Housing Works!
Strategies for Preventing and Ending Homelessness 

The Alabama Alliance to End Homelessness, Collaborative Solutions, Inc., and the Low Income Housing Coalition of Alabama invite you to join us for this unique opportunity to come together to address the ongoing issues of poverty and the lack of safe, decent, and affordable housing in our state.

Conference Information

You may register for this conference online or at the conference. Registration rates are as follows:
Current ALAEH or LIHCA member: $140
Non-member: $160
Student: $90
One Day Attendee: $99

Please note that you should register as a member if you or your organization is currently a member of either ALAEH or LIHCA. 

If your organization has 5 or more individuals that want to attend the event, a group rate is available. It is $120 per registrant. This group rate will end on October 24, 2011.

These rates will go up after October 24, 2011. Online registration will close after November 4, 2011.

Hotel Information

The Wynfrey Hotel is the official conference hotel (www.wynfrey.com). The hotel has guaranteed 40 rooms per night at a rate $99 plus tax for either single or double occupancy. You may upgrade your accommodation for an extra fee.

To make your reservation, please contact the hotel directly at 1 (800) 996-3739 or visit the hotel website, www.wynfrey.com. When making your reservation, please identify yourself as an attendee of the Housing Works! Conference (for online reservations, please use group code: 1BC8LD). A credit card will be required to guarantee the reservation.

Please note that the hotel will accept reservations for this room block until Thursday, October 20, 2011. After this date, the hotel can no longer guarantee the conference rate.

Table Information

If you or your organization is interested in hosting a table during the conference, please contact Ashley Kerr at (205) 939-0411. The cost to host a table is $25.

Please note that if you plan to ship materials to the hotel for your table, you will be responsible for the shipping cost and any extra cost from the hotel.

Sponsor Information

If you or your organization is interested in sponsoring a part of the conference, please contact Ashley Kerr at (205) 939-0411. There are several sponsor levels to choose from.  

Continuing Education

Continuing Education credits will be available for this conference. The following disciplines will be able to receive continuing education credits:

Counseling
General 
Nursing
Social Work

Participants at the conference can receive 11 contact hours, or 1.1 CEUs. The cost for these credits is $15 and paperwork will be available at the registration table.

Session Highlights

 **Please note that times and dates may change on the agenda and that there may be additions or changes to this agenda prior to the conference.

A New Point of View:  Understanding What Your Client Experiences When They Come to See You
BRIDGE WORK, Alabama’s own take on the nationally-successful “Bridges Out of Poverty” model geared toward moving folks out of generational poverty offers you a chance to think a little differently about what your client is experiencing when they spend “agency time” with you and others. Be ready for an “aha” moment and to learn more about BRIDGE WORK and how this systemic intervention is moving ahead in our state.

Community Action Agencies:  A Fresh Look at Housing Activities that Stabilize Households 
Community Action Agencies were created to combat poverty in our communities. Many of our community action agencies offer Head Start and other family programs, but they also administer the LIHEAP and weatherization programs and some engage in housing development. Join this discussion to learn more about the Community Action Agency in your area and how you can partner with it to benefit your clients. 

Do You Want to Develop Housing?
Have you thought about developing your own housing for the folks you serve but are wondering where to start, where to get the money and what you need to know to make it happen? Here’s a great question and answer session for service providers that want to venture into housing development for the first time! 

FEMA and Disaster Relief:  Going forward with rebuilding, rehousing and ensuring housing stability in a post-April 27^th Alabama
The April 27th tornadoes caused significant damage and communities are in the process of trying to recover and rebuild. Join this discussion to learn about current recovery efforts in addition to helping survivors rebuild their lives. 

HEARTH Act
Are you eager to learn about the changes you will face in housing and homelessness work because of the federal HEARTH Act? This session will provide an overview of the HEARTH Act, including changes to the homeless definition, the expansion of the Emergency Solutions Grant, and the new Rural Housing Stability Program. There will be ample time for your questions and if HEARTH regulations are released prior to the conference, there will be a review and discussion of the new regulations and what they will mean for you! 

Housing-based Case Management: A Practical Guide for Case Managers
You already know that housing is the foundation for health and stability. However, many of our own agencies are not asking the right questions about housing that will help our clients avoid or prevent sudden housing disruptions down the road--like eviction or foreclosure. This session will give you useful tools that you can use with every person you serve to help determine their real housing situation and ensure housing stability—not housing loss—going forward. 

Maintaining Professional Balance: Self-Care for Caring Professionals
Are you wiped out? Providing care to others can often lead to “compassion fatigue.” This workshop is designed for those entering the field of care and seasoned professionals. The goal of the workshop is to provide a safe and FUN environment in which to let go of the stress (for a little while!) and to learn new and positive ways to achieve and maintain your life balance on a daily basis.  

Measuring Economic Security: The Basic Economic Security Tables [BEST] for Alabama
The Basic Economic Security Tables™ Index is a measure of the basic needs and assets workers require for economic stability throughout a lifetime and across generations. BEST quantifies and identifies the income necessary for workers and families to meet basic needs, prepare for emergency needs and plan for the future – it is a “getting ahead” standard as opposed to a “getting by” standard. Participants will learn how BEST can be used to target employers who provide wages that most closely meet the income needs of Alabama families – and the folks with whom you are working!

Strategies to Promote Aging in Place
Many of today’s older adults face housing challenges rooted in residential development patterns that have favored large, inaccessible, single-family units in auto-dependent communities. The workshop will provide a definition of livable communities, an overview of the principles of visitability and illustrate how active living affects health and well being of the community as a whole. 

10 Minute Innovations:  Fast Solutions to Complex Problems
Here’s your opportunity to hear some creative ideas that you may want to take advantage of in your own work, whether you are in a rural or urban setting, providing case management or developing housing programs. You will take away at least one new idea that might just change the way you or your programs operate! 

Stabilizing Tenants in an Unstable World
How do we keep our clients in housing? Learn ways to keep clients stably housed by improving their economic security and health outcomes.

Money for Housing:  The Federal Home Loan Bank Atlanta’s Role in Financing Affordable Housing
The Federal Home Loan Bank [FHLB] of Atlanta plays an important role in the development of affordable housing in the Southeast including Alabama. Come and learn about FHLB Atlanta, how its Community Investment products benefit communities, and how you can access their Community Investment products for your housing development.

Understanding and Meeting the Need: One Housing Model for Rural Alabama
The Health Services Center (HSC) is a stand-alone HIV/AIDS medical clinic and community-based organization located in rural Alabama. In its service area, public housing units are limited with waiting lists of up to 7 years. In light of the poverty, burgeoning HIV epidemic in the rural Southeast, and the limited resources available, HSC has developed several housing interventions to provide some housing relief using innovative measures to meet as many needs as possible.

 Please click here if you would like to view the full agenda, including times and locations.

The online registration system will end on Friday, November 4, 2011. If you are interested in attending this conference after November 4th, you may register in person at the conference.  

***Please note that if you plan to pay for your conference registration at the conference, we will only be able to accept checks. There will be no credit card machine to process payments.

If you are a person experiencing homelessness and would like to attend this conference on scholarship, please contact Ashley Kerr at (205) 939-0411 for more details.

 Special thanks to the following sponsors: