Spring 2023 Member Meeting

As one of the more than 225 attendees who gathered in Chicago last month to celebrate HPN’s 30th anniversary aptly described: “We are all in this together. We are a community of practitioners eager to support each other.”

In welcoming us to his city, Paul Roldán, the longtime CEO of Hispanic Housing, noted that Chicago truly is a “a tale of two cities.” On the one hand, Chicago is one of the world’s great cities, economically and culturally vibrant. On the other hand, perhaps more starkly than many cities, Chicago has widening socioeconomic and racial disparities and patterns of disinvestment in lower wealth neighborhoods.

This was the topic of the opening plenary as Stacie Young of the Community Investment Corporation and Anthony Simpkins of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago spoke about how their organizations are working tirelessly to both redress this disinvestment and to prevent displacement of residents in neighborhoods where investment is accelerating. As Simpkins powerfully noted: “When we talk about investment, we need to talk not about whether there is investment, but about what kind of investment will address the needs of longstanding residents.”

During the opening plenary we also heard from Erika Poethig who until late April served as Special Assistant to President Biden for Housing and Urban Policy. Poethig reflected on her years of experience in Chicago, both at the MacArthur Foundation and the city’s Department of Housing; shared powerful insights into the Administration’s housing priorities; and highlighted the White House’s increased focus on equitable community development.

Deidre Schmidt, CEO of CommonBond Communities and Chair of HPN’s Board of Directors, and Debra Schwartz, Managing Director of Impact Investments at the MacArthur Foundation, also welcomed HPN’s members to the meeting and offered their congratulations on our 30 years as a network of incredible members.

The meeting’s two days of celebration and conversation covered a lot of important ground. Meeting elements and key takeaways are summarized here:

Our communities of practice (CEO, CFO, COO/HR, Multifamily Developers, Property Operations/Resident Services, and Lenders/CDFIs) had dynamic peer exchanges in which they shared ideas and pain points. They discussed approaches to their work and threats the industry is facing – including how they are combatting dramatically rising operating costs, an unstable property and casualty insurance market, rising crime, and a challenging job market to acquire and retain talent.

Alongside challenges, many constructive responses were identified, including opportunities presented by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund; strategies to better structure and measure the performance of real estate development teams; engaging with residents to enhance stability; prevent evictions and encourage upward mobility; and working with community colleges to recruit staff. HPN’s partnership with Project Destined, open to all members, is another response aimed at encouraging new, diverse talent in the sector. One member powerfully summarized the communities of practice: “The roundtables always have value, sometimes in little snippets of wisdom, sometimes in big ways.”

HPN members working in Chicago hosted six off-site tours and sessions that took peer exchange to the city streets. Participants noted that the off-sites provided opportunities for “seeing with our own eyes the work that’s been done,” and being introduced to “a wonderful example of how housing becomes the fabric of a community,” adding that “experiencing actual developments, hearing about the history of the organization and taking a journey to where it is today was enlightening.” The six sessions highlighted mixed income and mixed use community development in Woodlawn Park done by Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and the Community Investment Corporation (CIC); efforts to preserve housing and prevent displacement in Humboldt Park by Hispanic Housing Development Corporation; partnership for community building in Homan Square between Mercy Housing and IFF; homeownership efforts in the South Side by the NHS of Chicago; a mixed use hub in the South Loop developed by The Community Builders; and a visit to see energy retrofits with Elevate Energy and CIC.

Cross-cutting sessions created opportunities for members to share new ideas, including a focus on creative investment initiatives and wealth building efforts that support residents whether through small business owners, small landlords, or homeowners; ensuring staff and resident safety through community engagement, hiring additional security, and working more closely with police; and serving hard to serve populations more effectively by engaging with public officials to advocate for greater support for services and operating funds. Racial equity cut across multiple discussions and was the focus of in-depth conversation by members on how they are approaching diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at their organizations – and as a network – by coming together and signing on to HPN’s racial equity pledge, which creates benchmarks for tracking member progress across multiple dimensions.

The closing plenary on Friday morning centered on the opportunities presented by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). These unprecedented federal funds have enormous potential to amplify and accelerate the work that many members are already doing, ranging from the electrification and decarbonization of existing properties to green mortgage lending. Discussions focused on the importance of channeling capital and investments to ensure that communities members serve are not left behind. HPN’s CEO Robin Hughes emphasized, “If we are truly committed to climate justice, we need to be focused on the people on the ground.” This is a key effort HPN will continue to undertake on behalf of its members in the coming months.

To learn more about the Chicago meeting, take a look at the meeting agendas and feel free to reach out to any of the HPN facilitators to learn more about the communities of practice or other sessions of interest. We look forward to seeing you all again in virtual cross-cutting peer exchange sessions this fall (more to come), and we hope you will join us for our next member meeting in Atlanta from 11/29 - 12/1. Please reach out to our Membership and Peer Exchange team any time with questions or suggestions, including ideas for virtual peer exchange or our next meeting in Atlanta. Thank you, as always, for your commitment to HPN, and more importantly, for your work.