NLC's Affordable Housing Program provides local elected officials and their staffs with a multifaceted educational program to promote the development, expansion, and sustainability of affordable housing programs for their communities. Program components include the following:
Workshops
Workshops are held at NLC's annual Congress of Cities Conference. These sessions feature a panel of local officials and experts who discuss housing related topics and share successful practices enacted by local communities around affordable housing issues. Recent topics focused on specific housing related issues, such as homelessness, regulatory barriers, predatory lending, HOME and CDBG funding.
Publications
Publications are available in downloadable format detailing resources and best practices in affordable housing.
There are three newly published Municipal Action Guides on housing issues:
Seizing Opportunities to Develop and Preserve Affordable Housing offers strategies and action steps for local governments to implement revitalization strategies in their communities with the aging, abandoned and foreclosed properties.
Linking Housing and Community Services provides strategies and action steps for local governments to design a comprehensive plan that connects housing with community services tailored to specific population groups in the community.
Housing Trust Funds provides action steps to establish a trust fund and suggestions of funding resources from municipal fees that can be used to maintain the fund.
The recent publication, Affordable Housing Finance Resources: A Primer (PDF file), presents summaries of programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Agriculture, as well as foundations and grant-making institutions that offer funding to cities that address their affordable housing needs.
A guidebook, Practical Approaches to Affordable Housing Challenges (PDF file), outlines strategic actions taken by local government officials to counter obstacles and challenges in the development and implementation of affordable plans in their communities.
Linking Housing and Community Services: A Housing Primer for Local Officials provides an outline of a planning effort that can lead to successful programs and strategies that increase the quality of life for communities' most needy citizens. Copies are available by contacting Bonnie Mann at (202) 626-3125 or mann@nlc.org.
This Municipal Action Guide, Housing Assistance for Municipal Employees, provides some action steps for local elected officials to consider for the development of employer assisted housing. These programs can be a part of the city's broader housing strategy.
NEW!!
The Joint Center for Housing Studies is Harvard University’s center for information and research on housing in the United States. The Joint Center investigates and evaluates emerging housing issues and community development policies. Its annual report, The State of the Nation’s Housing, identifies and analyzes demographic, economic and social trends to inform industry leaders and public officials and help them plan for the future.
City Practices
City responses to various affordable housing issues can be found in City Practices, a searchable database available through NLC's Municipal Reference Service.
View a few sample descriptions or search the entire City Practices database.
Technical Assistance
Specialized training and technical assistance is offered, from time to time, through NLC's Strengthening Partnerships for Housing Opportunities Program. The program is designed for NLC's consultant teams to work with local elected officials and community leaders in three to five cities at a time for 12 to 18 months. These collaborative teams craft individualized plans to rehabilitate, develop, and sustain their housing stock for low income and working families in their communities. Since 1998, NLC has partnered with stakeholders from twenty nine cities from different regions of the country to provide technical assistance through the program.
Nation's Cities Weekly Articles
07/02/2007 West Virginia Communities Work to Create Affordable Housing
by Bonnie Mann and Pam Plumb
01/09/2006 Workshop Looks At Affordable Housing For Municipal Employees
11/21/2005 NLC Sponsors Affordable Housing Technical Assistance in West Virginia
Resources
Go to CDBG Resource page
NLC's Affordable Housing Program is a grant funded acitivity within NLC's Center for Municipal Programs and Resources. NLC is one of eight public interest groups participating under the umbrella organization of the National Affordable Housing Training Institute (NAHTI), www.nahti.org. The goal of the organization is to assist its members with the development of affordable housing through training and technical assistance. NAHTI's activities are currently funded by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), www.hud.gov.
For more information about NLC's Affordable Housing Program, contact Bonnie Mann at (202) 626-3125 or by email at mann@nlc.org.