How do housing organizations survive lean financial times?  How can agencies continue to successfully address homelessness, affordable rental, and first time homebuyer opportunities?  These questions were addressed recently at the Hampton Roads Housing Consortium’s: Pathways to Partnership. The event was held on July 11^th at the Chesapeake Conference Center. Over 80 participants, representing approximately 55 different organizations participated in a daylong event designed to provide a discussion forum for professionals from public, private and non-profit organizations as well as others interested in expanding housing opportunities for low and moderate income households.

Facilitator and one of the event organizers, Karen Munden with Virginia Cooperative Extension, kicked the event off with an information presentation on partnership and coalition building. The presentation provided fundamentals in creating effective partnerships to address initiatives and concerns that require multiple expertise and external and internal resources.

Shernita L. Bethea, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) Housing Administrator, was a co-facilitator and led the participants in an interactive discussion on numerous housing related topics designed to assist in building better services and programs while fostering partnerships, sharing knowledge and resources, and identifying impediments to providing effective, worthwhile assistance to clients.

Findings and solutions developed during this event will be published in a follow-up document to be used to develop additional regional framework to addressing some of the issues identified.  The second part of this two-part initiative will be held in January 2014.

The HRHC is a voluntary association of governmental, private, and non-profit organizations committed to improving housing opportunities for low and moderate-income households in Hampton Roads. Participants include City and County governments, Redevelopment and Housing Authorities, non-profit housing and emergency shelter providers, mortgage lenders, Realtor© and builders associations, and a variety of other groups interested in affordable housing issues. Member groups represent most of the sixteen jurisdictions within the Hampton Roads region.  Pathways to Partnership was made possible from a grant from Housing Virginia.