Message from Traci: Housing Oregon’s annual conference is a time to learn, reflect, and reconnect.
Dear friends,
As housers, we bring different perspectives to our work. We’re residents of urban and rural communities. Desk workers and direct service providers. Policy makers and policy implementers. But we all have some things in common: We share a passion for expanding housing opportunity. And we depend on each other to move this work forward.
For affordable housing practitioners in Oregon, the Housing Oregon Industry Support Conference and Leadership Awards Gala is more than a networking event. It’s our annual fellowship meeting, caucus gathering, and town hall rolled into one. And with the affordable housing industry as dynamic as it is today, the 2022 conference—happening this Wednesday and Thursday—is a statewide housing gathering not to miss.
I’m excited that HDC staff will be leading four sessions at this year’s conference that reflect a spirit of learning, dreaming, and problem solving. Our asset management team will be out in force, with Director of Asset Management Kimberly Taylor presenting a meaty rent analysis training and Senior Asset Management Project Manager Liz Winchester moderating a panel discussion on an evergreen but under-explored subject, “What can housing development teams learn from asset managers?” Meanwhile, Deputy Director Andrea K. Sanchez will be bringing together a group of experts to discuss technical challenges and creative solutions related to using new regional rent subsidy sources. And I’ll be leading a panel discussion addressing an issue I’ve written about before that is becoming an increasingly urgent industry priority: building tomorrow’s affordable housing workforce.
Held in person for the first time in three years, the 2022 conference and awards gala will be a time for Oregon’s affordable housing community to come together and reconnect. I’m looking forward to it as an opportunity for us to reflect, collectively, on why we do this work and how we can do it better. To hear voices we don’t hear every day. And to look to the future, while deepening our understanding of where we’ve been. Whether you attend in person or make a virtual appearance, I hope to see you there!
Warm regards,