use our meeting request tool.

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.

New Advocacy Toolkits!

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

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 by submitting our form!

NAHRO Votes

August Advocacy is the main campaign, but 2026 is also an election year. Members can 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.

Bring NAHRO Votes to your PHA

NAHRO Votes is a free and nonpartisan resource PHAs can embed the NAHRO Votes Tool into their own sites or open the tool on a laptop, tablet, or mobile device and make available for public use in a public area. NAHRO Votes can also be shared freely and completed by anyone with a name and address.

Direct Share Link: https://nahro.quorum.us/campaign/nahro-votes

Embed Link (For Your Site):

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.

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