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Housing Virginia Connections
October 2016
Next Steps for the Rural Housing Network
  

Housing Virginia has wrapped up the rural housing provider discussion forums around the state, carried out in partnership with local Realtors® Associations, and has begun work on a final report.
 
This report, the preliminary findings of which will be released at the Governor's Housing Conference in November, tracks the changes in a range of data points to present the new picture of rural housing in Virginia.  

The report also includes an analysis of the needs and gaps identified by housing providers in each region. Finally, there will also be policy recommendations for how to best address these needs and gaps, as well as a compendium of best practices from around the country.
Coming Soon: Policy Strategy Guide Around Housing and Schools

Since 2014, Housing Virginia has been the leader in the conversation surrounding the connection between housing and schools in Virginia. 

As a new phase of our policy research and work around this topic begins, we will soon release a strategy guide for localities that want to start a dialogue about the connection between housing and school policies in their own community. 
Sneak Peek: Housing and Health Data Mapping


Housing Virginia has begun working with key partners to collect, assimilate and distribute information from relevant statewide and regional resources that inform stakeholders about the connection between housing and health. 


Our first Housing and Health connections project is made possible through the support of the Williamsburg Health Foundation, that serves the three jurisdictions of the City of Williamsburg and James City and York Counties. 

Though still in its preliminary data gathering stage, this research aims to look at health indicators in relation to neighborhood and housing conditions as well as demographic and socio-economic indicators within the population. This project will utilize mapping among other tools to help citizens and policy makers more easily see how these two issues areas intersect.  

Housing Virginia will be holding a series of local forums early in 2017 to release its findings and identify ways in which housing policies need to respond to health impacts and vice versa. One simple example of this is the senior population. Many aging Virginians want to "age in place" but the housing they are living in has challenges in both its design and location.  Intentional housing policy and program shifts can help to address this mismatch. 
Mobile Home Parks: Relic of the Past or Opportunity for the Future?
 
This one-day symposium, hosted by the Virginia Mobile Home Park Coalition, project:HOMES, and the Virginia Housing Alliance will take place on Thursday, November 3rd from 10 am to 3 pm at the Virginia Housing Center in Glen Allen.

The symposium will provide a backdrop to the release of the findings and recommendations from a comprehensive assessment of over 50 parks in the Richmond region. Click here to register!
Housing Virginia at the GHC
 
The annual Virginia Governor's Housing Conference is only a month away, and Housing Virginia will be leading a number of sessions throughout the program. If you haven't already, register for the conference here! This year the Conference is being held at the Hotel Roanoke from November 16-18th.

This year's theme is "Housing: A Door to Economic Opportunity" and participants will hear from keynote speaker John W. Martin, the president and CEO of the Southeastern Institute of Research and from housing industry leaders on the latest research, programs and policies that guide housing strategies across the state.
 
Housing Virginia will be hosting the following sessions:
 
Housing is 6th Largest Private Sector Industry in Virginia
 

Over the past year, the Governor's Housing Policy Advisory Council (HPAC) has been exploring the importance of housing to Virginia's economy. At the Virginia Housing Alliance's Housing Credit Conference last month, VHDA Executive Director Susan Dewey described the preliminary findings of a multi-university study measuring the economic impact of Virginia's housing industry.
 
Part one of the study, which was released by the Office of the Governor on September 2nd, found that Virginia's housing industry ranked as the 6th largest private sector industry in Virginia by direct output. 
Maggie Walker Community Land Trust Hopes to Preserve Affordable Homeownership in Richmond
 

Have you ever heard of a Community Land Trust?
 
Virginia now has two CLTs operating in the state: the Thomas Jefferson Community Land Trust, which serves the Greater Charlottesville MSA (City of Charlottesville and the Counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson) and now the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust in the City of Richmond.
 
The Maggie Walker CLT was created in an effort to help address the issue of tax delinquent properties in the City of Richmond by converting these properties into affordable homes for members of the community to purchase.
 
Maggie Walker CLT Board Chair and Housing Virginia Board member Laura Lafayette commented in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this past July: "We see the CLT as a mitigating force against gentrification, a tool to preserve mixed-income homeownership opportunities, and we'd also like to see the CLT acquire properties in high-opportunity neighborhoods."
HV Board Chair Kit Hale Featured in The Roanoker Magazine
 

"I think just being a person of principle, integrity and respect and helping people is my idea of leadership. I've been honored and blessed to be on many organizations and be involved and continue to do that," says Housing Virginia Board Chair Kit Hale in a feature in The Roanoker Magazine.
In This Issue
Calendar
 
Mobile Home Parks: Relic of the Past or Opportunity for the Future?
Nov 3 in Richmond, VA
This Virginia Mobile Home Park Coalition symposium will provide data and recommendations from a study of over 50 mobile home parks in Central VA.

VACo Annual Conference
Nov 13-14 in Bath County
Join the Virginia Association of Counties for its annual conference at the Omni Homestead Hotel.

2016 VA GHC
Nov 16-18 in Roanoke, VA
Save the date for the annual VA Governor's Housing Conference at Hotel Roanoke. 

HAC Rural Housing Conference 2016
Nov 29-Dec 2 in Washington, DC
The biennial National Rural Housing Conference brings together stakeholders in the field of rural affordable housing from local nonprofits, federal agencies, Congress, state and local governments, and other industry leaders for two-and-a-half days of training, discussion and networking.

How Housing Matters 2016
Dec 13 in Washington, DC
Hosted by the National Housing Conference, How Housing Matters brings together practitioners from different sectors to explore ways in which housing is a platform for achieving positive outcomes in health, education, and economic opportunity.

Solutions for Affordable Housing 2016
Dec 14 in Washington, DC
Solutions for Affordable Housing, NHC's 2016 national housing policy convening, will chart a course for federal housing policy to empower the affordable housing community after theNovember presidential and congressional elections.

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