Rachael Myers, Executive Director
 

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Every year around this time, the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance joins advocates from across the country at the National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual policy conference. This year's gathering was a bit different from past years. At lunch on the first day, the Coalition had some big news, as they officially launched the United for Homes Campaign by announcing an investment of one million dollars into the organizing effort to reform the mortgage interest deduction. Part of this campaign involves investing the savings in the currently unfunded National Housing Trust Fund.

This is bold effort, but one we need to make if we hope to truly meet the housing needs of low-income Americans. The Housing Alliance endorses the campaign, along with more than 900 other organizations (33 from Washington). If you haven't signed on yet, I hope you will. The conference was focused on this effort, and participants left with a better understanding how a National Housing Trust Fund could work and what they can do to make sure it gets funded. The Coalition has shifted a significant portion of its staff time to the campaign too. This focus on one big goal is an interesting strategy with some risk, but with the potential for a huge reward (like ending homelessness). I wonder if there's a lesson here for the Housing Alliance.

State and Federal Policy Associate Ben Miksch and I arrived in D.C. several days before the conference began, in time for the board and state partner meetings that happened over the weekend. I joined the board last year and am still getting used to sitting around a table with some of the most talented and committed housing advocates in the country: leaders of well-respected national groups, heads of some of the most effective statewide coalitions, and public housing tenants and organizers with deep expertise in how low-income housing policy impacts real people. Of course, any opportunity to spend time with the Coalition’s ED and visionary Sheila Crowley is a guaranteed dose of inspiration for me. Sheila was the driving force that established the National Housing Trust Fund in 2008, and I expect her focus on securing revenue for that fund to mean new resources for affordable homes in our state.

Other organizations from around the country joined us Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday for the state partner meeting. These partners are statewide coalitions like us who help mobilize advocates locally on federal issues. Access to our colleagues at similar organizations is one of the highlights of the Coalition's meetings. We had the opportunity to share some of what we do well with old and new friends, and to learn from our peers about successful efforts and similar struggles in other parts of the country. We shared ideas about effective advocacy for state housing funds, state level advocacy on federal issues, creative mobilization techniques, and much more.

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I was particularly inspired by North Carolina's postcard project. They visit homes created with their state Housing Trust Fund and take photos with residents and workers to turn into postcards. Everyone they meet signs a postcard with a personal message for their legislators. This is a simple way to engage tenants in advocacy and make an important line item in their state budget real for lawmakers. I always leave these meetings with new policy ideas as well as inspiration for strengthening our coalition and organization. There are too many great organizations to name, but if you're curious about how coalitions like ours work in other states, you might want to read up on some of our favorites: North Carolina Housing Coalition, Louisiana Housing Alliance, Minnesota Housing Partnership, Indiana Association for Community Economic Development, Citizens Housing and Planning Association, and Housing Action Illinois.

Finally, Monday the conference began! It started with a spectacular keynote from author and journalist Melissa Harris-Perry and a presentation of the Coalition’s annual media award which went to Nikole Hannah-Jones and Jeff Larson of ProPublica for their series: Living Apart: Fair Housing in America. I sat on the award committee and read all the nominations and hope some time soon, we'll see a Washington State based media outlet nominated for this recognition.

Afterwards, we headed off to workshops. On Monday morning, I moderated a presentation on the Coalition's polling of reforming the mortgage interest deduction and using savings to fund affordable housing (hint: they're with us). On Tuesday, Ben gave a presentation about how states can prepare for new federal resources, using our state Housing Trust Fund as an example of an effective way to build and preserve low-income housing.

At lunch, the Coalition kicked off the campaign! We heard a rousing speech from Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, who is sponsoring mortgage deduction reform legislation that includes reinvesting the savings into housing for low-income households. He talked about why now is the time for this effort and called on us all to join the campaign. Later in the conference, we heard from Nan Roman (National Alliance to End Homelessness) and Barbara Poppe (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness) about how they also believe this campaign could lead to ending homelessness in our country.

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The Coalition's annual conference also includes a lobby day. So we took these messages to our delegation, stepping out of afternoon workshops Monday and Tuesday and all day Wednesday to rush around the Hill. We talked with everyone about the Housing Trust Fund, the damage of sequestration, and the need to protect the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. As we traveled from office to office, we were reminded that D.C. is a fairly small place as we ran into friends and allies from home including Adrienne Quinn from the Medina Foundation, immigration and social justice advocate Pramila Jayapal, former state senator Lisa Brown, and plenty of our public housing authority friends who were in town for their annual conference. We were glad to see friendly faces from home and glad to know our members of Congress were hearing about the needs and priorities of their communities.