May has been our busiest month of the year at NHC. Today, we issued a press release on the Trump administration’s gratuitous and ill-informed budget rescissions. We formed an Opportunity Zone Task Force made up of our members, which has already met once and will sit down with senior Treasury Department staff tomorrow. I met with the Office of Comptroller of the Currency to discuss CRA modernization. We hosted a webinar for our members with the Federal Housing Finance Agency on the Federal Home Loan Banks’ Affordable Housing Program, following our briefing with the Federal Home Loan Banks on that subject last week. Next week, I am going to be in Columbus, Ohio, to meet with the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing. I will also address the presidents of the Federal Home Loan Banks here in Washington. The following week, I will moderate panels on affordable housing in Chicago and at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Secondary Market Conference in New York. Next month, of course, we will hold our Annual Gala and Policy Symposium, which I encourage all of you to attend regardless of your membership status, to get reacquainted with NHC and our new energy and direction.
NHC is sometimes called the “big tent” of housing, a term which I understand but never liked, as it implies a fixed object where others have to come. I much prefer thinking of NHC as the “Big Umbrella of Housing” because we are moving forward, regardless of the prevailing winds or inclement weather of the moment. Since the housing crisis, our industry and advocacy have become splintered as each of us has had to fight for our agenda in the face of historic opposition and economic distress. Yet as I often say, everyone for themselves has not served anyone well. Today, we are moving forward to address the biggest challenges to housing for all Americans, especially those who struggle to afford the kind of quality housing that most of us take for granted.
Your membership in NHC has never been more valuable or important. Every member and every dollar matters. Whether you are a Basic member for $800 a year, a Full member for $2000, which includes a ticket to the annual Gala, or you are a member of our Leadership Circle, you have a home in NHC. Please join us today!