NAHRO’s Call for Session Proposals for the 2017 Summer Conference is Now Open.

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NAHRO’s Call for Session Proposals for the 2017 Summer Conference is now open.

Share your experience as a housing and community development professional by submitting a session proposal for consideration as a presentation at the 2017 NAHRO Summer Conference in Indianapolis, IN. We are looking for sessions on current and emerging issues, best practices, and strategies to handle challenges facing the industry.

Session proposals should fall under one of the following identified topic tracks – Public Housing, Section 8/HCV, H/CD Finance, Community Development, Commissioners, Organizational Management and International.

Deadline to submit: March 15 and proposals must be submitted thru NAHRO’s on-line submission tool.

Submissions should be complete with a clear and concise session title, description, three learning objectives and identified panelists.

Interactive Tool Shows the Challenges in Affordable Housing Development

The Urban Institute and National Housing Conference have published an interactive and educative tool, “The Cost of Affordable Housing: Does It Pencil Out,” that demonstrates the huge gap between what it costs to build and maintain affordable housing and the affordable rent that low-income families can pay, making it difficult to finance affordable housing without additional subsidy. Aimed at policymakers and those new to the affordable housing world, users can play with the tool by changing specific variables on development costs and see how a development’s funding gap can be closed. The tool spotlights the importance of federal programs that support affordable housing, such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) – which is the largest source of capital supporting the affordable housing inventory in the United States.

The formidable gap in financing affordable housing development is why it is important for the public to call on Congress to pass Sen. Maria Cantwell’s (D-Wash.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) Affordable Housing Improvement Act of 2016. This legislation would expand the overall LIHTC allocation authority by 50 percent and make permanent the 4 percent Housing Credit rate. For more information on this legislation, visit NAHRO’s Community Development Resource Center (log-in required) to access a one-pager on the bills.