The first day of NALHFA’s 2020 Virtual Conference was a success!
The opening and welcome session kicked off with a powerful message on the theme need for action from Jonathan M. Paine, Executive Director, NALHFA and Rich Froehlich, NALHFA President, along with First Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, New York City Housing Development Corporation.
The conversation followed with keynote speakers Vicki Been, Deputy Mayor, New York City and Diane Yentel, President and CEO, National Low Income Housing Coalition highlighting the housing disparity and the increased impact the COVID pandemic has had on affordable housing and specifically the minority populations.
Vicki Been provided statistics on the billions of dollars that are needed to help with housing and rent assistance to prevent tenant evictions and foreclosure. For example, Section 8 alone needs more than 2.2 billion dollars as funds are “woefully below what is needed”. Vicki strongly suggested that we need to: work to get more jobs available so that people can start to get back on their feet, build fairer housing and laws, and invest infrastructure of the nation.
Diane Yentel followed afterwards speaking on structural racism citing figures on the inequality in housing. She provided the statistic that 24 Governors have allowed the eviction moratorium to expire, giving Landlords free rein to proceed with evictions. Diane mentioned we need at least 1 billion dollars for rental assistance. She strongly urges the housing sector to look at the racial inequity to see how it can be changed.
Overall, this session was very informative. As always, HDS Companies is proud to support the industry trade organizations that support our marketplace and our clients directly.
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