HAND 24th Annual Meeting & Housing Expo – Press Release & Media Coverage - Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND)

July 2, 2015

The Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers Hosts Region’s Largest Affordable Housing and Community Development Convening for its
24^th Annual Meeting & Housing Expo on June 23^rd

Focuses on Regional Solutions for Greater Washington Affordable Housing Needs:
400,000 New Households Expected by 2023

Honors Local Affordable Communities and Leaders
Keynote by Renown Homelessness Strategist Rosanne Haggerty

WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 18, 2015 – Strategists, elected officials and business leaders will join more than 1200 affordable housing and community development practitioners at the Housing Association for Nonprofit Developers (HAND) 24^th Annual Meeting & Housing Expo on June 23, 2015 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Themed “A Connected Region, Connected Future” this annual meeting will focus on exploring innovative housing solutions through the lens of what the housing industry can accomplish regionally by combining resources and strategies from Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia to build and maintain housing that is affordable.

“Much the same as transit authorities operate throughout regional areas, we’re examining ways to build a regional housing infrastructure that will support the needs of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. This kind of bold statement starts by having key stakeholders participate in the conversation and ends with results,” said Heather Raspberry, executive director, HAND. “Housing that is affordable is essential to our region’s economic growth, thriving business community and high-quality of life for our residents and workforce. We all must work together to find solutions and at the HAND Annual Meeting, our members are more than ready to collaborate around this regionalism approach.”

Co-hosted by the Greater Washington Housing Leaders Group (GWHLG), the interactive plenary session “Regional Strategies to Increase Affordable Housing Development and Preservation in the Greater Washington Area” will examine and build on the current housing development practices and explore how to execute future strategies regionally for optimal success.

According to the forecast found in The Greater Washington Region’s Future Housing Needs: 2023 – a new report commissioned by Enterprise Community Partners and conducted by the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis (CRA) – between 2011 and 2023 the region will add over 400,000 new households, including nearly 150,000 with low-incomes.

“This increase in low-income households will be added to a region where nearly 250,000 households already are paying more than half of their income on housing costs,” said David Bowers, vice president and Mid-Atlantic market leader, Enterprise Community Partners, and a member of the GWHLG. “In the paper presented at the HAND Annual Meeting, Call the Question: Will the Greater Washington Region Collaborate and Invest to Solve Its Affordable Housing Shortage, we examine best practice solutions in the areas of increasing financial capital, strategic land use and reducing costs, all designed to address housing security needs. We call for the political will across the region, across public and private sectors, to take the necessary steps at the local and regional level to increase the supply of housing across the income continuum. The numbers contained in the new report by George Mason’s CRA make it clear that the region’s economic competitiveness will be directly impacted by the work done to address this critical infrastructure issue.”

Commissioned by the GWHLG, the Call to Question report – embargoed until June 23^rd – was written by Rick Cohen, underwritten by Enterprise and will be the basis for the interactive panel discussion during the plenary. The panel consists of city and county elected officials, local affordable housing and community development strategists and regional employers who are vested in ensuring their workers have housing that is affordable.

In addition to the morning session, the 24^th Annual Meeting & Housing Expo will include the prestigious Housing Achievement Awards luncheon where HAND honors affordable housing leaders and innovative housing communities in the region. This year’s winners include:

o Nonprofit Developer of the Year: Homes for America

o Best Large Affordable Housing Project: Bass Circle Apartments, Telesis

o Best Small Affordable Housing Project: Justice Park Apartments, Dantes Partners & Menkiti Group

o President’s Choice Award: Walter Webdale, President & CEO, AHC Inc.

o 11th Annual Art Children’s Art Contest Winner: Angelle Southwell, Humphrey Management

The luncheon will also include a keynote address by leading homelessness strategist Rosanne Haggerty, president and founder, Community Solutions. Haggerty, a force behind local supportive housing developments like the John and Jill Ker Conway Residence, now rising on North Capitol St. in Northeast D.C., as well as key national initiatives like the 100,000 Homes Campaign and the current Zero: 2016 effort, will further the meetings’ theme of “Connected Region, Connected Future” by delving into the key components of a system-wide response to homelessness and housing instability in the region.

“It takes more than just building new housing to solve homelessness,” said Haggerty. “It takes a whole housing system working seamlessly across a region. Everyone has to be part of the effort – developers, businesses, housing authorities, government agencies and social service providers alike – and it benefits each of those groups to do that. Community Solutions develops strategies that communities can use to change the way they work as a system, making measurable change in short periods of time. I’m looking forward to sharing our thinking at the HAND Annual Meeting.”

For more information on the HAND Annual Meeting & Housing Expo, visit www.HandHousing.org.

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