Portland Preservation Forum a Big Success

More than 200 federal, state and local leaders convened in Portland on May 17 to discuss the vital need to preserve and improve affordable rental housing in the Northwest and nationwide. Sponsored by the National Housing Conference (NHC) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the day-long forum entitled Partners in Innovation: Financing the Preservation of Rural and Urban Affordable Rental Housing, focused on examining the challenges and the opportunities for preserving affordable rental homes in urban and rural areas. With a special emphasis on funding preservation efforts, the forum brought together public officials, industry experts, and advocates to discuss and explore ways to better support this work through innovative partnerships, policy development and legislative reform.

Oregon Housing Acquisition Project partners collaborated with the NHC to develop the forum agenda. These OHAP partners included:

• Network for Oregon Affordable Housing
• Casa of Oregon
• Oregon Housing and Community Services
• Oregon Opportunity Network
• Neighborhood Partnerships
• Portland Housing Bureau

The Partners in Innovation Forum discussion topics included:
Why Preservation Matters - The Importance of Preserving Federally Subsidized Housing; Regional Best Practices in Rental Housing Preservation; Financing Preservation - The Oregon Experience; Long Term Project Sustainability; Making the Case for Public Investment in Preservation; The Role of Philanthropy in Policy Development and Social Programs; and Rural Roundtable: Overcoming Challenges, Leveraging Resources and Implementing Solutions. Forum resources, including presentations from the breakout sessions can be found here.

On May 18th a day-long roundtable dedicated manufactured housing preservation in the west followed the Forum. The roundtable, Manufactured Housing—Affordable Housing Already in Our Communities, focused on best practices for manufactured housing preservation, policy strategies, innovations in green technology and the affordability and livability of manufactured housing parks. Speakers included practitioners and experts from across the country, manufactured homeowners, and local officials.

— Posted on 6/26/2010