The 2008 Annual Convention will be an educational and motivational experience for affordable housing practicioners across Illinois. The Convention will address the changing "terrain" of housing in Illinois by engaging housing professionals through tho days of workshops, networking and speakers.

Highlights of the Convention Include:

• Clarence Page, a Pulitzer Prize columnist with the Chicago Tribune, as the keynote speaker
• Multiple courses in each of the following workshop tracks:
  Homeownership Counseling, Affordable Housing Development and Management, Affordable Housing Advocacy, Issues for Homeless Service Providers and Organizational Development
• Opportunities to connect and strategize with allies across the state

The 2008 Annual Convention will be held at Northern Illinois University at Naperville.

NIU Naperville is conveniently located nearby O'Hare and Midway Airports, and is only 5 miles away from the Naperville Amtrak (NPV) and Metra (Naperville) stations. Shuttles will be available to pick up attendees from the station, please contact anna@housingactionil.org to request a shuttle.

NIU Naperville is located at 1120 East Diehl Road, Naperville, IL 60563.
Click here for driving directions.

There are several hotels nearby the Convention.
Click here for local hotel information

To register, and for further information about the Convention schedule and workshops, please see the links below.

Register Online
Download the Brochure (contains registration form)
Schedule
Workshop Descriptions
Download Request for Scholarship Form

Schedule

Thursday, May 1

9:00am Registration & Breakfast
10:00am Welcome & Panel Discussion: "The Foreclosure Factor and How It Is Changing Our Communities"
12:00pm Lunch
1:30pm Workshop Series I
3:00pm Workshop Series II
5:00pm Reception
6:00pm Dinner & Keynote Speaker Clarence Page

Friday, May 2

8:00am Registration & Breakfast
9:00am Workshop Series III
10:45am Plenary Speaker Dwayne Marsh
11:45am Lunch

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List of Workshops Offered

Housing Counseling
Housing Development and Management
Advocacy and Organizing
Homeless Service Providers
Senior Housing
Organizational Development

Housing Counseling

1. Becoming an Effective Advocate to Clients Facing Foreclosure
Thursday, 1:30pm
Advocacy training allows trainees to distinguish between case coordination and advocacy; to develop an effective understanding of the components of advocacy and strategies to employ it. The focus of this course is to build your negotiation skills with servicers and to learn when it might be appropriate to refer a client for legal aid. Trainees will have the opportunity to hear from a practicing attorney who works primarily helping clients threatened with foreclosure or who are victims of predatory lending or real estate fraud.

Kelli Dudley, Attorney at Law from the Law Office of Kelli Dudley, will facilitate.

2. Understanding and Performing File Reviews Under Predatory Lending SB1167
Thursday, 3:15pm
This workshop will train counselors to identify the latest predatory lending practices and to understand and apply Illinois law under the new anti-predatory lending legislation SB 1167.  Participants will become adequately familiar with such closing documents as the Truth in Lending, Good Faith Estimate, HUD-1 Settlement Statement, 10.03 Loan Application so they may confidently conduct file review sessions under the new program. Case studies are incorporated into the workshop to provide participants with the opportunity to analyze the paperwork where high cost loans and/ or predatory practices have occurred and learn how to advise clients in these situations. 

Heather Hain, Program Coordinator from Housing Action Illinois, will facilitate.

3. Preventing Burnout
Friday, 9:00am
With most industry professionals pointing to housing counseling as the ultimate solution for the current mortgage foreclosure crisis, housing counselors are becoming increasingly overworked and starting to exhibit signs of exhaustion.  Counselors must be advocates, negotiators and good listeners to cope with consumers who are behind on their payments and who are angry, ashamed or confused, and desperately seeking advice.  This workshop will teach counselors to recognize the warning signs of burn out, assess their organizations capacity to assist them, and develop a course of action so that they can continue to plan for their professional growth at no expense for their personal well being.

Kelli Underwood, LCSW from the Center for Contextual Change, will facilitate.

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Housing Development and Management

(Financial Support for this Track is Provided by the Illinois Housing Development Agency)

1. Marketing Single Family Developments
Thursday, 1:30pm
In the slowing for-sale market, considering your target buyers and allowing time for ample marketing is an even more important stage in the development process.  This workshop will cover the time-line needed for marketing developments, issues surrounding qualifying and educating buyers, and examples of both successes and challenges single family developers have faced in marketing their developments.

Mary Walker from the Neighborhood Housing Development Corp., Kristen Komara from The Resurrection Project and Robert Schroeder from Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity Council will co-facilitate, with Joe Neri from the IFF moderating. 

