2016 Annual Conference

Housing and Health: Public Policy Opportunities
As is true of states across our nation, the state of Illinois is implementing a variety of new initiatives to integrate health care and supportive housing. These include participation in the federal Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program, the Section 1115 Medicaid Demonstration Waiver proposal, and a  soon-to-be released report from the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s Supportive Housing Working Group. During this session, we’ll begin with an overview of these new initiatives before delving into the implications for people experiencing homelessness, people with mental health issues, people with developmental disabilities, and other populations.
Speakers: Lore Baker, Illinois Housing Department of Human Services; John Fallon, CSH
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Housing and Health: Provider-Driven Initiatives
How can homeless service providers best to take advantage of opportunities to integrating health care and housing resources? Join us to learn about an innovative collaboration and a new research report intended to address this question. The Better Health Through Housing Collaborative is a partnership of 29 supportive housing agencies working together to partner with health providers, systems, and networks, including a pilot project to address the housing needs of frequent users of hospitals and health care systems. The new report from the Social IMPACT Research Center at Heartland Alliance analyzes issues that many permanent supportive housing providers face while trying to access Medicaid resources for their agency and the people they serve; it includes recommendations for both providers and health care policy.
See presentation slides from:
Katie Buitrago, Social IMPACT Research Center
Cheryl Potts, Alexian Brothers Housing and Health Alliance

Trauma-Informed Housing for Survivors of Violence and Abuse
A major barrier for many victims attempting to leave an abusive situation is the struggle to access safe, sustainable housing. This workshop will focus on the unique needs of clients who are also survivors of abuse, and ways housing service providers can tailor programs to better address their multifaceted needs with a trauma-informed lens. Presenters will also demonstrate how systems designed to help may be misinformed, inadvertently compounding a survivor’s trauma by restricting their control or access. Presenters will discuss how a trauma-informed service model not only helps better meet survivor needs, but also reduces potential for systemic re-victimization.
Speakers: Jaclyn Kolnik and Jennifer Hiselman, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority; Angie Hunt, HOPE of East Central Illinois
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Fair Lending and the Community Reinvestment Act for Housing Counselors
As housing markets recover and lenders relax their underwriting criteria, what can housing counselors do to protect their home buying clients from potential predatory lending practices? At this session, speakers from fair housing agencies share the red flags of fair lending violations, guidance for what to do when you suspect violations, and what happens after a complaint is filed.
Speakers: Sarah Delgado, Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance; Todd Fuller and Kamal Ganjalikhani, HOPE Fair Housing Center
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See Community Planning and Public Participation: A Handbook for Advocates and Community Residents »

New Ideas for Community Engagement and Alternative Funding Models (this session is generously sponsored by Boston Community Capital)
Did we mention the year-long state budget impasse has put a strain on housing counseling activities? In this workshop, we will highlight three agencies’ efforts to implement innovative, community-specific programming. The new ideas are not only engaging clients on their terms, but raising awareness (and funds!) that are supporting agency work and their communities.
Speakers: Robert Anthony, Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County; Alexandra Canalos, Center for Changing Lives; Carmen Landecho, Northwest Side Housing Center
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Managing Student Loan Debt
A staggering number of Americans are affected by debilitating student loan debt. During this session, we will discuss tools and resources available to help debtors get out of default and on affordable income-based repayment plans. You will learn to identify when debtors may be eligible for discharge or forgiveness of their loans, or have defenses to a collection lawsuit, and we will discuss the treatment of student loans in bankruptcy.
Speakers: Kathryn Liss, LAF; Joseph Sanders, Office of the Attorney General
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From Energy Savings to Down Payment Programs: Helping Clients Save Money Now and in the Future
To provide you with as many tools and ideas to help your clients as possible, we’re trying something new this year: we’re splitting this workshop into two mini-sessions. In the first mini-session, you’ll learn how to help your clients save both energy and money. We’ll talk about how currently available energy savings programs and strategies can not only help the environment but also help your clients make their homes more affordable in the long-term. Then, in our second mini-session, Tim Klont from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago will highlight how your organization can use the bank’s programs, including the Down Payment Plus and the Affordable Housing Program, to meet your clients’ homeownership goals. By leveraging these kinds of latest tips and tools, you can help your clients maximize their savings both now and in the future.
See presentation slides from:
Rev. Cindy Shepherd, Faith in Place
Tim Klont, FHLBC

