By Tori Bourret, NLIHC housing advocacy organizer

Today is the last Friday of Membership Month! We want to thank all our members who are growing the movement to expand affordable homes across the country. Some of our members are doing this by bringing people together to discuss fair housing issues and to figure out ways to solve these challenges. NLIHC has helped some of our members in this work by sharing our knowledge of fair housing policies and ways to deal with obstructions to fair housing brought by the current administration.

This past April, I attended “Building the Next Generation of Diverse Arkansas Communities”. A conference hosted by NLIHC member organization the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission. I spoke as a panelist on the status of fair housing in Arkansas and the United States. I discussed why source of income should be protected under the Fair Housing Act, and how the administration is weakening the Fair Housing Act and delaying implementation of the affirmatively furthering fair housing rule.

It was great to be able to contribute to the conference by offering some additional resources on the fair housing discussion and connecting local issues to federal legislation. It was impactful to see how groups are coming together to learn from each other and inspire each other to keep pushing for equality for all.

Tori in AR
The opening plenary on the last day of the “Building the Next Generation of Diverse Arkansas Communities” Conference. Panelists include: Mayra Joachin, National Immigration Law Center; Sara Oliver, Arkansas Housing Trust Fund; Frederick Love, Director of Community Services Pulaski County; and Victoria Bourret, National Low Income Housing Coalition.

NLIHC staff would not have the opportunity to be in the field and have important discussions with local advocates if not for the support and contributions of our members. Consider joining today!

 

This blog is part of a series of blogs highlighting NLIHC member-driven advocacy successes for Membership Month. Find out more about Membership Month at: https://bit.ly/2f16bCh