2. Exploring Shared Equity Homeownership Models  
Thursday, 3:15pm
Increasingly, developers may need to consider new models of homeownership in their development plans.  This workshop will explore shared-equity homeownership models, which can provide the benefits of homeownership but also offer more support to low-income buyers and maintain long-term affordability.   A variety of models will be introduced, and successful examples will be highlighted.

Mark Fick from the Chicago Community Loan Fund will facilitate.

3. Structuring Successful Partnerships for Affordable Housing Development
Friday, 9:00am
Partnerships are becoming increasingly important in the changing world of affordable housing development.  This workshop will share examples of successful partnerships and discuss the key components that made this success happen.  Also covered will be what to look for in partnership agreements, how to make sure each group is bringing their strengths to a partnership, and how to ensure appropriate compensation for all parties.

Nick Brunick from Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen will facilitate.

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Advocacy and Organizing

1. Community Acceptance Strategies for Affordable Housing
Thursday, 1:30pm
Along with financing, a crucial component of developing affordable housing is community acceptance.  Getting community acceptance can mean addressing concerns in a variety of areas, including housing design, property management, increased demand for local infrastructure and services, and quality of life issues.  Ideally, the work for securing community acceptance begins early in the project planning process.  This workshop will review successful examples of securing community acceptance and provide strategies that can be used on an ongoing basis in a variety of situations.

Robin Snyderman from the Metropolitan Planning Council and Adam Gross from Business and Professional People for the Public Interest will co-facilitate the session.

2. Understanding the State Housing Plan
Thursday, 3:15pm
Since 2004, the State of Illinois has completed and reported on an Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan.  This workshop will provide an opportunity to understand the components of the Housing Plan and evaluate its impact on the creation and preservation of affordable housing across the state.  The workshop will include a review the plan in general and from a variety of specific perspectives, including supportive housing, housing for people with disabilities, and workforce housing.

Panelists for the session will be Robin Synderman from the Metropolitan Planning Council, Janet Hasz from the Supportive Housing Providers Association, and Darrell Price from Access Living in Chicago. Bob Palmer from Housing Action Illinois will facilitate the session.

3. How to Get Involved in Our 2008 State and Federal Policy Campaigns
Friday, 9:00am
Housing Action Illinois’ 2008 advocacy agenda covers a wide variety of issues at the state and federal level, from increasing resources for housing development, landlord-tenant issues, housing for older persons, and foreclosure prevention.  This workshop will provide an update on our work and opportunities to get involved over the coming months.  There will also be a brief brainstorming session to begin thinking about issues that we should consider working on in the future. 

Bob Palmer from Housing Action Illinois will facilitate the session.

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Homeless Service Providers

1. Getting Consumers Involved in Your Organization
Thursday, 1:30pm
The primary mission of social service providers is, obviously, to provide services.  However, Housing Action Illinois encourages social service providers to make public education and advocacy an important part of their mission, as well.  For homeless and housing providers, getting consumers/residents involved in public education and advocacy can be an effective and powerful means for accomplishing this goal. This importance of consumer/resident involvement will be discussed, as well as strategies and opportunities for increasing consumer/resident involvement with a minimum of resource commitment.

The panelists will be Janet Hasz and Dorothy Yancy, both from the Supportive Housing Providers Association, Carol Simler from DuPage PADS, and a representative from the Speakers’ Bureau of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Mike Wasserberg from South Suburban PADS will facilitate.

2. Reallocating SuperNOFA Resources to Fund New Projects
Thursday, 3:15pm
Continuums of Care and individual agencies throughout Illinois are struggling to free up resources to fund new projects through the annual federal McKinney Vento SuperNOFA, as renewal projects take up an increasingly higher percentage of existing resources.  This workshop will present strategies that Continuums and individual agencies can use to free up resources to fund new projects, with a special focus on converting transitional housing to permanent housing.

The panelists will be Jennifer Hill from the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County, Katrina Van Valkenburgh from the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and Britt Shawver from Housing Opportunities for Women in Chicago.  Lore Baker with Homeward Bound in Decatur will facilitate.

3. Strategies for Screening Homelessness Prevention Funding Applicants
Friday, 9:00am
Since its establishment in 1999, the Homeless Prevention Program has proved to be an effective tool for keeping and getting people who are experiencing a short-term crisis housed.  This workshop will provide an opportunity to find out about and discuss best practices for screening applicants for prevention funds. 

