Housing For All Year in Review!

July 17, 2014

Home News and Updates Housing For All Year in Review!

We had a busy year, that led to lots of wins! Here’s a refresher of all the activities we did.

October: Housing For All Learning Circle – Facilitated discussions on what causes gentrification and urban change, identified volunteers and advocates

November 16: Ward 8 Housing Fair and Town Hall – 100+ people attended and over a dozen organizations participated in the housing fair to help address housing issues. Sponsored by CPDC, Manna, Anacostia River Realty, and Bread for the City. Councilmembers Bonds and Bowser attended, plus DHCD Director Michael Kelly. Flier. Blog.

November 20: Ward 3 Housing Town Hall – 75 people attended, cosponsored by Good Faith Communities. Councilmember Cheh attended. Speakers included Nancy Hooff, Somerset Development and Sonya Hochevar, CPDC.

December 13: Senior Housing Town Hall – Cosponsored with DC Senior Advisory Coalition and DC AARP. 100 people attended as well as  Councilmember Bonds, staff from Cheh, Graham and McDuffie, plus Michael Kelly. Held at NCBA Estates.

December 10: Meeting of CNHED’s For Profit members to support Housing For All

December 20: Rally and Vigil for the Homeless – Sponsored by People For Fairness Coalition. Overnight vigil and two rallies totaling over 100 people, Mayor Gray and Councilmember Cheh, Wells, Grosso, Graham and candidate Andy Shallal visited the action. FacebookVideo.

Late December: Mayor Gray, Chairman Mendelson, and Councilmember McDuffie commit end-of-year surplus funds to Housing Production Trust Fund

January 11 & 15: Postcard Delivery to Candidates for Mayor  – after collecting 1,000 postcards in support of a Continuum of housing, 30 Housing For All supporters delivered actual and enlarged postcards to Mayoral candidates Evans, Wells, Bowser and Shallal. We also brought an enlarged postcard to Mayor Gray at his campaign kick-off event.

February 1: Housing For All NOW Rally – 500 people attended in addition to Mayor Gray, Councilmembers Graham, Bowser, Bonds, Wells, and Evans, plus Director Kelly and Director Todman. Winners from Housing For All writing Competition and resident leaders participated in program. Blog. VideoPics.  Flier.

February and March Housing Advocacy Training – Over 50 people attended the 4-week training, in Petworth and Congress Heights. Participants also met with Bonds staff member Brittney Madison and Councilmember Grosso.

March 11: Hearing on legislation to end chronic homelessness by 2020 – presented ICH recommendations to Committee on Human Services, chaired by Councilmember Graham. CNHED members testified, presented sign-on letter from over 40 organizations. Blog post. Sign on letter.

March 25: CNHED staff meet with Mendelson – one-on-one meeting with Mendelson to raise concerns for upcoming budget.

March 26: Housing Production Trust Fund Organizational Support Letter – delivered a letter to Mayor Gray signed by 60 organizations including tenant associations, labor, nonprofits, churches, and community groups that support committing $100 million to the Housing Production Trust Fund this year, and every year.

March 27: Call in day to Mayor Gray for $100 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund

April 3: Mayor released budget with increases in Housing Production Trust Fund, Local Rent Supplement Program and Permanent Supportive Housing

April 8: Unanimous passage of legislation to end chronic homelessness by 2020. Blog.

April 30: Email action to Councilmember Bowser, Chair of Committee on Economic Development –  Emails sent to encourage Councilmember Bowser to lead in achieving $100 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund.

May 2: DHCD Budget Hearing – Over 30 people testified in support of the Housing For All Campaign, across the Continuum of Housing, including two panels focused on LRSP for production, a panel from the for-profit sector, and first-time testifiers from the Housing Advocacy Training.

May 3: Tenant Town Hall – Over 200 residents focused on the needs to preserve and improve the low-cost rental housing we have. Councilmember Graham attended. FacebookFlierPics.

May 2 & 6: Resident Leadership Team/Campaign Coordinators meetings with Council offices of Grosso, Catania, and McDuffie. Pic.

May 9: Budget Support Act hearing – 2 panels of residents and practitioners in support of dedicating 50% of end of year surplus to the Housing Production Trust fund

May 12: Email to support affordable homeownership to Councilmember Bowser – Emails sent focusing on HPAP and East of the River Homeownership. Blog. Action.

May 15: Face to Face gallery of DC’s homeless residents  – in partnership with Fair Budget Coalition and others, photo exhibit and rally to highlight the diverse community of homeless individuals, families, and youth in DC and how affordable housing can provide housing. Post article.  DCist article.

May 19: CNHED Advocacy Day – Over 100 people attended and met with all Council offices. Opening remarks provided by Chairman Mendelson and Councilmember Grosso. Resident leaders presented Housing For All asks. Pics.

May 20: Love the Fund, Fund the Fund blog post.

May 25:  All-Council meeting – emergency action to encourage Council to discuss plans to restore HPAP and increase Housing Production Trust Fund in the all-Council meeting. About 10 people attended from campaign and Manna.

May 28: Budget Vote Day – increases committed to Housing Production Trust Fund, Local Rent Supplement, Permanent Supportive Housing, and HPAP.

June 9 – 10: Walk arounds with Campaign Coordinators and Resident Leadership Team to discuss BSA

June 24: BSA Vote: No changes to housing programs.

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