Confronting Barriers: 

Strategies for Housing Equality

A Summit on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing

Join Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia and VCU's L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs for an opportunity for planners, government officials, non-profit advocates, and other housing industry professionals to come together to hear from a variety of national and local experts on our responsibility to affirmatively promote equitable access to opportunity in our communities.

Participants will gain a better understanding of HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule (AFFH), build tools for completing the Assessment of Fair Housing, and engage in discussions about the role of prejudice as an impediment to housing access. This day-long educational event will include a morning plenary, morning and afternoon workshops, as well as a lunch-time keynote speaker.

While all are welcome, this summit is catered to those interested in using HUD’s AFFH Rule to create diverse and inclusive communities. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2015 rule requires communities to actively challenge fair housing barriers and fulfill their obligations under the Fair Housing Act by "affirmatively furthering fair housing" with the use of HUD funds. Workshops will be designed around the Assessment of Fair Housing tool, inviting participants to delve deeper into the topics of housing and education, economic investment in communities of color, affordable housing, and neighborhood health. Community participation requirements, as well as data and technical questions, will be addressed.

View the Conference Schedule HERE. 

Keynote Speakers 

James H. Carr 

Jim Carr is the Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair and Professor in Urban Affairs at Wayne State University. He is also a Visiting Fellow with the Roosevelt Institute and Chairman and CEO of Turquoise Bay Investment Partners. Jim is also an expert with the Institute for New Economic Thinking and consultant with the Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc. Previously, Jim served as Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress. Prior to that he held the position of Chief Business Officer for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition where he established and managed minority- and women-owned business centers in Washington, DC, New York, NY, and Houston, TX, that assisted their clients to access $1.8 billion in capital and $350 million in federal contracts. Jim also held the position of Senior Vice President for Financial Innovation, Planning and Research for the Fannie Mae Foundation where he built one of the nation’s most prestigious housing and urban policy research centers that attracted subscribers for its research and policy publications from more than 30 countries. . He also served as Assistant Director for Tax Policy and Federal Credit with the U.S. Senate Budget Committee. Learn more here. 

Leon Andrews 

Leon T. Andrews, Jr. was appointed as the inaugural director for Race, Equity And Leadership (REAL) at the National League of Cities and prior served as the senior fellow and program director at the National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families, where he led all of the Institute’s youth development work with mayors and other municipal leaders around the country including in areas related to childhood obesity, disconnected youth, youth engagement and leadership, and youth master planning since 2006. Before joining the National League of Cities, Leon completed a research fellowship at The Forum for Youth Investment. Leon has an extensive background working in government, the community, the private sector, and academia for the last 25 years including the United States Department of Justice, United States Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, the United States Public Interest Research Group, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, YouthBuild Pittsburgh, the Development Corporation of Columbia Heights, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and as an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Howard University, a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University, and is a PhD candidate in the Urban and Regional Planning program at The University of Michigan. Leon is married to an amazing woman, Dr. Kristine M. Andrews, for the last 15 years and they have three beautiful daughters – Jessica Austin, Julia Iris, and Joanna Jonas.

Workshop Topics & Speakers

Overcoming the legacy of school segregation

One of the most pernicious legacies of housing discrimination has been the deeply disparate educational outcomes experienced among white and non-white students. This session will provide historical context about the intersection of housing and school policy and present solutions to overcoming entrenched segregation and educational outcomes.

with Dr. Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership, Virginia Commonwealth University & Rodney Jordan, Chair, City of Norfolk School Board 

Economic investment in communities of color 

Investing in housing alone in communities of color is not enough. This session will explore the linkages between poverty, employment, transportation, and housing, and will provide viable strategies to overcoming concentrated poverty to help communities affirmatively further fair housing.

with Reggie Gordon, City of Richmond Department of Community Wealth Building; Greta Harris, President & CEO, Better Housing Coalition; & Sarita Turner, Associate Director, PolicyLink

Siting of affordable housing 

Housing policy has long focused on reconcentrating poverty in the same location. Participants will gain an understanding of how the AFFH obligation can be used to develop affordable housing in high opportunity neighborhoods.

with LaKeeshia Fox, Policy Counsel, Poverty & Race Research Action Council; Thomas Silverstein, Associate Counsel, Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; & Heather Crislip, President & CEO, Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, Inc. 

Meaningful public engagement 

The new Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) process outlines a rigorous community participation requirement. In fact, many of the recently submitted AFH's across the country have been deficient in this regard. Participants will learn the value of comprehensive public participation and strategies to engage traditionally neglected communities.

with Megan Haberle, Director of Housing Policy, Poverty & Race Research Action Council; Sarita Turner, Associate Director, PolicyLink & Olivia Leon, Student, College of William & Mary

Using data: getting technical with AFFH 

What exactly is AFFH? Why are we obligated to affirmatively further fair housing? What does the new AFFH Rule require? Participants will learn the answer to these questions and many, many more. If you have an AFFH question, this is the session you don't want to miss.

with Melody Taylor-Blancher, Regional Director, Office of Fair Housing at U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development & Ira Goldstein, President of Policy Solutions, Reinvestment Fund

Improving health outcomes through housing

Health disparities are closely linked to housing segregation. Learn from leaders in the community health field how to unravel the social, economic, and structural conditions that have created disparate health outcomes across our communities. 

with Danny Avula, Director, Richmond City Health District & Amy Popovich, Resource Center Supervisor, Richmond City Health District

Common problems and solutions to AFFH 

Learn from experts about common issues, problems, and solutions communities across the country have experienced in their attempts to overcome the legacy of housing discrimination.  

with Sara Pratt, Counsel, Relman, Dane, and Colfax & Jarrod Elwell, Director, Enterprise Advisors 

Housing needs for people with disabilities

People with disabilities face challenges, some of which all of us may experience over the course of our lives. Learn from experts in housing access about how to affirmatively further fair housing by ensuring that your community is providing for the needs of all of its residents.

with Allison Bogdanovic, Executive Director, Virginia Support Housing; Erika Jones-Haskins, Individual and Family Support Coordinator, Virginia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Services; and Kelly Hickok, Community Services Manager, Resources for Independent Living, Inc. 

About Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia: HOME is Virginia’s premier fair housing and housing counseling organization, offering a variety of programs and services designed to ensure equal access to housing for all Virginians. HOME was founded in 1971 to fight discrimination in housing access, and continues to engage in advocacy, research, and policy efforts to champion housing access in Virginia. Many of HOME's victories are well known, setting U.S. Supreme Court precedent and providing national impact. HOME is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. Learn more at HOMEofVA.org

About Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs: VCU is an urban public research university offering more than 200 degrees. Named after the nation’s first black elected governor, Virginia’s first black lieutenant governor, and a former state senator, the Wilder School became an independent school at VCU in 2013. The Wilder School embodies the values of independent thought and public service championed by their namesake, with a vision of being the premier resource for public policy expertise and social justice in public safety, governance and economic and community development. Learn more at Wilder.VCU.edu