High-Performance Affordable: Cost-Effective Design & Construction Strategies for Healthy, Efficient Housing
In many circles, green is synonymous with expensive—but this doesn’t have to be the case. Green should, however, equate with quality. A bit of extra legwork up front can yield big dividends from the total cost of ownership standpoint. Using a building science framework, this session will explore a suite of high-performance homebuilding approaches that can lower operations and maintenance costs, shrink a building’s environmental footprint, and reduce occupant health and comfort issues. Real-life examples of best practices will show that this isn’t an issue of feasibility, but of willingness to capture opportunity.
Speaker: Thor Peterson, Parkland College
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Historic Preservation and Community Development
The restoration and repurposing of historic structures has helped to revitalize neighborhoods and business districts in big cities and small towns. Could the restoration of a historic structure be the key to your community’s revitalization strategy? Join us for a discussion about the ins and outs of redeveloping historic structures and the financing and incentives that are available to encourage re-use.
Moderator: Mary Lu Seidel, National Trust for Historic Preservation; Jeff Anderson, City of Moline
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Crisis in Rural Housing: Preservation of USDA Section 515 Affordable Housing
The lack of clean, decent, and affordable rental housing is often seen as an issue that only impacts cities. But the transition of the USDA Section 515 rural development program from development to preservation has meant the exit of nearly 100,000 affordable units from the program since 2014. How can developers and government work together to preserve and expand the availability of subsidized rental housing in rural markets? Timothy Herwig, District Community Affairs Officer with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, will moderate a panel of developers, financiers and government officials to explore solutions for ensuring the availability of affordable rental housing.
Moderator: Timothy Herwig, OCC
Panelists: Tom Caldwell, Cinnaire; Michael Todd, Rural Rental Housing Association of Illinois
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Strong Neighborhood House: A Model for Community Revitalization
In 2015, Zion Development, the United Way of Rock River Valley and the Rockford Police Department developed the Strong Neighborhood House, a rehabilitated home in the community that houses a police substation, provides space for residents to secure needed services, and hosts community events. The Strong Home has become a focal point for the community, improved police-community relations, and provided a safe space for kids and teens. Join Executive Director of Zion Development (and Housing Action Board member) Bob Campbell, CEO of the United Way of Rock River Valley Paul Logli, and Assistant Deputy Chief Carla Redd of the Rockford Polic Department to discuss how the Strong Home concept was developed, lessons learned, and how the Strong Home model can be replicated in other communities.
Speakers: Bob Campbell, Zion Development; Paul Logli, United Way of Rock River Valley; Carla Redd, Rockford Police Department

(This workshop track sponsored by Midland States Bank)

Be in Compliance: Understanding If and How the New Overtime Rules Apply to Your Organization
Effective on December 1, 2016, new overtime pay rules will go into effect that could have a significant impact on your budget and service delivery models. This workshop will help you determine whether your organization is subject to this new rule (not all organizations are), which employees fall within its coverage, and how to ensure that you come into and remain in compliance if the new overtime rules apply to your organization and at least some of your employees. We will also cover the consequences of not being in compliance.
Speakers: Jody Adler, The Law Project; Lauren Novak and Nora Kersten Walsh, Schiff Hardin
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Compliance Pays: How Ensuring Compliance with Fair Lending and Consumer Protection Laws is the Roadmap to Sound Community Development in the 21st Century (two sessions)
Agencies in charge of overseeing and enforcing federal consumer protection and civil rights laws and policies have increased their scrutiny of how recipients of federal funds have utilized these monies, which offer critical lessons for housing professional in how these same laws and policies can help drive equitable community development. This combined session will first provide a brief history of community development in the U.S., an overview of the pertinent laws and polices, such as the Community Reinvestment Act, the Fair Housing Act, Executive Order 12892, and HUD’s new rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, and discuss what is required to comply with them.  This session will then dive into how compliance with these federal laws and policies supports increased and more strategic private and public investments that can improve the quality of life for all residents in Illinois’ urban, suburban and rural communities.  Practical examples of public-private-nonprofit community development partnerships will be highlighted.
Speaker: Jeffrey May, International Development & Planning, LLC
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HUD Guidance on affirmatively furthering fair housing guidance »

Partnerships, Networks, and Mergers, Oh My! Strategic Structures for Your Organization’s Future
Organizations need to determine how to accelerate their social impact as demand for their work increases and resources become increasingly scarce. Many times, the best strategy is bringing multiple organizations together. During this workshop, we will look at multiple different strategic restructuring models, ranging from collaborations to joint venture partnerships to mergers and everything in-between. Executive Directors and Board members will benefit from learning about these potential strategies and whether they would be right for their organization.
Speaker: Mary Anderson, Mission+Strategy
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