Yesterday, NHC and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation hosted a symposium entitled Partners In Innovation: A Dialogue on Federal, State and Local Rental Preservation Solutions, which brought together experts from across the nation to discuss the vital role that preserving affordable rental homes can play to help address the current housing crisis.
Key public officials, such as U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, spoke throughout the day about the important role that the Federal government can play in supporting innovative approaches to state and local rental housing preservation.
Specifically, the event featured three plenary discussions highlighting the work of 12 states and cities who were recently awarded a total of $32.5 million in grants and low-cost loans – including Denver, Florida, Iowa, Los Angeles, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon and Portland, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington and Seattle – to launch projects to preserve affordable rental homes for more than 70,000 families as part of the Foundation’s Window of Opportunity Initiative. Representatives speaking about model preservation programs supported by the Foundation in New York City and Cook County, Illinois, were also featured at the symposium.
**To listen to the remarks made by HUD Secretary Donovan yesterday, please Click Here.
**To view the agenda from the event, please Click Here.