National Housing Conference (NHC) is dedicated to helping ensure safe, decent and affordable housing for all in America. Through nonpartisan advocacy, research and communications for the continuum of housing, NHC develops ideas, resources and policy solutions to move housing forward. HOM’s Executive Director serves as a Board of Trustee for NHC, and our Resident Services Coordinator currently chairs the Philanthropy and Service Committee of NHC’s Young Leaders in Affordable Housing.

Paycheck to Paycheck: More than Housing

This research note expands on the Paycheck to Paycheck 2016 annual report and explores the context of spending on housing costs by examining household spending on a variety of items. Households must balance their spending on housing with their spending on other key household needs, such as transportation and healthcare. The lowest income households face the greatest challenges in balancing these competing needs.

Online National Housing Conference Affordable Housing Policy Guide

To coincide with the launch of the new NHC website this fall, the research staff is compiling, revising, and reorganizing information from 3 NHC research website (HousingPolicy.org, Forclosure-Response.org, and InclusivePolicy.org) to create a comprehensive online affordable housing policy guide. This guide will serve as a resource of wide breadth that offers accessible explanations of federal, state, and local affordable housing policies and programs and links to research and other resources for a variety of topics. Currently, existing content from the three websites mentioned is being used to develop the guide, and work will continue in 2017 to fill any gaps in the guide.

Hardest Hit Fund’s Greatest Hits

This brief explores the lessons learned from the years of federal assistance provided to combat the national foreclosure crisis. With the brief, we hope to preserve the best practices and guide policy decisions in the event of another local, regional, state, or perhaps federal foreclosure crisis. The analysis and recommendations were guided by interviews with staff at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and staff at state Housing Finance Agencies that administer Hardest Hit Funds.

Jennifer Litwak, Executive Director of Housing on Merit has been selected for the second year to serve on CREW Network’s Industry Research Committee. Jennifer’s position on the board continues our organizations’ commitment to the industry and other organizations that impact our communities.

As part of the committee, Litwak will collaborate with other CREW Network members to formulate and execute the organization’s research agenda for 2017. This includes selection of research topics based on the organization’s 2015 Benchmark Study, and 2016 White Paper entitled, ‘Closing the Gap: Addressing Gender Bias and Other Barriers for Women in Commercial Real Estate’

“I look forward to the opportunity to serve CREW network in this capacity,” Litwak said. “This committee will also provide a national platform to drive awareness of Housing on Merit and our Mission.”

In 1989, CREW Network was founded as the commercial real estate industry’s premier business networking organization dedicated to advancing the achievements of women. The national organization has grown to more than 9,000 members, representing nearly every discipline within the industry including law, brokerage, leasing, property management, finance, title/escrow, development and more. It’s one of the strongest business networks in the commercial real estate industry, with an intent focus on business development, leadership development, industry research and career outreach.