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19th
Annual Luncheon & Workshop Series |
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"Changing
the Landscape: Welcoming Everyone to Our Backyard" |
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Special
Thanks to Our 2006 Sponsors:
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UNDERWRITERS: WORKSHOP: GOLD: |
SILVER: BRONZE:
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NON-PROFIT: FRIENDS
OF FAIR HOUSING: |
Featuring
Keynote Speaker:
Michael Allen from the Bazelon Center for Mental
Health Law
Making Room at the Inn: Housing for the Least
Among Us
Michael Allen is a senior staff attorney and director of housing programs at the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington, D.C. In that position, he provides public policy advocacy in Congress and at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on behalf of the housing needs of people with mental disabilities. Allen also supports a nationwide network of disability and legal services lawyers conducting litigation under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In his keynote address, Michael Allen charted a course for rebuilding our social contract and reconnecting neighbors to one another, all in the context of vigorous enforcement of the right to "housing of one's choice in the community." Many scriptural traditions use the term "covenant" to describe a sacred relationship between the Creator and human beings. The Founders used this same term to describe a trust-filled relationship between citizens and their government. It is a measure of how far we have fallen that the term is no longer understood as a binding and solemn agreement to work toward the common good. Rather, when we hear the word "covenant" these days, we assume it refers to some restrictive provision in a residential deed, designed to keep out "undesirables." Nearly 60 years after the Supreme Court outlawed the use of racial covenants, they are alive and well and being employed to exclude affordable housing, shelters, group homes and other forms of housing for the least among us.
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THE WORKSHOPS: 8:45 – 11:45 a.m.
NIMBYism:
THE IMPLICATIONS OF PREJUDICE IN OUR BACKYARD
Moderator: Doretha Ardoin (Realtor, Coldwell Banker Schmidt – FHC
Board President)
Michael Allen, Senior Staff Attorney at the Bazelon Center for Mental
Health Law, discussed the history of NIMBYism as well as its emerging
forms. He challenged the workshop participants to think about the issues
in new ways. Local representatives on the panel shared their experiences
in the face of NIMBYism. Pam Doty Nation, Executive Director of Habitat
for Humanity Kent County, discussed obstacles her agency faced and continues
to face when attempting to build homes in areas not previously served.
Harold Mast, Executive Director of Genesis Non-Profit Housing Corporation,
focused his comments on what his agency has learned in developing affordable
accessible housing in Kent County.
COMMUNITY,
INDUSTRY & ADVOCATES: PARTNERS IN FAIR HOUSING
Moderator: Lee Weber (Neighborhood Initiative Director, Dyer-Ives Foundation)
Cat Cloud, Vice President of the National Fair Housing Alliance, provided
an overview of fair housing on the national level. Included in her presentation
was a discussion of the sales cases the National Fair Housing Alliance
has filed across the United States, including the case in Detroit. She
also discussed fair housing issues as they relate to Katrina victims and
rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Fair Housing Center staff shed light on the
local perspective, utilizing a recently completed report on the obstacles
to fair housing throughout West Michigan. Participants then engaged in
an interactive discussion of the trends reviewed, followed by opportunities
to identify and discuss issues related to fair housing in small groups
centered around different perspectives towards housing. The small groups
included builders and developers, mortgage lenders and appraisers, realtors,
rentals property owners and managers, and community members. Table Leaders:
Dave Bee (West Michigan Regional Planning Commission), Dan Grzywacz (Flagstar
Bank/West Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association), Julia Rietberg (Executive
Vice President, Grand Rapids Association of Realtors), Randy Smith (Grand
Valley Land Development), and Kathy Vallie (Executive Director, Property
Management Association of West Michigan).
BUILDING
MULTI-CULTURAL COMPETENCE
Moderator: Charity Post (Mortgage Loan Officer, Independent Mortgage Co.
– FHC Board Member)
Dale Dicks, Senior Project Manager in Fannie Mae’s Office of Diversity,
came back by popular demand to delve deeper into the issues that we discussed
last year. This workshop helped members of the housing industry build
multi-cultural competence through a variety of exercises and discussion.
Participants explored differences within cultures, key areas to look for
differences, dynamics of human interaction, and influencing how others
see you. Assessments of multi-cultural awareness and collective perceptions
better equipped participants to work in the diverse and growing communities
of West Michigan.
LUNCHEON
KEYNOTE: 11:45 - 1:30 p.m.
Michael Allen, Senior Staff Attorney at the Bazelon
Center for Mental Health Law
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20
Hall Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507
Tel: (616) 451-2980, Toll Free: 1-866-389-FAIR
Fax: (616) 451-2657 email: contact-us@fhcwm.org