Regularly, HSF board and staff members engage in learning activities to increase our understanding of critical social justice issues. In March, we convened via conference call to discuss Affordable Housing: Crisis & Opportunity. Several thought leaders in the fields of grassroots organizing, community development and federal housing policy informed the conversation: Shelia Crowley with the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Oramenta Newsome with the Washington, DC Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and Gihan Perera representing the Right to the City Alliance and the Miami Workers Center, an HSF grassroots partner since 2004. A written summary of the conversation is available (click here).
In addition, we invite you to listen to audio from the 90-miunte conversation. The audio recordings have been divided into 3 parts. In the final phase of the dialogue, speakers discuss the challenges and/or obstacles they have faced in their work and raise additional questions, e.g., where is an urban agenda which includes affordable housing on the list of federal budget priorities, what is the state of public and rental housing in New Orleans and how do grassroots organizations move policy and debate beyond their immediate neighborhoods?
