This column was adapted from Chris Estes’s remarks at NHC’s Housing
Visionary Award Gala June 2, 2016.
Over June 2 and 3 we marked NHC’s
85-year history—which echoes the history of the affordable housing movement in
America—and set the stage for our future. Honoring the work of Rural LISC and
the Housing Assistance Council, and addressing the role of housing policy in
shaping communities in transition, calls all of us to consider the role the
housing movement can play in our country’s success.
As I consider NHC’s history and
our role in the development of America’s housing policy, I see a history of
achievement, as an organization and as a movement.
NHC endeavors to show the way to
solving many of America’s housing challenges, through federal, state and local
policy and practice. The future of NHC lies in being at the forefront of
developing housing policy that solves these problems. That’s why we’ve focused
on fair housing implementation. That’s why we’re bringing together housing
leaders from high-cost cities to find ways our communities can become more
inclusive. That’s why we research housing’s connection to health, education and
economic development.
Housing policy can and should
lead the way in creating opportunity for all people. And I’m excited to lead
NHC into that future with you.
I believe NHC’s future must also
include looking beyond urban and suburban communities, to rural areas that are
transforming just as much as the rest of our country and deserve just as much
focus. That’s what made honoring two rural housing initiatives with our Housing
Visionary Award, and continuing the conversation about housing in all kinds of communities
at the Policy Symposium the next day, so important.
Your support for our work, at the
Gala, Policy Symposium and throughout the year, keeps our organization strong
and helps the housing movement thrive. And we work hard every day to earn that
support.
Thank
you for being part of our annual events, and for your support of NHC.
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