On Thursday, July 20 NACCED visited Community First! Village located just outside of downtown Austin. Members were given a complete tour of the facilities by Founder and CEO Alan Graham. Community First! Village is a 51-acre master planned community designed to offer affordable, permanent housing and create a supportive environment for individuals transitioning out of chronic homelessness. Attendees visited both Phase I and II of the village which included Micro-homes, RV/Park homes, indoor and outdoor kitchens, community-led produce farms, a local food market, and an outdoor cinema that seats over 100 residents. A pioneer of homelessness transitioning to full-time stable housing, Alan Graham gave NACCED members an in-depth look into one of the country’s leading efforts to offer those most in need an opportunity to thrive.
NACCED attended the NACo Community Economic and Workforce Development (CEWD) Policy Steering Committee on Friday, July 21 held at Austin Community College (ACC) Highland Campus. Dennis Alvord, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development of the Economic Development Administration with the Department of Commerce and agency staff presented on progress made with CHIPS Act programs. Areas highlighted were improved supply chain resiliency, domestic technology manufacturing, and framework planning for workforce development programs with a specific focus on creating job opportunities for historically underserved communities.
Bryan Kaminski, Senior Vice President of Project Development for Red Leaf Properties; Dr. Molly Beth Malcolm, Executive Vice Chancellor for Operations and Public Affairs of Austin Community College; and Jeff Travillion, Commissioner of Travis County showcased the ACC Highland Campus history which began as a redevelopment project of the former Highland Mall. The new ACC campus spans 200,000 square feet with state-of-the-art facilities, including modern instructional spaces, science labs, tutoring areas, library, faculty offices, and the innovative ACCelerator – one of the nation’s largest learning labs aimed at maximizing student success. NACCED members later participated in a guided tour of the ACC Highland Campus and were granted access to many of the facility’s new generation learning spaces.
Following the campus tour, Graham Knaus, Executive Director for the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and Chuck Washington, Supervisor of Riverside County, California provided an overview of CSAC’s AT HOME Plan. Aimed at addressing homelessness in California, AT HOME incorporates six pillars of policy goals to ensure California state government officials prioritize tailored needs of in-need communities. CSAC is working to have AT HOME included in the upcoming California state budget.
Mike Signer, North America Policy Director for Airbnb discussed the company’s short-term rental regulation toolkit. The toolkit acts as a guide for best practices to assist local policymakers in formulating equitable and well-balanced regulations for short-term rentals covering areas such as registration, transient occupancy taxes, trust and safety measures, and data sharing.
Mary Keating, Director of Community Services for DuPage County, IL and NACCED’s representative to NACo presented policy resolutions to members of CEWD for approval. Previously passed for consideration during NACo’s 2023 Legislative Conference earlier this year, the resolutions advocate for increased Fiscal Year 2024 funding for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs, passage of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, and a permanent extension of the New Markets Tax Credit program. CEWD also adopted an amendment offered by Keating to a proposed resolution supporting disaster recovery reform that encourages HUD to provide direct Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) allocations to CDBG Entitlement Communities, thus ensuring funds are deployed to disaster-impacted counties as expeditiously as possible.
On Saturday, July 22 at the Austin Convention Center NACCED attended a presentation given by NACo Housing Task Force members titled “Curbing the Crisis: County Recommendations to Advance Housing Affordability.” Conversation led by the task force covered challenges faced by perspective homeowners in achieving affordable housing. Market trends over previous years were shown to highlight ever increasing costs of homes leading to questions county officials are faced with from younger generations of those seeking long-term affordable housing. Task force members engaged in an analysis of possible solutions and the importance of community engagement for increased homeowner opportunities.
NACCED wrapped its conference attendance with the Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) Business Meeting. Kevin James, Senior Program Manager for the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) presented framework on how county leaders can use data analysis for decision making that combats racial disparities in community support services and housing.
Toni Preckwinkle, President of Cook County, IL; Holly Mitchell, Supervisor of the 2nd District of Los Angeles County, CA; and Kathryn Barger, Supervisor of the 5th District of Los Angeles County, CA spoke on implementing Universal Basic Income (UBI). Both counties use UBIs to provide direct cash flow to residents in need without conditions. In the case of Cook County, UBI payments were primarily used to pay for housing, food, transportation, and medical bills.
To view photos from NACCED’s conference participation check out our Facebook and Twitter pages.
For further information, official conference program material can be found on the NACo website.