The speakers all help administer the Homeless Prevention Program in their local community. They will be Kathleen Mollnar from the Emergency Fund in Chicago, Darlene Kloeppel from the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, and Faith Sanderson from the Sangamon County Regional Office of Education.  Mike Wasserberg from South Suburban PADS will facilitate.

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Senior Housing

1. Seniors and the Fair Housing Act
Thursday, 1:30pm
An alarming number of seniors in Illinois are unaware that they should be afforded the same rights and protections, required under the Fair Housing Act, as every other Illinois resident- particularly those seniors living in assisted and independent living settings.  Even more disturbing is that those seniors who are aware of their rights are unlikely to protest against discrimination and unfair treatment- even when they are not afforded the protections required under the Fair Housing Act.  This workshop will explore possible legislative changes to Illinois law, as well as methods for enforcement, education and advocacy for seniors and seniors service providers regarding the Fair Housing Act.

Michael Seng, Esq., Executive Director of the Fair Housing Legal Clinic at John Marshall Law School, will instruct this course.

2. Money Follows the Person Demonstration Project: Implementation in Illinois
Thursday, 3:15pm
The Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration is the largest demonstration program in the history of Medicaid- it provides almost $1.5 billion in funding nationwide.  Illinois will receive 55 million dollars to transition individuals out of institutional settings over the five-year demonstration period.  This workshop will provide you with the road map for the implementation of this demonstration project in Illinois, the requirements and benchmarks- all of which is key in providing the freedom to live independently to seniors and disabled adults in Illinois.

Jean Summerfield, Special Assistant for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and Tara Peele, Senior Housing Program Coordinator from the Illinois Housing Development Authority will take you through the implementation of the demonstration in Illinois.

3. Understanding Reverse Mortgages
Friday, 9:00am
Senior homeowners in this country have trillions of dollars of equity in their homes.  This equity presents both an opportunity for those who wish to tap into that equity to continue to live in their homes independently; and a potential danger from those who would wish to exploit senior homeowners or ‘advisors’ who are misinformed about Reverse Mortgages. 

Reverse Mortgages are a loan product unlike any other mortgage product, with their own unique costs and features. This workshop will offer a broad overview of what Reverse Mortgages can offer to senior homeowners, the dangers and pitfalls of Reverse Mortgages, and the costs/expenses in obtaining a Reverse Mortgage. In addition, this workshop will address the misconceptions and incorrect information that exist, so that senior service providers can direct their senior homeowner clients to reliable sources for Reverse Mortgage counseling and loans.

The workshop will be presented by Jim Wheaton, Deputy Director of Programs & Strategy for Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (NHS).

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Organizational Development

Fundraising for Non-Profits

This is a great opportunity for executive directors and volunteer leaders to pick up practical tools for starting or expanding your donor base of individuals and businesses. Part I and II should be taken together.

Thursday, 1:30pm - Part One will cover the “how” and “why” of fundraising from individuals and businesses, including building your base of prospective donors and developing your volunteer team.

Thursday, 3:15pm - Part Two will cover planning and implementing a campaign and role playing asks.

Friday, 9:00am - Part Three is an opportunity to discuss how we can work together after the workshop to follow through on our plans. 

Instructed by Jackie Kaplan, founder of Get Sums, a non profit consulting firm

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If you are planning to stay overnight, we recommend any of the following six hotels.  Each is available as of March 14, 2008 at which time rates were posted as follows:

Homestead Studio Suites      

1827 Centre Pointe Circle, Naperville, IL
(630) 577-0200                      
Rate: $ 75 per night
Distance from NIU Convention Center: 0.2 miles (across Diehl Road)

Country Inn Suites                  

1837 Centre Point Circle, Naperville, IL
(630) 505-3353                      
Rate: $ 129  per night
Distance from NIU Convention Center: 0.2 miles (across Diehl Road)
Shuttle from Naperville train station available upon request

Fairfield Inn                           

1820 Abriter Court, Naperville, IL
(630) 548-0966                     
Rate: $ 119 per night
Distance from NIU Convention Center: 0.1 miles (across Diehl Road)

Baymont Inn & Suites                         

1585 Naperville Wheaton Road, Naperville, IL        
(630) 357-0022               
Rate: $ 64 per night
Distance from NIU Convention Center: 0.5 miles 

Best Western                          

1617 Naperville Road, Naperville, IL
(630) 505-0200                    
Rate: $ 85 per night
Distance from NIU Convention Center: 0.6 miles 

Candlewood Suites                  

27 W. 300 Warrenville Rd, Warrenville, IL
(630) 836-1650                    
Rate: $ 100 per night
Distance from NIU Convention Center: 1.6 miles

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