This Thursday: HUD Secretary Donovan to Keynote Prestigious NYHC and NHC 36th Annual Awards Luncheon

In just two days, on December 10, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan will keynote the 36th Annual Awards Luncheon hosted by the New York Housing Conference (NYHC) and the National Housing Conference (NHC). This annual event, which honors those who have made New York a better place to live and work, is one of the largest gatherings of housing professionals in the nation – attracting more than 1,200 attendees each year.

As the keynote speaker, Secretary Donovan, formerly commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), will not only help celebrate the success of this year’s honorees, but will also focus on responding to the foreclosure crisis, the future of HUD and more.

The 2009 Luncheon also marks the inauguration of the Clara Fox Award for Outstanding Achievement. Named in honor of the legendary founder of NYHC, this first annual award will be bestowed upon Felice Michetti, who is the CEO of Grenadier Realty, one of the city’s largest private owners and managers of affordable housing. As HPD Commissioner during the Dinkins Administration, she is widely credited with implementing many of the housing development goals set by Mayor Dinkins’ predecessor, Edward I. Koch.

Additional award recipients include:

• Nonprofit Housing Developer of the Year: Adam Weinstein, president and CEO, Phipps Houses;
• Private Housing Developer of the Year: BFC Partners; and
• Public Service Award co-recipients Priscilla Almodovar, former president and CEO, nyhomes, and Deborah Van Amerongen, commissioner, New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.

Please join us in honoring this year's award recipients, which have each played an integral role in helping ensure that New Yorkers have the opportunity to live in a decent, affordable rental or owned home in a suitable neighborhood.

For more information about this year's event, and to purchase tickets, please visit: NYHC and NHC 36th Annual Awards Luncheon.