2021 Virtual Spring Conference

This year NAHRO members will elect new leadership so join us for a discussion of the vision and future of NAHRO.  Our plenary session will feature the national candidates and give you an opportunity to hear directly from them during a facilitated conversation.

What is the status of HUD waivers? What are the administrative issues for the many new housing vouchers? What are the finance and reporting requirements for these COVID resources?  How will the new combines funds benefit public housing? What changes can we expect under the new administration?  Join us for our plenary session which will answer these questions and many more!  NAHRO staff will help us understand what is available and how to keep track of the many resources available for housing authorities.

Do you wish you had an easy tool to show your staff and board how your HCV program is doing?  Do you have a tool that demonstrates the results of your leasing efforts in your special purpose voucher programs?  Can you determine leasing trends of your HCV programs easily and in a data format?  This new HCV Data Dashboard will help you answer YES to all of these questions and more.  This session will demonstrate HUD’s newest tool – Housing Choice Voucher Data Dashboard – that will help you monitor your HCV program, special purpose vouchers, and much more.  HUD’s HQ expert on the newest tool will share how you can access this dashboard, the reason why you should become familiar with it, and how to use this in addition to the Two Year Tool to monitor your HCV program!  Come get some new info!

Both the 2021 American Rescue Plan and the 2020 COVID Relief Bill funded an expansion of housing choice vouchers available to housing authorities.  This session will provide an in depth look at the $5B in new emergency vouchers. These vouchers will be allocated by HUD formula, will need to be tracked separately and will have administrative implications. This session will help you identify the financial and administrative issues moving forward.

Between the eviction moratorium, program requirements and the low vacancy rates, it is always a challenge to recruit and retain landlords in the Housing Choice Voucher Program.  Since vouchers are central to the COVID response at the federal level, this session will address the best practices for housing authorities to partner with landlords. This session will help you develop an approach to up your HCV utilization rates.

Housing Authorities play an important role in helping households avoid evictions and address unpaid rent. This session will provide an update on the latest rental assistance available in Minnesota.  These programs are new and will have many emerging components impacting the clients served by our programs.  This session will serve as an opportunity to connect with key program administrations.  Our session will include discussion on how best to refer households and help them successfully navigate these rental assistance programs.

As we begin to return to the new normal, there are many considerations for staff and tenants. This session will feature experts who are dealing with the issues of how best to prepare for “opening up” and what that looks like in 2021.  This session will address issues to consider as you open up your buildings, on-going messaging about masks and vaccinations plus how to manage community spaces in this period of transition

As we all begin to increase our interactions with colleagues, clients and the public in general, there’s a lot to think about.  Can or should your agency mandate or incentivize a vaccine? How can we prepare inspectors and others to interact with each other safely?  What about employees who want to keep working remotely?  There will also be time for Q&A. Don’t’ miss this opportunity to connect with Joyce to hear her perspectives on best practices on your thorny COVID issues.

With the state eviction moratorium still in effect and the roll out of the state rental assistance, Minnesota lawmakers will be making decisions on how best to transition back to a more normal rental market.  This transition, however, will include many legal challenges for housing authorities along the way.  While the session will provide an overview, it will also allow for robust Q&A.  So bring your questions and join us for this timely and informative session.